The Ring of Darkness was written by J. F. Humphreys & D. A. Briskham and published by a company out of the United Kingdom known as Wintersoft. It was released first in 1982 for the Dragon 32 and then a year later it would be released for the ZX Spectrum. In 1985 the Amstrad CPC also enjoyed a version of the game. I played the ZX Spectrum version using an emulator known as the Spectaculator. It took me roughly 25 hours to beat.
I wanted to send out a special thank you to William Hern who dealt with the technical details involved in getting the game up and running. William is a regular reader and contributor and if it were not for his efforts I would not have been able to experience this game. I may be able to successfully map out dungeon labyrinths, vanquish mighty foes, and solve riddles and puzzles, but dealing with the technical hurdles involved in getting some of these older games to run is another matter entirely. Thanks again William.
They say imitation is the best form of flattery. If this is true then Richard Garriott should feel truly flattered. To say that Ring of Darkness is a blatant rip off of Ultima I is an understatement. This is apparent the very first time you walk into a town.
This screen of the town replete with graphics looks exactly like a town you’d encounter in Ultima I. This town has all of the same features as Ultima such as counters for buying and selling armor, food, spells, transport and weapons as well as a pub where you can buy drinks and information. When you visit the king you have the choice of a gold tithe or accepting a quest. You even have the jester in each town proclaiming “I’ve got the key!” as shown in the picture above.
It is very clear that this is indeed an Ultima clone and that the designers used a “cookie cutter” like recipe when creating the overall plot. What isn’t clear is if the developers were “fan boys” and paying homage to Garriott and his Ultima series or if they simply felt that Ultima was THE CRPG industry standard that they needed to exactly replicate for success. Whatever the reason; I’m sure Garriott was less than thrilled at seeing so many game details “borrowed” from Akalabeth, Ultima I, and even Ultima II.
Yes there is no doubt this game is an Ultima Clone and a blatant rip off of game details and mechanics. BUT it does a marvelous job doing so and pulls everything off exceedingly well. The crisp graphics, vibrant colors depicted in the overland map, the choreography of the overland map itself, the creative labeling of towns and dungeons, and even the streamlining of the “cookie cutter-like” plot were all excellent. Gone are many of the science fiction elements and the developers stayed closer to fantasy trappings. While I wanted to roll my eyes and shake my fist at such a blatant rip off I found myself enjoying the game immensely.
This game has the same character attributes, character classes, and races as Ultima. Modifications are made to your attributes based on the class and race that you select.
I chose to create a Dwarven Warrior with a focus towards strength. I figured I’d hack n slash and bludgeon my way to victory.
Your presented with this screen just before being bodily deposited into the overland map with a couple of daggers, leather armor, and 150 hit points. It looks like we’re questing for four rings.
I decided to do the entire overland map by hand. In for a penny, in for a pound right? A huge undertaking but I really enjoyed doing so. It was a difficult task to get right because the entirety of the map is not only quite large but areas of the map also overlap one another. Once you’ve reached the eastern edge of the map, for example, you simply begin again on the western most edge of the map. The north and south boundaries of the map are like this as well. So it took me some time to determine where new areas of the map ended and old ones appeared again. Below is a photograph I took of my work. The entire map is accurate and include numbered locations of all the map’s secrets.
Once I completed the game I could have gone back and filled in the empty hexes with the appropriately missing terrain but the as yet un-played games on my list were beckoning to me. The areas shaded in red all over the continent are important locations such as dungeons, signs, and towns. Here are some close up shots of different portions of the map which is almost four feet in length by three feet in width.
I found this game to be much harder than Akalabeth or Ultima I. In the beginning just trying to survive is a monumental task. You have to constantly replenish your food supply and thus much of your gold that you accrue has to be used to purchase food. Wilderness travel is very unforgiving for a large percentage of the game. There are many outdoor enemies that assail you and they serve to whittle down your precious hit points. The monetary award for outdoor encounters is paltry indeed and you’re going to find yourself in an extremely weakened state if you don’t get yourself to a dungeon. Like Ultima I, you are awarded hit points when you exit a dungeon based on the number of enemies that you’ve killed. Once you find a dungeon you’re going to find yourself in a slow grind to build your character up so that you can begin to travel and explore.
The dungeons, towns, and signs all have the same icon on the overland map which looks like a castle. In order to discover which of the three you’re dealing with you’re going to have to move your character over the icon and then press E on the keyboard for Enter.
If it is a dungeon that you’ve discovered the game will ask you if you’re sure you want to enter. You can always say no. The dungeons consist of 10 levels. Below is my map of the first dungeon level of Death’s Reach.
The interesting thing about the map is that it can represent every single dungeon level of any dungeon that you enter. The map for every level of every dungeon is exactly the same. The highlighted portions of the map represent either a pit or a ladder up or down. What’s different with each level and each dungeon is placement of the ladders and the pits. You’ll have to create a legend or notational system that helps you keep track of your entrances and exits for each level. What I did was map where all of the ladders were in the Death’s Reach dungeon. Then when I was given a quest in which I had to hunt down and slay a particular monster I would travel back to Death’s Reach since I was familiar with the dungeon and I would then use that as my hunting grounds.
