When comparing Ananias vs Nethack, the Slant community recommends Nethack for most people. In the question“What are the best roguelikes on Android?” Nethack is ranked 17th while Ananias is ranked 19th. The most important reason people chose Nethack is:
Nethack is a game that you can play for hundreds of hours and still not master. But you'll have tons of fun attempting to master it.
Specs
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Pros
Pro Four classes
There are four available classes Alchemist, Arcane, Paladin, and Hunter, each with their own abilities. This gives a good variety to play with making a different experience when each one is used.
Pro Free version available
There is a free version of Ananias available for user to try before they purchase the full game.
Pro Basically a full game
Although a demo - as the developer calls the game, you can use up to 4 classes to complete the WHOLE game. There's no restriction whatsoever.
Pro Combat based on D&D dice rolling
Player and enemy hits are calculated from random dice rolls just as it would be in a Dungeons and Dragons game. This randomizes battles a bit making it somewhat luck based.
Pro Leverages touch screen nicely
Pro Animal companions
Players can choose an animal companion to accompany them in the game with each one differing in health and strength, giving even more variety to the game over top the player classes to choose from.
Pro Potential for enormous skill growth
Nethack is a game that you can play for hundreds of hours and still not master. But you'll have tons of fun attempting to master it.
Pro Depth
The gameplay is very deep due to the amount of skills and systems present in the game.
Pro Over two decades of constant development
Nethack was first released in 1987. The latest version, 3.6.0, came out in December 2015.
Pro ASCII and tiles available
Nethack is able to run on simple ASCII graphics or use graphic tiles instead.
Cons
Con Application is updated frequently
Sometimes features are replaced with other features which significantly change the feel of the game. This can be disorienting.
Con Too much focus on animal companion
If or when the players animal companion dies the game becomes too difficult, making for a scenario where it is best to start over. This makes too much focus on the animal during gameplay as it needs to be kept alive the whole time to succeed.
Con Burden of knowledge
There's simply too much information that the game expects you to know before you can properly take advantage of the systems in the game.
Con Feature creep
NetHack has an overwhelming amount of features mostly because the development team found them cool at the time, but with little thought of their greater impact. For example, a Nethack staple is Sokoban as a built-in minigame, which feels out of place in a dungeon crawler.
The extremely large amount of items and abilities break the game's balance and coherence.
Con Outdated controls
You need to study a wiki just to learn the most basic controls. The game is broken in this regard.
Con ASCII Art
Con Run of the mill story
The story of the game is pretty generic fantasy fare. It features orcs, elves, and trolls in an effort for the hero to save the world. While it does not detract from the gameplay, it does seem very familiar to those interested in the genre.