Review: 6 GR8 7DRLs

A seven day roguelike is a programming challenge to yourself wherein you write a complete roguelike in 7 days. The 7DRL events are run on rec.games.roguelike.development on an annual or biannual basis, and were inspired by Joseph Hewitt's Dungeon Monkey. Not only are they are a great opportunity to test your coding skill, but they allow you to quickly prototype or explore a particular game mechanic.

A quick sampler of six follows:

You Only Live Once: The central game mechanic turns a prototypical roguelike into a poignant meditation on life and death. To say more would give away the delightful surprise at inevitable failure.

Letter Hunt: Spelling hurts in a labyrinth of letters where you must overcome 52 different monster types in order to write words.

Save Scummer: Makes Progress Quest look progressive.

Bone to Be Wild: Summoning Gone Wrong: Two bad puns by a Dark God reveals a tech demo gone right.

ChessRogue: Mate in 3.

2DRL in 2K: In Fuerst, review longer than game source code.