We’ve hit a bit of a milestone here with coverage of our 200th game on this journey. While I’m proud to have come this far the finish line is still nowhere in sight. To put things in perspective, if we were to compare what I’m doing here to hiking the Appalachian Trail, which spans 14 states and covers 2,200 miles, we’d be only about 20 miles into our hike at this point. However, I have greatly enjoyed the journey thus far and I am happy to report that my zest for this remains strong. Let’s take a look at our next entry.
Dragonsbane was written by Preston, Hunt, Rose, and More and published by Quicksila for the ZX Spectrum in 1983.
Dragonsbane is a 172 room dungeon packed with 40 different kinds of monsters and you are tasked with finding the princess and rescuing her. She is chained somewhere in the dungeon complex and you’re going to need to find two keys to free her.
What immediately struck me in a positive way were the game’s graphics. There was something about the black background, the layout of the screen, and the depiction of the creatures that really resonated with me. I really like the graphical layout as depicted above. I believe the layout is self-explanatory and I fell in love with the appearance and vibe.
There really are only 20 different types of monsters but they are represented by two different colors. So there are two variations of twenty different types of monsters and I enjoyed the graphical rendering of each of them. The game’s graphics evoke an atmosphere or charm that channels Darkest Dungeon vibes that wouldn’t appear for another 34 years.
This game oozes a uniqueness that I found charming. The dungeon layout is fixed but the monsters and items with each new game are distributed randomly.
Movement through the dungeon takes just a little bit of getting used to. You move using the number keys on your keyboard. 5 = left, 6 = back, 7 = forward and 8= right. The compass points are not fixed so when you move you’re moving in the direction you’re facing.
Each of the rooms are numbered and the map is fixed that way so it is a simple matter of writing the number of the room down and then linking them together to make your map.
There are also teleports that move you from one area of the dungeon labyrinth to the other. There were roughly five of these and mastering them is essential to a winning strategy.
It was obvious after playing the game for awhile that each of the dungeon denizens had a particular weakness or vulnerability. For example the skeleton succumbs easily to a bludgeoning weapon, the rat to a dagger, and the basilisk to a mirror. I thought perhaps then it was necessary to juggle your inventory and obliterate each monster obstacle with their appropriate weakness. I found that this strategy was greatly affected by the randomization of the objects and monsters in the dungeon with each new game. You also can only carry 7 objects at a time. Let’s step back from that line of thought and talk about food in the game.
When you begin each game you start with 16 meals. The game teases that consuming food increases your strength and endurance but NOT to gorge yourself; that you need to find the right balance of how much food to eat to rejuvenate yourself. I found that once your strength and endurance starts to wane, eating 3 meals will dramatically increase both of those meters. When your strength and endurance meters are relatively high, there is no monster in the game that can stand against you; defeating them is relatively easy. This places the economy of food in the game on center stage. Not all of the monsters are hostile. A few of them you can speak to rather than attack and your benevolence will allow you to trade with the creature. You can give it an inventory item in exchange for food. There are a couple of spots in the dungeon where you can find food and skill potions. All of this combines to create a strategy whereby your goal is to make your way through the entire dungeon while keeping your strength and endurance meters high. It is just combat that depletes your meters. Each step you take through the dungeon depletes your strength and endurance and running with this strategy can be a balancing act but it serves to ratchet up the tension which made the game even more enjoyable to me. The more combats that you win serves to increase your skill meter as well which means that measuring opponents against your strength and endurance meters falls more in your favor.
One of the two keys that you need to rescue the princess is guarded by a dragon lord. He looks impressive but again if your strength and endurance meters are high he is easily dispatched regardless of what weapon type you use.
You’ll need to find one of the hidden chutes in order to reach the area where the second key and princess are found.
I know these games are completely subjective but I really liked this offering. I liked having to create the map and work my way through the puzzle of it while dealing with the denizens. The graphics and the overall display really resonated with me. The battles too are highly entertaining in their descriptions as evidenced below:
I found this game to be extremely fun despite its simplicity.
Next up on the docket is Dragon Quest.
Until next time…