Castle of Doom is the fifth adventure in the series but the third adventure written by Eamon creator Donald Brown.
Donald Brown adds to the complexity of the programming in this latest adventure. The player may now return to the Main Hall at any time during the course of the adventure. Castle of Doom will then remember the state of the dungeon in which your character left it so that you can return to the adventure without any interruption. This is a new feature added to the wonderful world of Eamon!
Castle of Doom does not have much of a plot. The premise is that “two kindly old ladies” maintain a circular Castle of Doom as a challenge to members of the Guild of Free Adventurers. The player then is expected to fight, explore and plunder his or her way through the Castle.
The description of each room and the map of the Castle is another feature unique to Eamon games. While a couple of the adventures have had as many as 70+ locations to explore; most of the maps have been relatively straightforward. The multi-level circular structure however can be confusing to map out.
The humor in Eamon games can sometimes be slightly absurd and another example of this humor can be found on the first level of the Castle. In the Main Hall you can encounter three dwarves named Huey, Dewey, and Louie. They are friendly and can be great allies as you explore the Castle.
In the arc-shaped Hall of Heroes you will find a golden statue. If you attempt to pick the statue up it transforms into an adventurer known as Lilith . Lilith explains to you that he’ll return to statue form if he is killed – however if he kills you, you will become the statue. If you defeat Lilith he does simply transform into the statue again.
In the library you can find a book and if you read it; the book will raise your Charisma score
In one of the quarter-circle rooms resides a tiger. If you’re able to kill it you can obtain it’s jeweled collar.
On the second level of the Castle is a guest bedroom with a woman chained to the bed post by a gold chain. If you release her she turns into a succubus and then attacks you.
On the second level you also encounter a room with two chests; one of them is a mimic! There is a cute reference to Beginner’s Cave and the mimic encounter there.
The first level of the Castle has a chamber with an emerald on a stand in the middle of the room. It is labeled “Brown Travel Agency”. If you touch the emerald you are magically teleported into subterranean chambers below the Castle.
You may encounter Dracula in the subterranean complex either in his coffin or roaming the halls. The only way he can be killed is with the Acme Bottle of Holy Water and a wooden stake.
Three orcs guard a valuable pearl in the subterranean catacombs.
There is a room which holds an Academy Award “Oscar” statuette. If you touch it it will magically teleport you back to the room with the green emerald.
Your player character can return to the Main Hall with some of the plunder and then return later to obtain the rest because of the new “snapshot” feature.
Castle of Doom may not have much of a plot but the unique map and new “snapshot” feature by Donald Brown make it a must play. Fost Longstrider enjoyed ‘hacking n slashing’ throughout the Castle and garnering some nice loot in the process.
I used the proceeds from the loot I brought back to the Hall to learn the Speed spell and I now know all of the spells and I have my Sword weapon proficiency up to 66% now.
Next up in the que will be Telengard; a 1982 role-playing dungeon crawler by Daniel Lawrence.