I rated this at 3/5. Per the rating system, 1 is bad and 5 is good. This title is neither that bad nor that good. Even at $1.90...

Starting as early as page 8, "There is no die with 100 sides," I already knew that there were going to be fundamental issues. There are 100 sided dice. Since the 80s, at least. Then we move on to character creation. Here, the author opts for a point buy method which is too gimmicky for an old school feel. In The Black Hack, they are quick 3d6 rolls and modified if you roll over a 15; in The Unearthed Hack, there's are two ability arrays that are offered. In either case, character generation is quick. Tallying points detracts from the old school feel but lends itself to more directed character builds. Per above, that's neither good nor bad, it just.... is. The classes are basically The Black Hack with B/X races as classes included which, again, is pretty typical RPG fare, including reinforcing the RPG trope that Elf is Best Class. I won't go into the mechanics, but being an Elf has such limited drawbacks (I get 1d4 spells instead of 1d4+2?! And I can't access the highest level spells?! gasp) that it falls back into the same tried and true trope most RPG groups experience: why play a human?

Everything from character creation up to chapter 7 is basically The Black Hack, so... it's The Black Hack. Chapter 7 brings some adventure design advice for newer GMs, which I'm sure newer GMs will find helpful. Again, nothing special in the previous six chapters, so this is neither good nor bad. It just is. Then we hit the Appendix, which typifies every B/X campaign since the 80s: class bloat (really, just four). It addresses the same issues that's plagued every gaming circle for the past 40 years. Why can't my Dwarf be a Fighter/Cleric? I can?! So why be a Fighter...? Because RP. Ok. And there's the Elven Thief/Mage. And two other classes veteran players may be able to deduce. My concern with this style of play is the slippery slope: Is an Elf a racial class or a race with multiple classes? If the former, and you start making exceptions, where are all the other exceptions, like, say, a Human Paladin? If the latter, why force character builds into molds instead of going the AD&D route of allowing multi-class?

And this is why, even at < $2, it's a negligible download. A veteran is being put in the exact same territory covered 30 years ago. A new player is going to experience the exact same problems from 30 years ago. There's nothing new here, but there's nothing WRONG here. It's a semi-faithful reproduction of gaming from the 80s, with the same baggage that comes along with it. The problem being, if I want the problems of the 80s, I can just buy the PDF of Moldvay Basic and Cook/Marsh Expert for not much more than this and The Black Hack.