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The menu, with one of the randomly selected fantasy quotations greeting you.
Shadow of the Wyrm is a traditional fantasy Roguelike by Julian Day, who has been working on it since 2011. Though it has hit version 1.0 a while back, new additions are happening to this day. The current version of the game can be downloaded here.

After creating your character by picking from 9 races and 19 classes, as well as a deity and a place of birth (or just letting the game decide by picking a randomly generated character) you are thrust into its world. According to the backstory on the game's website, your character got shipwrecked, and is now washed up on the shore of a small island. Nearby are a small village, a ruined keep, and an ancient dungeon. In the far distance lie lands full of elves and dragons, monsters and demons. A cold wind blows; there is chaos on the air. Your survival, and maybe even success, is now entirely in your hands.

Tropes of the Wyrm:

  • Always Chaotic Evil: The ogres have by far the least sympathetic description of all the starting races, as it outrights calls them "Huge tribal creatures devoted to destruction and chaos".
  • Encyclopedia Exposita: Pressing "c" and typing the name of the item/creature opens the codex entry for it, if available. Said entries are quite detailed for the genre, often providing you with the key stats alongside a paragraph of lore.
  • The Fair Folk: Fae. There was a war between them and the giants in the distant past, and it went so badly for them that a Fae Player Character is said to be one of their last remnants.
  • Fictional Currency: Ivory pieces are the main currency in this realm. The codex says that this is because gold and silver are far too unevenly distributed throughout the realm, while every culture has a way of obtaining ivory from either the great land or sea animals, yet never enough of it to gain an overwhelming advantage over others.
  • Gargle Blaster: The goblin moonshine is said to achieve a 130 proof. This comes at the cost of being yellow-brown in color and tasting of grease, blood and sweat by default, which is so intolerable that goblins would rather mix dirt or raw meat in if they cannot find any sugar or bitters than to drink it completely undoctored.
  • Our Goblins Are Different: Goblins are described as "quick and sly" when selecting a starting race, and they are certainly more of a Fragile Speedster when compared to the other factions. They are also a resident inventor race, being the only ones who have managed to approximate non-magical flight with their ornithopters.
  • Good Old Fisticuffs: Possible if the player attacks with no melee weapon equipped, but not really recommended. Like in other roguelikes, there is also a dedicated kick command (K).
  • Healing Potion: Present, and many characters even start with them in their inventory. Their codex description says that they act as a faster, better version of the body's natural processes, which is why drinking a full potion can restore injuries up to and including reattaching limbs.
  • In-Universe Game Clock: Played straight: pressing T will let you know exactly what the current time is, and even tell you what the wind is like if you are outside.
  • Innate Night Vision: The so-called Night Sight available to certain races, like snakelings, from the start, and they can improve it further whenever they level up.
  • Our Elves Are Different: There are two varieties of elves in the game: the traditional Wood Elves, and much less traditional Mountain Elves, which are said to be the hardy dwellers of frozen mountain peaks. Both are available as the starting character races.
  • Our Gnomes Are Weirder: Like in the majority of traditional roguelikes such as NetHack, both dwarves and gnomes are available as the starting races. The main distinction between them is apparently that the gnomes do not just underground in the caverns and caves, but have an explicit elemental affinity with them.
  • Snake People: Snakelings are one of the starting character options. They are said to come from fens and moors.

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