This game is entirely text driven, and gives you a predefined character, pout out into the world to explore. You can get a report of all of your stats, which include your current location, as X/Y coordinates on the hexagonal world map (which was included in the magazine) and all possible exits. You can also hunt for monsters, and if you find one, you’ll enter a turn-based battle, though the only selections you can make are to attack or run away. If you step off of the main paths you also run into random encounters.
This was originally published in ASCII magazine before receiving a retail release on tape.
You search for treasure as well as food to keep from starving. You’ll also level up the more that you fight. You can find fellow warriors to join your journey but they need to be fed as well. The title of the game is historically important. While various sources render the English title as Arfgaldt, in Japanese, the spelling is extremely close to Alefgard, the name of the kingdom in the first Dragon Quest. It’s almost certainly the case that Yuji Horii played this game and named that setting as tribute.
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