Oldorf’s Revenge was developed and published by Highlands Computer Services in 1980 for the Apple II. It was originally titled Wizard I and then Highlands later changed it to avoid confusion with Wizard and the Princess which was released by Sierra On-Line that same year. There are still a few copies of the game with the Wizard I title floating around out there. The game was released for the Atari 800 in 1981 but it’s title was changed yet again to Warlock’s Revenge.
It’s hard to classify the type of genre in which Oldorf’s Revenge falls into. It is listed as an RPG however that’s not entirely true. It does have some RPG elements however it is also an adventure game, a text adventure and a graphic adventure using wire-frame graphics all rolled into one. This is not particularly surprising as I characterized the role-playing game genre in 1980 as feeling it’s way around in the dark a little bit. You were likely to encounter more RPG hybrids in 1980 than any other year. This wasn’t a misconception by the developers. Most of them, in my opinion, merely wanted to translate their table top role-playing game experience to the computer as best they could. They were severely limited by the hardware they had to work with so the result were several different kinds of hybrids.
What Oldorf’s Revenge brings to the table is something very unique which we have not seen before. When you begin the game you are presented with seven different character classes listed as follows: cleric, thief, gladiator, strongman, magician, elf and wizard. You must pick one of those classes to begin the game with. Now here is the unique feature that we have not seen anywhere else. You can switch between the seven archetypes at any time in the game by choosing the letter C from your keyboard. Each of the archetypes have special abilities that will be needed to bypass traps, obstacles, adversaries or special terrain in the game. There is also strategy involved in these decisions. You can only switch to each archetype 5 times; and each time you make the switch it deducts 10 points from your Strength score. You begin the game with a strength of 100.
Switching between seven different character classes or archetypes to solve puzzles specific to their class and having only a limited number of times you can do so was extremely unique and something never seen before in 1980. Doom Cavern did have you start the game with a fighter, cleric, and magic-user and each would use their special abilities as you explored the dungeon but Oldorf’s Revenge offered a completely different take and is worth pointing out.
I actually got all the way to the end of the game and realized that I needed my Wizard to solve two more puzzles yet. However I had already used all of the wizard’s slots so I had to begin the game all over again and economize my actions. This is what I meant by there is a strategy to your choices. You want to avoid changing classes too often and plan out when and how you’re going to make the switch by studying your map.
You are presented with a locked door at the very start of the game. So if you chose to start with any of the other archetypes other than the thief, you’re going to have to switch to the thief archetype to unlock the door for you. This will already cost you a slot and 10 strength points. It was fun determining what the different strengths of each archetype were and how they were used.
The map itself sports over 100 different locations and in and of itself is one of the puzzles of the game. You have the option of moving north, south, west, east, up and down. Each location doesn’t always describe the type of or number of exits from the spot. So no matter what the description reads you have to methodically test each location for hidden exits. There are several hidden areas and/or treasures that need to be located this way.
The map or game can be divided into four major areas. Their is a toll bridge that you need to cross to advance to the next area of the game however in order to cross the toll bridge you need 50 gold pieces. The gold pieces are scattered all over in the caverns and your first obstacle then will be to find all 50 gold pieces. There are a couple of spots that are tricky and both involve using the special abilities of your character archetypes correctly. Once you have the 50 gold pieces you can then pay the toll, cross the bridge and then advance to the next section of the game.
The ultimate goal of this game is to get through all four sections of the game with 14 different treasures or 300 points. Once you have all of the treasures in your possession you can then make it through one last door and then you will be presented with your final stats.
Oldorf’s Underground Castle represents the second section of the game. It was relatively short and the puzzles were not very hard however they were enjoyable.
The third section of the game was a bit more difficult and involved not only Snotgurgle’s Palace but exploring the Land of Lxor.
There is a puzzle in this section that can only be solved by the wizard archetype so this is a gentle reminder to try and economize the number of times that you must switch classes. This is the section of the game where you must use different classes more than once which might ultimately prevent you from finishing the game later. The roman numeral puzzle on this level really stumped me for a time and caused me to backtrack around the level for about 45 minutes until I had that “aha experience”. I’ve already said too much about it so now you won’t have the same difficulty that I had with it.
The puzzles in the last section of the game were not hard however the map itself was and you’ll want to take your time here mapping out this last section to avoid spending more time with the level than you need to.
I enjoyed the game for it’s unique style. It was not a GREAT RPG nor was it a GREAT text or graphic adventure but what it did do was introduce a completely different element that we have not seen before and I enjoyed playing the game and jumping between the different character archetypes.
