This obscure Commodore 64 classic is one of THE scariest – and most confusing – games of all time. Both in one!
In Scarabaeus you have to explore an ancient Egyptian tomb, chasing ghosts, avoiding zombies and spiders, and eventually making your way to the Pharaoh’s tomb in the centre of the third level.
This incredible “indie” dungeon crawler absolutely drips atmosphere and is bloody terrifying in places! It’s a heck of a challenge too…
Legend of Grimrock plays very much in the mould of Dungeon Master, and other first-person, tile-based RPGs, but it does it so much better than almost all of the others.
The second of two ground-breaking Ultima Underworld games made by Blue Sky Productions (later to become Looking Glass Technologies) and Origin Systems.
Labyrinth of Worlds, first released in 1993, again features a very early (and successful) attempt to create a Role-Playing Game with a fully-explorable 3D environment. Both this – and its predecessor, The Stygian Abyss – were developed concurrently, and were a significant leap forward in terms of software technology at the time.
Continue reading Ultima Underworld II: Labyrinth of Worlds, PC
The first of two ground-breaking Ultima Underworld games made by Looking Glass Technologies (formerly known as Blue Sky Productions) and Origin Systems.
The Stygian Abyss, first released in 1992, is one of the first Role-Playing Games to feature first-person action in a 3D environment.
This 1983 release from Doric Computer Services for the ZX Spectrum is a simple, but engrossing, cave exploration game with tense combat and tough gameplay.
Dark and disturbing, Playdead’s Limbo is a small boy’s journey into a world filled with deadly traps and killer monsters.
***CANNED GAME***
Tarantula is a game that was developed by Scavenger for the PC back in 1994, but was never completed and ultimately canned.
Black Crypt is the first game developed by Raven Software. It’s an Amiga exclusive, initially published by Electronic Arts in 1992. It could be argued that it’s also an unashamed clone of FTL’s Dungeon Master, but it is at least an exceptional one.
Steve Turner‘s 1985 sequel to Avalon is about as atmospheric and exciting as a fantasy adventure can get on a ZX Spectrum. It really is amazing that this game fits in to only 48K of memory.
Amberstar is a German-developed RPG that was originally released for the Atari ST, Amiga and PC MS-DOS in 1992. It is an incredibly difficult game to get a foothold in, but is worth the effort because it is such an interesting gaming challenge to take on.
The King of Grabs 