showing 21 games

namepublisher(developer)year arrow_downwarddescription
Gadgetz ?? labelminimizeminimize
The Dungeon of Danger Sams Software1980 labelminimizeminimize
Penqueriel Mazes Sadistic Software1982There are 2 mazes: Teleporter maze and Key maze
[RetroManiac]
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Shamus Synapse Software1982 labelimageminimize
Super Quest  Softside1982[WIP]
MSRP: $3

This game is massive by any standards at 1024 total locations. That is 4 times larger than the overworld and dungeons of The Legend of Zelda. Everything is in real-time and offers no other respite than a few sparely place shops. Shops are also the only place games can be saved. Strength is the only stat. It is increased in small random increments only by drinking strength potions bought from shops. Currency does not come from killing monsters but only from rare chests dispersed throughout the labrynth. Killing monsters gains XP which mainly counts as a high score (since winning the game is unlikley). Most screens have monsters that will be there every time you arrive no matter if you have defeated them previously. There are also random monster encounters that happen everywhere except shops, there is no pause to escape them or leave time to make your own map.

Story:
In a future on Earth with too much magic and too much technology, a one-of-a-king technomagical artifact was created to keep balance between the two. Being more powerful than it was intended, it stifled all change for either. A powerful king decided to used technology to hide and negate the effects of the artifact. With the artifact sealed away in a labyrinth of traps and unnatural guard creatures magic began overwhelming technology. 200 years later, a hero is chosen to brave the labyrinth and recover the artifact.

Entering initials is explained in-game. Heroes are sponsored by nobles so when the hero is asked who their sponsor is, it's the player.
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The Crypt  Crystalware;Automated Simulations (Crystalware)1982 labelimageminimize
Escape from the Dungeon of the Gods  SoftSide1982 labelimageminimize
Lady Tut Progame1983 labelimageminimize
Merlin's Castle General Masters1983 labelminimizeminimize
The Heist Micro Fun1983 labelimageminimize
Prokofiev's Peter and the Wolf Music Fisher-Price Learning Software (Dale Disharoon)1985 labelminimizeminimize
Gauntlet Mindscape19861 player, or 2 players simultaneous cooperative play. labelimageminimize
Infiltrator Mindscape1986 labelimageminimize
The Rocky Horror Show Electric Dreams Software;Activision (CRL Group)1986Note, this game is based on the Broadway production and not the movie. labelimageminimize
Saracen Datasoft1987 labelimageminimize
Fisher-Price Firehouse Rescue GameTek1988 labelminimizeminimize
The Dark Heart of Uukrul Brøderbund (Digital Studios)1989This game has some interactive fiction, adventure and not yet defined elements. Players can visually search the room or listen find secrets, to get descriptions of the room, find riddles that hint at solutions to puzzles, and/or find clues to events in the nearby area. These are returned as text as the game has no sound whatsoever.

Advancement must be confirmed by player actions. Crosses are not just symbols in this game, they are apparently melee weapons. Equipment can require a minimum level of experience and/or a minimum character attribute. Clerics must pray to cast spells (all one action). The petitioned god can grant the cast, not answer, or punish the character. These random responses seem to be based on the character's previous actions but the mechanism is unclear.

The game is automatically saved much the same way as typical rogue-likes but a bit less often. Simply walking from one place to the next does not prompt a save, but reading a clue or resolving an encounter does. There is also a game "backup" save system. When a player is in a "sanctuary" they may manually create a second save.

Experience is shared but most of it distributed unequally based on a character's participation. The mechanism is unclear. Killing blows and attacks delivering significant damage have the most reward. Other actions are rewarded as well no mater what the result. Every character still gets something even if they did not interact with the battle at all. For example, if the first move of a battle is the player's fighter killing a single foe with a single blow, all other party members will get at least 1 XP or more for a stronger enemey.***If a character sacrifices their life to save their fellows, they lose piety. Dying is heresy, how [url=https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oran_of_Iona]Oran[/url]ic¡
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Catacomb Softdisk1991 labelimageminimize
Sylvan Idyll Softdisk1992 labelminimizeminimize
CryptoQuest MECC1993 labelminimizeminimize
House of Thirteen Ghosts author2015 labelminimizeminimize
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