Jupiter Hell Classic - FAQ!

[Epyon]

tl;dr — when is it launching?

Jupiter Hell Classic will enter Early Access in August 2025, most likely mid-month. We’ll announce the exact date soon™!

Be sure to join the official Jupiter Hell/Jupiter Hell Classic discord server to keep up to date!
https://discord.gg/JupiterHell

What’s the difference between Jupiter Hell, Jupiter Hell Classic, and DRL?

Great question — we know it’s a bit confusing, so here’s the breakdown:

DRL[drl.chaosforge.org] — The ASCII/tile-based roguelike that kicked off this whole journey, inspired by a famous 1993 OG FPS, originally launched back in 1999. It’s free, open source, and still receiving updates.

Jupiter Hell (JH) — A modern 3D turn-based tactical roguelike set in a sci-fi hellscape. Released in 2021, it’s the spiritual successor to DRL: polished, redesigned, and streamlined for accessibility without sacrificing depth, and adding some more on top! Available on Steam and Nintendo Switch.

Jupiter Hell Classic (JHC) — A retro-styled demake of Jupiter Hell built on the classic DRL engine. It’s still turn-based, tactical, and brutal, but with a modernized interface, mod support, and an active development roadmap. A love letter to both Jupiter Hell and DRL. You're looking at it right now!

I liked Jupiter Hell — is this the same thing but worse?

Not at all — just different.
Jupiter Hell was built from the ground up, reimagining many systems from DRL. Some changes are rather clear upgrades (like the cover system or 3D visuals), some were made for accessibility (shorter sight ranges, lack of diagonal movement), and some were left out due to cost (fluids, full destruction).

Jupiter Hell Classic backports some of JH’s design while embracing the full mechanical depth and chaos of DRL — and pushes things even further:

• Full environmental destruction
  
• Fluids on floors with gameplay effects (hence: boots instead of helmets)
  
• Dynamic level events leveraging destruction and fluids
  
• The above allows more chaotic procedural levels with more variety
  
• 8-directional movement
  
• Larger sight ranges, more space, more long-range tactics
  
• Positional dodge mechanics, not just stat-based
  
• Fewer one-shots, large spaces and ranges → more tactical AI opportunities
  
• Knockback mechanics, crate/barrel pushing
  
• Assemblies (mod-based crafting)
  
• Easier modding (sprites are easier than 3D models!)

We’re planning to lean even harder into environmental interaction and interesting level design ( (going more Brogue, for those who know :P).

I liked DRL — is this just a reskin?

Far from it! Think total conversion and expansion pack.
Yes, it runs on the same engine as DRL — but tons of changes have been made, both backported from Jupiter Hell and newly developed for JHC.

While some visual and engine upgrades have been (or will be) shared with DRL, design-wise DRL is considered fairly complete, and we want to avoid doing any revolutions to it that might change gameplay feel. Major redesigns live in JHC instead.

Major systems inspired by Jupiter Hell now in JHC:

• A 3-tier trait system (including Master traits)
  
• Active skills per class and related traits resulting in clearer identity
  
• Episode branches with unique visuals and level generators
  
• Expanded enemy variety (we’re no longer limited to D!)
  
• A new set of items, exotics, uniques, and consumables
  
• Status effects (freeze, burn, poison, etc.)
  
• Improved procedural generation

Major new engine features:

• Visuals: Vertical/horizontal doors, glow effects, fluid edges
  
• Animations: Doors, idle/pain/death sprites
  
• Modding: TC-level modability, Steam Workshop support
  
• UI/UX improvements
  
• Controller support

Finally, buying JHC helps fund continued DRL development and supports future ChaosForge releases — both free and commercial!

What’s with these default controls? Arrow keys instead of WASD?!

Yes — JHC uses arrow keys and/or the numpad for movement, just like classic roguelikes.
Here’s why WASD (or any standard shooter-style layout) doesn’t quite work:

• The game uses 8-directional movement, and WASD only covers 4 directions
  
• The vast majority of the game input is movement — keeping it on the dominant hand helps
  
• JHC is designed in the tradition of keyboard-heavy roguelikes — arrow keys and numpad were standard

Numpads though are becoming rare, and PgUp/PgDn are awkward on tenkeyless boards, so we’re aware of the issues! While we want to preserve the feel of traditional roguelikes — we know it’s not for everyone. We’re open to adding a WASD-style preset (which would be QWEASDZXC instead) in the future, and likely as a selectable option on first launch. Suggestions for such a layout (including all other keybindings) are welcome!

