But wouldn't you agree that is a matter of personal taste, rather than bad game design? Clemenstation mentioned Trials HD, another recent game I also like (which will tell you something about MY personal taste in gaming). That's another example of a game where playing multiple times the same level is integrated in the design on purpose, not a flaw.
Nethack and other Rogue-likes take this to a whole other level with the one-death mechanic. What makes dying in these games tolerable, I think, is the sheer level of integrated random generation combined with their inherent complexity. The level geography is all procedural, as are item drops and monster encounters, and there's definitely a tiered difficulty system based on how deep in the dungeon you go. That's all fairly standard.
Where it gets interesting is in the scripted events and the rules-that-govern-the-realm. Learning these rules is what the game is about and determines a player's success in the game, and while the items and monsters and character types might change on each play-through, these rules remain consistent. Nymphs steal stuff from you and teleport away. Searching them out to get back what they've stolen can be a deadly waste of time as with each step spent in that direction the player becomes hungrier and hungrier and risks running out of food. On the other hand, Nymphs can steal cursed items that the player can't remove by normal means. It's pretty difficult to eat anything with both of your hands welded around a spear, so having a nymph spirit it away suddenly becomes a very attractive option.
The game is full of examples of this kind of thing, from lizard corpses that stop petrification to wish-granting potions, and knowing how to use them is vital to survival. While hints are littered throughout the dungeon to reveal these precious tidbits, a new player is guaranteed to spend hours after hour dying and restarting as he works his way deeper into the dungeon.
Of course, treating death with a sense of humor helps. The game awards a score for each play-through, listing attributes and manner of death on the game over screen. "Doomie D, killed by a newt, while helpless," "Rodney the Wizard, shot himself with a Wand of Death," "Drizzt von Legolas, choked on a Unicorn corpse while satiated." In a way the game becomes a contest to see how the player can get killed in the most demeaning or embarrassing way possible, especially when online death trackers and groups of friends are involved. Death also identifies all items carried and reveals the player's innermost attributes, revealing things the player should look out for or pay more attention to next time.
All of this culminates in the act of ascension. Retrieving the Amulet of Yendor from the Wizard in the depths of Gehennom and surviving not only the trip back to the surface, but through the elemental plains and the final level is an exhilarating experience that culminates in ultimate satisfaction if the player actually manages to beat the game. At the same time, one must be careful not to get caught up in the action. It's very easy to overlook something appallingly simple and have to start the process all over again.
The community has a term for this, "YASD," or "Yet Another Stupid Death", and lists of these, warnings to fellow travelers to always be on their guard, can be found on almost every message board dealing with the game. Simple things like putting an unidentified bag into a bag of holding can result in a powerful explosion if the bag in question happens to be another bag of holding, and stepping on a forgotten polymorph trap without magic resistance can leave a player resigned to living out his life as a quivering blob, virtually incapable of movement or even sight, totally at the mercy of even the weakest of monsters.
Yet despite these pitfalls and nameless horrors players keep coming back to the game. Failure is in many ways just as enjoyable as success, and the journey is more exciting because of its frequency. The unforgiving nature of the early game tempers the player's resolve and it soon becomes a test of wills, the player against the game, determined to overcome its challenges and achieve glory in ascension. There are very few games that can boast this, and while Nethack and its Rogue-like compatriots are certainly not for everyone, they're definitely worth a try.
