Preliminary: Early action-adventures and platformers always get me excited! And I know it's the type I will push through even if it proves not to be great. So, with the map+key published by Zzap!64 and this "guide" (basically just guideline), I felt ready to give this an earnest try! Tho it seemed likely either the time commitment or the controls would end up being a barrier. Here goes nothing!

Look: 7/10 Impressive variety of sprites for its time, I'm surprised to see its contemporary reviews bemoan its graphics. I prefer it over many of its contemporary Commodore games' graphics! The rudimentary attempts at full-body sprites heh.. And indeed, I for one love the absurd Blasto-esque look of the main character sprite

Sound: 7/10 Good jingles for the beginning screens and throughout the game. Certainly nothing sentimental and profound, but I like how the Sound adjusts for which enemies are around/what room you are in. Adds a lot to the game, which is nice to see in 84. Most of the game, though, sounded like Speccy sounds more than Commodore 64 sounds, and in some ways that's nice cuz I love the Atic Atac clicking vibe, but also not so nice since I've been loving the Hubbard era C64 music.

Play: 6/10 Even tho I was not in love with the isometric navigation, never am, I was very intrigued by the adventure+shooting-spells gameplay, the fact it was an early true action-adventure, the well-done UI, the fact I had a guide to reference etc.... soooooo I printed the map and guide despite my better judgment :-x Hopefully it winds up being worth it. Some horrible collision masks and annoying how most enemies immediately respawn after killing them and some really petty pop-outs with the enemies, but such an adventure, and so many unique enemy sprites.

Feel: 8/10 I love how the spell names remind me of early text adventures, they're quite nonsensical :-p and lmao, I love the solution to the Waiting Room's pentacle piece. (very text adventure esque too). Ok, maybe I don't love it cuz there needs to be a wait command or a way to make it go faster... Ohhhhh lol you can only carry one piece at a time, apparently, you gotta drop each off. I had been sitting there like an idiot for 5 minutes :-p That feature, though, definitely wound up being the most tedious part of the game. Sorry but y'all didn't make the Dungeon and Abode of Karn action sequences that good to warrant us having to do them 16 times.... it's the same thing over and over... That definitely added a drag to the game. While they certainly could have added a lot of adventure-game-enthusiast clout by making you come upon all the spells in the game, or worse yet rogue-seque randomized come-upon them, I for one was grateful you started with all the spells--that would have just been another tedious aspect imo. (But yeah, pro-tip: you have to bring each piece back and use the Baracata spell for ones like the Waiting Room's to appear)

Attachment: 7/10 Eventually I caved and accepted that I'd have to have the Infinite Energy cheat; tho I can't claim the combat was bad like in many of these early microcomputer action-adventures, it still was just ridiculously difficult. Without that cheat, I probly would not have liked the game as much; but such as it were, it's a fun game to engage with and at least envision myself beating legitimately! Ha. Because it's a genre and concept I always like to genuinely try to complete. . .. I just needed some extra help ;) The guide/map was necessary too, I can only imagine how much less enjoyable this is trial-and-erroring every spell, especially since many reviewers noted the Instructions' lack of guidance or explanation. Not only because I had to use a cheat, but also because I can never fully love isometric navigation (plus many of the collision masks, namely at bends and whatnot, were poorly done), this cannot be a favorite/top game. But it certainly stands out, and I pushed through and beat it the way I could, and I can't deny my love for this type of genre and Feel.

Well, actually, maybe I am learning, because I stopped myself at this point

That's just about half full. None of the puzzles went beyond having to use a certain spell, or hurry from one spot to another. All the spells looked essentially the same, and their effects would have felt petty to have to discern. I don't regret spending the ~hour I did playing it, and it's worth a playtest, but this would definitely be more enjoyable if you didn't have to return every piece, if there were a bit more to the spells and combat, and if there were some sort of Score system to drive you. Oh, and if there was a Hubbard soundtrack :-p I know I would have pushed through if so. I doubt I will return to this, but I can't deny a deep urge that I want to return to it, and it's a game I wont forget/can reference when discussing the roots of action-adventures.

Completion: Collected 8/16 pieces, was bringing the 8th to the Altar Playtime: ~1 hour