When you present yourself before the King in each town you can accept a quest from them. When you complete the quest you are either awarded with gold or given one of the four rings which you seek. The quest for the four rings constitutes much of the game. Below are the names of the town (as well as the location # on the map) and the quest which you are assigned as well as the reward if you prove successful in your task.
- Borderton ( #1 on the map ) – find the Sinclair Sign – your reward for completion is 300 gold pieces
- Entwood Castle ( #4 on the map ) – slay an Incubus – your reward is the Ring of Gold
- Port Stillwater ( #5 on the map ) – slay a Jelly Cube – your reward is the Ring of Bronze
- Ocean Town ( #8 on the map ) – find Gondor’s Monument – your reward is 300 gold pieces
- Wilderton ( #13 on the map ) – slay a Seeker – your reward is the Ring of Silver
- Castle Pepper ( #16 on the map ) – find the Northern Sign – your reward is 300 gold pieces
- Briskham Harbour ( #17 on the map – slay a Balrog – your reward is the Ring of Copper
- City of Eagles (#20 on the map ) – find the Tower of Alcheron – your reward is 300 gold pieces
The wireframe graphics of the creatures are very good. The Jelly Cube is the easiest creature to slay and it is based off the Gelatinous Cube which originated with the Dungeons & Dragons game. They probably changed the name of the creature to avoid copyright infringement though they haven’t seemed to have an issue with that so far.
Level 1 of the dungeons you’ll encounter bats, rates, skeletons and thieves.
The Jelly Cubes are especially dangerous because they can destroy your metal armor with a successful hit. It does no good to carry extra suits of armor with you because you are not allowed to equip in the dungeon. Below is a screenshot of the Jelly Cube quest being successfully completed.
Level Two introduces the Etin and it was on Level 3 that you begin to encounter Jelly Cubes as well as Griffins.
Level Four of the dungeons is where you’ll begin to encounter Mimics which appear as chests or ladders before they attack. They are pretty tough adversaries.
Level Five introduces the Gorgon.
Level Six of the dungeons introduces Gremlins which are easy to kill but they steal your food from you. You’ll also encounter the Incubus on this level which you need to slay in order to complete a quest.
Level Seven introduces Invisible Slayers and Level Eight is where you’ll find a Seeker. When I was given the quest to slay a Seeker I wasn’t sure what I was looking for or what I would find. The graphic of the Seeker is absolutely cool.
Just underneath the Seeker is a picture of the Invisible Slayer. (giggle)
Level 9 introduces the Mind Drainer. This beast is deadly. It delivers massive damage and it sucks intelligence points from you each time it hits. You need to be very wary of these creatures. You can have 1600 hit points but if they drain your intelligence to zero you’re instantly killed or you have to begin a career in politics. One or the other.
Level 10 introduces the deadliest of the dungeon denizens: the Balrog, Gorn, and Wanderer.
I though the Balrog would be the hardest creature to slay but what shocked me was encountering a Gorn on this level. The Gorn was delivering 300+ hit points of damage and was tremendously hard to kill. When I vanquished the Gorn there was a special chiming sound effect and when I looked at my character sheet I saw I was awarded the designation of Gorn Slayer.
I stumbled across the realization of this accidentally but I believe that you have to encounter and slay one of these creatures before you rescue the princess from her jail cell.
Once you have all four rings in your possession and the designation of Gorn Slayer it is time to extricate the key from the jester and free the captive princess.
I chose the City of Eagles to obtain the key and free the princess. Once I freed her from her captivity she told me to seek the dungeon known as Xandra’s Quest in order to complete my quest.
It should be noted that the items that you can purchase change as you gain experience and levels. A raft, ship or hovercraft is not available to you until you’ve reached a certain level. A couple of the final towns and special locations can only be reached by hovercraft as you have to use it to hover over a river through a mountain pass. There are also a couple of towns and special locations in the middle of the game that can only be reached by boat or raft.
The best weapon that you can obtain is a blaster and the best armor is a reflective suit and these items are reminiscent of Ultima I as well. There is no journey through space or time in this game however; these science fiction trappings were as far as the developers were willing to go.
Once you find the hidden dungeon and enter you receive this screen:
Followed by:
And lastly:
What follows next is a combat to the finish with the evil Gron who is guarding the evil, one ring known as SHEDIR.
The graphic on the far right represents the one ring sitting upon a pedestal. The battle with Gron is brutal and Gron deals almost 300 points of damage with each blow. Once you think Gron is defeated he rises from the ashes again much like your final showdown in Ultima I. The key here is once Gron appears to be defeated you need to make your way over to the pedestal and obtain the ring by pressing G for (G)et on your keyboard.
Once you obtain the ring you are rewarded with the following message:
I was pretty stoked to discover that there is a sequel to this game. I can’t wait to get to it.
I really had a lot of fun playing this game. To date, it appears to be the best CRPG the ZX Spectrum has produced so far. (I know, it’s early). I spent over 25 hours with the game; probably closer to 27 hours. Did I spend too much time with this game? The answer is whether I enjoyed the experience with it and my answer is an emphatic yes.
I am currently playing Dungeons of Daggorath in the background and I am at this point completely caught up with my backlog of write ups. I am embarking on a much needed vacation as of tomorrow and I will be off the grid for the next eleven days. When I return I will continue my battle with Dungeons of Daggorath. Until next time…