We now find ourselves playing games from 1980 as 1979 is now in our rearview mirror. It took me awhile to compile this list from 1980 but what you’re looking at is a complete list of the computer role-playing games that were published in 1980 as well as all of the text adventures. We are also introduced to what would be called the Graphic Adventure category this year. There are a couple of standout offerings that I’m really looking forward to playing. Rogue is number one in my crosshairs and we also have Infocom’s very first text adventure: Zork I which I am looking forward to. G.F.S. Sorceress is another offering from Gary Bedrosian and sadly I believe it will be his last. I awarded his previous two games the 1978 and 1979 Game of the Year respectively. I am also eager to try Roberta William’s first offering: Mystery House as we embark on this new Graphic Adventure category.
This compilation is all encompassing and ambitious. My goal is to play all of these games. There are 86 total games here so I may find myself spending quite some time in 1980. My passion are the games in the CRPG category and I will be gorging myself on them first. They take top priority and I can guarantee that I will play and review each and every one of them. I worry that I may exhaust myself with all of these text adventure offerings in this year and may want to move on. I am sure that decision will be based on the quality.
I present to you the 1980 Check List of Games.
An ambitious list of games to tackle! As the quality of some of these games varies widely, perhaps you want to timebox your initial exploration of a game, and only devote more time to a game if you’re really enjoying it and/or it’s culturally significant.
BTW according to IFDB, the game “Nillan is thirsty” is actually called “Nellan is thirsty”. https://ifdb.tads.org/viewgame?id=ata4hor6osh3c02
Good luck with your exploration of 1980!