Will Jupiter Hell Classic be available on consoles?

Probably not, though we’d love to.
The DRL engine is written in FreePascal, and that makes console porting especially difficult. If sales go above expectations, we might attempt a Switch port — but it would be a rough one due to screen estate constraints.

Will Jupiter Hell Classic be available in language X?

Not anytime soon, unless the game sells really well.
The engine wasn’t designed with localization in mind, and we rely heavily on dynamic text composition (e.g., “You hit the former human! The former human picks up a medkit!”) — which makes translation per-language a significant effort.

That said, if there’s enough demand, we’ll definitely explore it!

Is there a roadmap?

There will be — once the Early Access dust settles.
Expect to see a clear breakdown of short-, mid-, and long-term goals post-launch.

Let us know what other questions you'd like answered — and if you haven’t yet, wishlist Jupiter Hell Classic!

[ACTIONBOMBA™]

well written - as a fan of JC, who never has played DRL, i for sure gonna get me a copy of JHC :)

[Sleekie]

You forgot your asterisks in 'D**m', there.

[Quitapesares]

Ah Great thanks for the FAQ!

[GABAGOOL]

On keybinds: would love to see hjkl + yubn for diagonals

[Epyon]

All non-UI keys are rebindable, UI-keyw will be rebindable at a later date!

[Robonos]

Steam Deck support?

[Epyon]

Works, but there's a crash on death. We're working on it.

[NagitoK]

Can we have a key/mousewheel binding for tile size? I like adjusting it in real time for those games that support it.

Thanks and congrats! Looks good so far.

[Epyon]

Interesting idea, Ill think about it!

[TurtleBee]

I feel very much That Guy by saying it, but any chance of vi keys? you know hjklyubn?

For those of us who've been playing roguelikes on numpadless keyboards for far too long it's actually the default that makes sense. (For everyone else, yes, it's insane.)

[el polloo✓]

🫠🫶🏼

[Candyman2000]

Originally posted by TurtleBee:

I feel very much That Guy by saying it, but any chance of vi keys? you know hjklyubn?

For those of us who've been playing roguelikes on numpadless keyboards for far too long it's actually the default that makes sense. (For everyone else, yes, it's insane.)

disgusting.... >.>

[Mirodin333]

Originally posted by TurtleBee:

I feel very much That Guy by saying it, but any chance of vi keys? you know hjklyubn?

For those of us who've been playing roguelikes on numpadless keyboards for far too long it's actually the default that makes sense. (For everyone else, yes, it's insane.)

Dont they sell numeric keypads (just the numerics, not whole keyboard) for pretty cheap? Might be good to get if you are a big classic roguelike fan.

[Runehawk250]

Another option for a WASD movement scheme would be to do what Shattered Pixel Dungeon does. They allow you to press 2 keys (e.g. A and W) at the same time. This example results in 1 move diagonally to the top left (to be clear it only counts as 1 game move not 2 moves like I've seen in some other games). This works whether you choose to use WASD or the arrow keys. It is very intuitive, not prone to error, and fast.

I believe they implement it by doing the following:
Delayed movement: When you press a directional key (for example, the "up" arrow), your character does not move instantly. The game registers the input but delays the action for a fraction of a second.

Combined input: During this brief window, if you press a second, perpendicular directional key (for example, the "right" arrow), the game combines the two inputs to recognize your intent to move diagonally (up-right).

Action confirmation: The game confirms the move and takes a turn when you release the keys or a short time passes.

Whatever they do, it works very well and I wish more traditional roguelikes would implement this modern approach. The delay is so short that I think most people wouldn't notice or be bothered by it. You could always add the option to enable or disable it if someone prefers absolutely no delay when pressing direction keys or they like the 8 key control scheme. Whether you are interested in accessible game design or just want to see a great example of what's possible for movement controls, I recommend checking out the game for yourself.

[Epyon]

Delayed movement is why it would not work - in JHC/DRL you often need to move 60-70 squares fast to the exit. Adding a delay to that would add an extra half a minute or so of staring at the screen which becomes real annoying real fast. It works for SPD because the screen-space and level space is small.

Not to mention that it adds "friction" when moving which completely ruins the smoothness and responsiveness of JHC movement.