Game #114: CastleQuest

There used to exist online subscription services which would host games or different MUDS. MUD originally stood for multi-user dungeon but would later include variants such as multi-user domain. This was a multiplayer real-time virtual world, usually text based. Gemstone III and later Gemstone IV were popular examples of a MUD.

GEnie was one such service and it had a games area which contained these different MUDS. There were also single player text games to play as well but most of these were lost when GEnie ended its subscription service in 1999.

One of the games that you could choose to play on General Electric’s Network was Castlequest. Thanks to the herculean efforts of Arthur O’Dwyer and the game’s authors the Castlequest code was found and the game can be played today. This IFDB link has a version compiled for Windows which is how I was able to play the game. A gigantic thank you to Jason Dyer’s sleuthing skills and for shining a light on this hidden gem.

CastleQuest was written by Mike Holtzman and Mark Kershenblatt. If you’re interested in reading the entire story of how they were able to resurrect the code you can do so HERE.

My initial reaction upon playing CastleQuest for the very first time was a tiny squeak of joy. I immediately fell in love with the verbose descriptions provided for each room or location in the game. The writing throughout the entire game is very good which fosters a higher degree of player immersion.

The puzzles in the game are not particularly difficult nor are they unfair. There is a logic and certain practicality to each conundrum that you’re presented with. The game’s difficulty revolves around inventory management and economizing your moves. Most of the game’s puzzles or obstacles involve you having to find a particular item and then using that item correctly. The trick however is finding said item. CastleQuest is another text adventure in which you’re going to have to properly manage your light source or it will be the death of you. I mentioned that one of the more difficult aspects of the game is trying to economize your moves. This becomes important for two key reasons: 1) if you don’t properly manage your light source you’ll end up breaking your neck and you’ll have to begin the game anew; and 2) you are awarded a higher score in the game according to the number of turns it took you to reach the end.

I was surprised at the depth of the game. It was much bigger than I initially believed it would be and it consisted of almost two completely different games. In the first stage of the game you wake up in an old castle and have to explore it’s many rooms. It becomes clear from the atmospheric descriptions and from the items that you find that your nemesis in the story is likely a vampire. You’ll also encounter a werewolf, a giant vampire bat and a hunchback. Exploring the castle and finally ridding yourself of the Count presents you with a sizable gaming experience. The size of the game thus far already rivals or exceeds most of the other interactive text adventures we’ve played thus far. Remember however that this game was played on a mainframe and so we’re not even halfway done at this point. This is what really surprised me but in a good way.

You soon find that the second part of the adventure plays out a lot like Colossal Cave Adventure. You suddenly find yourself exploring catacombs underneath the castle and collecting and depositing treasures for points.

There are a lot of locations to map in the catacombs beneath the castle. This is where inventory management and economization of your moves can become tricky. You can SAVE the game however when you do save it closes your window and you have to begin the game again and type RESTORE at the beginning. Despite the SAVE game capability; you can soft lock yourself from being able to finish if you don’t manage your lamp properly. I found that I had to start all over from the very beginning THREE different times because of inventory management or accidentally forgetting to turn off my lamp before I could refill it (HINT HINT)

What was even more surprising is that while you’re collecting treasures and depositing them you will have three more adversaries to overcome. One is the murderous gnome which randomly shows up to harass you much like the werewolf did in the castle above. The other two adversaries are the cyclops and the wizard and you’ll have to figure out how to get by them.

I greatly enjoyed this text adventure and for me it was an undiscovered gem in the 1980 collection. I love being surprised by a game you’ve never played before or even heard of and CastleQuest was certainly that for me.

This is a rather large game and it took me several sittings to complete. You will find that you’ll arrive at a location and then realize that you need object XYZ which you don’t have on you but instead dropped in room ABC way back in the beginning of the game. Ugh There were a few tougher puzzles as well that you’ll need a little time with but you’ll eventually get them. The sleeping butler was an original twist that might catch you viewing the situation with the wrong lens. The realization that you can eventually carry LARGER objects to different game locations was another I spent a lot of time on. You will also learn through play that “shortcuts” can be created to connect different gaming environments which helps to economize your moves and thereby increase your score.

If you’re a fan of text adventures and have not yet played CastleQuest I strongly suggest you do so. I had a great time with it and it makes me sad that the other solo text adventures that were also available seem truly lost.