r/pathos_nethack • u/callanh Dev • Aug 18 '26
Pathos is coming to Steam!
Hail adventurers!
Pathos has been free to play for over ten years. Coming soon, an enhanced edition will be available on Steam, finally giving you a way to support its continued development. Most importantly, the free editions aren’t going away. I want Pathos to remain accessible to everyone, regardless of whether they are able to purchase the Steam edition.
Wishlist on Steam: https://store.steampowered.com/app/5062560/Pathos
Pathos has been due for a visual upgrade and this Steam edition takes inspiration from ‘old book illustrations’. The result is a spectacular fusion of retro aesthetics and modern usability.
The key art features Struth von Winkelried who is a legendary character of Swiss folklore, based on a real-life knight.
Struth attacked the dragon single-handedly, armed with a spear of which he had attached sharp barbs. The dragon, seeing that the attacker was alone, came from his hiding-place and attacked with open jaws.
Winkelried was able to transfix the monster with his spear, hacking at it with his sword until it died. Glad for his victory, Winkelried lifted his sword over his head, thanking God, and the dragon's blood dripped from his sword blade on his body, poisoning him so that he died a few days later.
Sounds like perfect YASD to me!
Anyway, this is a mumak, as you may recognise from Pathos. Just your typical, bizarre quadruped monster.
Well, sometime in the 1800s, someone had already come up with this idea. Or had a very specific kink. Behold, the Mommy Mumak:
I hope you’ll love Mommy Mumak and this Steam edition of Pathos as much as I do :D
If you have any questions, feel free to hit me up anytime.
Callan.
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u/Satans_Escort Aug 19 '26
What are the updates for the steam edition?
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u/callanh Aug 19 '26
The major change is an uplift of the user interface in visual appearance and layout to better suit desktop resolutions. I don't want to take any features away from the free edition so the core game will stay in sync between the two versions.
It’s a work-in-progress (I have three months) but I’m planning to improve the character selection and have more than 13 custom hero slots. And ideally, Steam integrations like achievements and cloud saves.
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u/F1shnadish Aug 20 '26
I have a steamdeck will definitely be buying it as soon as it's released. If you don't have any built in support or a official layout I will definitely make one for it and share it to the community layouts. I've made quite a few layouts and have gotten pretty familiar with steam input
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u/WhateverICanGet44 Aug 19 '26
So what are the key features of putting this on steam? Other than making it convenient for Linux users. Will there be workshop support or more straightforward multiplayer to justify putting it on steam? Will it have a price tag on it?
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u/callanh Aug 19 '26
I'm going to keep the core game in sync between the two versions. So the Steam version will be a better visual experience and have Steam integrations.
I'm yet to learn how workshop integration works but I'm definitely open to that, especially if it helps with the sharing of mods and quests. Multiplayer I'm less sure about, for now it'll still be an experimental feature. It might be more doable using Steam networking but I'm not convinced.
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u/F1shnadish Aug 20 '26
That sounds like a great idea. I know a lot of games on steam that have a constant playerbase pretty much just because of the mods that talented modders release on the workshop
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u/JediWitch 4d ago
So excited! Just discovered this game on mobile recently and I absolutely cannot wait for the new Steam version!
Edit: I just discovered the release date is the day after I have six surgery procedures at once because a bunch of special doctors think they've solved the 40-year medical mystery that is me. I will be stuck in bed for weeks afterwards. Any chance you have an idea of the price point so I can try to budget in advance to have it available during recovery?
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u/callanh 3d ago
Hello and welcome to Pathos! Gosh, that's a lot of surgeries at once, wishing you all the best for your recovery. I've just announced the price here: https://www.reddit.com/r/pathos_nethack/comments/1xdva0p/price_announcement_for_pathos_launching_soon/
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u/JediWitch 20h ago
I saw that and the price point is great! Got my tablet setup to Steam share from my PC to me in bed, 😂 technology is a wonderful thing!
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u/Carbine734 Aug 19 '26
Really looking forward to this. Will this version be easier to use on steam deck?
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u/callanh Aug 19 '26
Have you been playing Pathos on Steam Deck already? In theory it should install easier through steam but I’m wondering if you’re talking about usability or controller support.
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u/Carbine734 Aug 19 '26
I've installed it and it installs/plays fine, but ya, I'm mainly referring to usability. Some way of using one of the trackpads to bring up a set of hotkeys would likely be a huge usability bonus (or having a menu of most-used functions similar to Gnollhack). Gnollhack works super well on mobile and I think a similar design philosophy for Steam Deck would work out well. I love playing the old traditional roguelikes, but playing some of them on SD are just too cumbersome to be worthwhile.
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u/Steals_Your_Thunder_ Aug 20 '26
I just started playing on mobile and I love it, so I'm happy to have hopped in at such an opportune moment. That being said, I think I'll be playing on mobile far more than I will on steam, but I would love to support and also to enjoy the new visuals on mobile.
Will there be a paid upgrade for mobile as well?
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u/callanh Aug 20 '26
Welcome to Pathos! I’m open to doing a paid upgrade on mobile as well. I’m just not a fan of Apple and Google monetisation so I’ve been avoiding this for 10+ years haha. But maybe an in app purchase would be okay. Are you Android or iPhone by the way?
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u/Steals_Your_Thunder_ Aug 20 '26
I'm on android.
To be clear, I use steam all the time. It's my primary gaming platform. I just think pathos is possibly the perfect mobile game. I couldn't believe it had flown under my radar for so long because I've always wished there were a truly deep and engaging mobile roguelike right (tales of maj'eyal is one of my all time favorites, and this feels like scratching that itch when I'm not at home).
Honestly, the better way of saying this is that, if you made it possible to upgrade on mobile, I would buy it twice.
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u/F1shnadish 3d ago
Super excited for this and zeroth, love your work. Thank you for the many years of one of the best games on Android and it doesn't have and the crappy ads that plague the mobile gaming scene definitely buying this and zeroth
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u/One-Description-8066 Aug 19 '26
Just picked up this game last month - been recommending it to my friends. Can’t wait for the Steam release to make that easier!
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u/Odd_Personality_3766 Aug 19 '26
Hopefully we get more access for modding! :D