DeathMaze 5000 is an early dungeon crawler from 1980 and it’s a good one. It was written by Frank Corr Jr. and published by Med Systems. Frank Corr Jr. also wrote Reality Ends with William F. Denman Jr. and it was also published by Med Systems. If you remember correctly I called Reality Ends an undiscovered gem from 1980. I’m going to do the same thing with the obscure DeathMaze 5000 published in the same year.
DeathMaze 5000 is the first dungeon crawler based on a grid system for the home computer system. I thought Wizardry I: Proving Grounds of the Mad Overlord was the first to do this and do it well but I now stand corrected. Med Systems was the first to introduce a grid based dungeon crawler to the home computer (I am not counting any of the mainframe grid crawlers from 1975 on up as they were not commercial games).
The only goal in DeathMaze 5000 is to leave the DeathMaze ALIVE.
Movement is via four arrow keys. The up arrow will move you forward one step while the other arrows turn you left, right, and around. The program is written in machine language and so the loading of the wireframe graphics as you move through the maze are instantaneous and fluid. Objects that you will need to solve puzzles and to propel you through the levels can be manipulated at any time with one or two word commands. The manual which comes with the game states that you can save the game, however, I played the game on a TRS-80 emulator and had no access to saves or save states. DeathMaze 5000 is properly named because I died many, many, many times and had to start over at the beginning each time. It took me at LEAST 12 hours to play through all five levels and emerge victorious. Not only is it the first grid based dungeon crawler but it contains multiple puzzles that are at times whimsical but clever and hard.
The DeathMaze is comprised of five different levels. Each level is made up of a 10 x 10 grid.
Many of the items that you find scattered throughout the five levels of the DeathMaze are borderline silly or odd. Inventory management becomes an issue as your traverse through the maze and it’s levels. Food and torches can be found on each level and are necessary in order to survive. If you run out of food you will immediately starve to death and if your torch sputters out before you’ve had a chance to light another one you will be eaten. Your food and torches both count as inventory items so juggling inventory can be a tricky affair. What makes the game even harder is the fact that not every item that you find in the maze has a particular use or is necessary to complete the game. However it can be infuriating to find yourself on the fourth level of the dungeon and realize that you left an item that you need back on level 2.
There are actually six very important items to find on the first level and only one red herring. The first dungeon level has a couple of tough puzzles to work through as well. One of those puzzles in particular is the hardest puzzle that I’ve seen to date in a game so far.
You hit a dead end in the corridor and suddenly across the screen the words appear: Tis the season, turn turn turn and then you are suddenly sealed in a 10 x 10 room and cannot leave.
I am dating myself a bit here because I’m now 56 years old but the first thing I thought of was the song by the Byrds: Turn! Turn ! Turn!
So what did I do? I started to turn. I turned left. I turned right. All to no avail. There was also a box at the end of the corridor so now that it seemed that I was trapped I opened the box and discovered, of all things, a calculator. I examined the calculator and it said it was dirty. I cleaned the calculator and it now read 317.2 Hmmm A clue of some sort? This puzzle had me stymied for quite some time. I actually rebooted the game and continued to map out the rest of Level One before returning to it again. This time, while stuck, I typed HELP. The response back from the game was INVERTED TELEPHONE Now that was definitely a clue. INVERTED. If you flip the calculator upside down the 317.2 now looks like Z.LIE My mind went to the letters that are found on a telephone so I then went to google and called up images of a phone.
The numbers 5, 4, 3 were associated with LIE. I wasn’t sure if the 2 was supposed to be taken for a Z but it could also represent the shape of the 5,4,3 sequence on the phone. Could it be that easy? This is the infuriating part. I actually solved this puzzle on my own with no clues; however I kept typing the answer in incorrectly. I am not sure WHY I ended up thinking I needed to literally type in: TURN 5 TIMES, TURN 4 TIMES, etc. and the computer game kept responding with; Are you crazy? I had the correct answer however I simply needed to use my arrow keys and physically turn. I found this out because I finally resorted to looking for a hint to the solution to this puzzle. I simply had to use the arrow keys to turn left 5 times, turn right 4 times, and turn left 3 times. Once you do that the wall vanishes and you are free. This is a very tricky puzzle for 1980! I later found out, due to dying multiple times and having to start over each time, that the game doesn’t care whether you start out turning left or right, as long as you have the 5,4,3 sequence it will work.
