Delving too deep and greedily

[Hauberk]

A question sprung to mind as I was reading the Dark and Darker thread earlier and I thought it deserved greater visibility:

Is there a crpg which has the following traits?

+ You play as a single character. Ideally, the view is first-person only but over-the-shoulder might work.
+ There's some form of character advancement / builds etc.
+ You can play on your own or you could play with friends. You could perhaps hire NPCs to fight for you.
+ The gameplay is about surviving in a massive dungeon and looting everything which isn't nailed down.
+ You have no compass (unless you can find it) and no convenient map which notes your location in real-time.
+ The dungeon is unlit and you can't see **** without a lamp or a torch. 'Light' is a resource you must manage.
+ Food and drink mechanics might be included as well.
+ No save-scumming feature.
+ Not a roguelike metroidvania soulslite thanks.
+ The underlined parts must be a feature of the game.

[Brother Michael]

Exanima jumps to mind even if it doesn’t meet every quality

[rusty_shackleford]

Arx Fatalis, modern sourceport is Arx Libertatis: https://arx-libertatis.org/

Doesn't meet all the criteria, but I think it gets rather close. Entire game takes place underground.
Obviously, the Ultima Underworlds too, as Arx Fatalis is a spiritual sequel to them.

[TKVNC]

Morrowind Halls of Penumbra from the Bloodmoon DLC

Say no more.

[Oyster Sauce]

Zelda 2

[J1M]

I played a black and white Mac game about exploring a pyramid. Each floor got progressively bigger until you ran out of food. Character advancement only really existed in terms of what you decided to carry.

[Mondain]

I played a black and white Mac game about exploring a pyramid. Each floor got progressively bigger until you ran out of food. Character advancement only really existed in terms of what you decided to carry.

This?
https://crpgaddict.blogspot.com/2021/05 ... wards.html

[J1M]

I played a black and white Mac game about exploring a pyramid. Each floor got progressively bigger until you ran out of food. Character advancement only really existed in terms of what you decided to carry.

This?
https://crpgaddict.blogspot.com/2021/05 ... wards.html

No, it was heavily Egypt themed and you explored in first person.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scarab_of_Ra
https://www.semicolon.com/scarab/scarab.html

Appears to be unobtainable now though. You'd need an iPhone to play the ported version.

[gerey]

Exanima jumps to mind even if it doesn’t meet every quality

I have to agree on this. Exanima is the closet you'll come to what you're looking for. Going through your points one by one:

+ You play as a single character.
+ There is character advancement.
+ You can recruit NPCs that you encounter, but they are rare and can die.
+ The gameplay is indeed about surviving in a massive dungeon and figuring what is going on. The game features an involved armor system with layering, and a lot of items can be used as weapons.
+ The game requires you to find a compass and a map. When I last played the map did not even show your location on it.
+ The dungeon is indeed very dark in some places, requiring you to use a source of light, which usually means sacrificing either your shield or weapon.
+ There is no hunger or thirst mechanic, but healing items are extremely scarce, and the combat is lethal.
+ The game doesn't allow you to savescum.

Take note that the way the game handles combat is going to be hit or miss - either you like it or you don't, so pirate the game before purchasing (if your plan was to buy the game).