Castle of Doom

published by author in 1984, running on Apple II E

type: adventure
genre: Fantasy, Interactive fiction
perspective: other
player options: single player

game engine: Eamon Engine
languages: eng

Personal review

[The following text is copyrighted by Eamon Adventurer's Guild Online and presented here word-for-word thanks to their generous terms]
#5 - Castle of Doom by Donald Brown

Reviewed by Tom Zuchowski

MAIN PGM Version: 4 Extra Commands: OPEN, RELEASE, FREE, STUDY, EAT, DRINK Deleted Commands: None Special Features: Unusual Save method Playing Time: 30-60 min. Reviewer Rating: 4.0 Average Rating: 4.6/6

Description: "The Castle of Doom is run by two kindly old ladies who want to give valiant Adventurers a little bit of excitement.

You will be traveling in a round castle just chock-full of evil monsters and wonderful treasure. A special treat for you in this dungeon -- the owners will keep things as they are if you choose to return to the Main Hall to heal up for a while!"

Comment: This is yet another Eamon in the mold of the early ones: simply laid out, with minimal quest and no plot development. This is primarily a standard "kill'n'loot" scenario.

I enjoyed a couple of clever specials. A "save" is performed when you leave the adventure to return to the Main Hall by making a "snapshot" file of the dungeon's status. Then if the same character returns to the adventure, he will find it exactly as he left it. It works surprisingly well when considered in light of the intro text.

There is a vampire, and lots of vampire-related paraphernalia strewn about. Given all the stuff, I expected something special, but didn't really see anything.

This is a relaxing foray, suitable for young Eamonauts. I give it a (4) for difficulty.