The second tough puzzle on Level One involves you trying to figure out where Level Two is. This involved finding a hat with Ram’s Horns on the top of it. I typed in WEAR HAT and then I started charging at all of the walls around the dungeon that might have a secret door. This took quite awhile but there was indeed a wall that you can charge through and you promptly fall down a pit to Level Two.
Level TWO has two items that you need to pick up as well as more food and a torch. All of the items on this level are spread far apart. Every time you turn in this game it counts as a step. You only have X amount of steps before you will need more food again or your torch burns out. So Level Two becomes a punishing lesson in how important it is to economize your steps and how necessary your food and torches are. I had come to a conclusion that the glass jar with a lid was a red herring and as I progressed further and further into the game I started to leave the glass jar behind. I realized, much to my detriment, that when I finally found my way to Level Five that I did indeed need the glass jar. I had to reboot the game and start all over. The other obstacle on this level is actually a puzzle. You have two vicious dogs on this level that you have to deal with. One will appear to harass you after you’ve completed a certain number of steps on this level. An inventory item will come in handy in dealing with this creature. The other dog can be avoided because it actually guards a red herring on this level. Experimenting with the FART command on this level produces some interesting results too.
This level has it all. It has a secret door, a red herring, and an elevator that actually works (the elevator on the second floor is a trap – when you enter it the walls close in and crush you – killing you instantly – hence the name DeathMaze). An elevator would appear a year later in Wizardry I. The wool is an absolute must to find on this level as you will need it later to deal with the monster stalking you on Level Four. Throughout the game you have the sense that something is hunting you throughout the corridors and you’ll have to face this creature head on when you reach Level Four. The secret door on this level took me a bit of time to find or realize it for what it was as well.
I spent a lot of time dealing with Level Four. The items once again are placed in such a way that you have to think about how you’re going to traverse the level and in what order you’re going to do things. There is a diabolical puzzle on this level involving the snake in the box from Level Two and the flute that you find on this level. I died several times trying to solve the snake puzzle. It was disheartening to have to keep starting over too after getting this far in the game. I also spent an inordinate amount of time trying to find a way to reach Level Five. I had to resort to a hint here. It is the second time I had to do so in order to finish the game. The answer to how you reach Level Five? Simple. You pull out the calculator and press the number 2. It will teleport you to Level Five. Yes. I am glad that I resorted to using a hint there. The items in your inventory are finite. Once you use them they disappear. So it is possible that you use an inventory item successfully on a lower level but find yourself without it on a later level and then unable to complete the game. Some puzzles have alternate solutions so be careful.
DeathMaze 5000 lived up to it’s title this on this level. I died 11 different times on this level and it took me multiple days to complete. I died trying to figure out how to deal with the darkness on this level. When you teleport to this level your torch instantly blows out. The creature that you killed on Level Four that had been stalking you throughout the early levels? It had a mother. She is here with you on Level Five. She is not happy. I died multiple times learning how to deal with her. I died multiple times inserting my golden key into the wrong lock on this level. You also encounter a Vampire Bat on this level that only the glass jar with lid will properly deal with. I’ll let you puzzle that one out. Once I reached the very end of the game I was asked a question that I did not know the answer to. I once again had to resort to using a hint; which was the third time, in order to complete the game.
This is another hidden gem from 1980. I am astounded that we had a dungeon crawler based on a grid system from this year. I thought the first to come along was Wizardry I a year later. This game was highly entertaining. It checked a lot of boxes for me. It was a bit too whimsical or silly for me in spots but there is no denying the strength of this game. Written in machine language, it was fluid and quick and I found no bugs. The game is hard. You will die often. It’s mix of puzzles and mapping are almost perfect. I had been pleasantly surprised by Reality Ends this year as well from this group so I am excited to now play the rest of their offerings.
When I completed this game my first inclination was to do a full walkthrough for the readers. But then I had to stop and remind myself that my purpose here is to not only share my experience with this piece of history but to entice you to play it as well. I know that not having a full, detailed walkthrough is not to everyone’s liking but I did not want to completely ruin the experience for those who might be interested in trying this dungeon crawler out on their own. So I walked a tightrope. It is a great mix of text (for the interactive adventure enthusiast) and dungeon crawling for those who like a good dungeon crawl. If anyone does need a nudge in the right direction, you know where to find me. I’d be all too happy to help you out. I strongly encourage you to try this obscure gem on your own.
Next up on the docket is Labyrinth which is another game from the group over at Med Systems. They were quite busy in 1980; developing and publishing Reality Ends, DeathMaze 5000, and Labyrinth. I am very eager to play Labyrinth after my experience with their other two releases.