Preliminary: Oooo hubbard music and a set ending? The graphics of the actual dungeon crawling are very basic and Rogue-esque, but the graphics at the bottom and UI seem well-done. Hmm. So sad there isn't any music in the Speccy version, I often prefer the playing of Speccy games. But here goes nothing with the C64 version! Oooo Magic Missile and other PLATO RPG/D&D vibes

Look: 8/10 Oh boy this is probly about to be quite the commitment. It looks like there's no leveling/grinding which I don't like--I love a good grind--instead it's based on the equipment and item upgrades. Still, based on this wonderful UI (despite the simple graphics in the upper left, I genuinely feel they did an amazing drop incorporating text adventure style Examines and I want to explore this on my own without simply following a guide for once. tho dont worry, in order to actually beat the game I will then refer to a guide as needed on another playthrough :-p )

Sound: 9/10 Top-notch stuff. Eventually gets repetitive but can't blame it. The jingle is great. Good ol Hubbard.

Play: 9/10 (I almost gave this an 8 but it's a game where, once you get to know the gameplay, the things that frustrated me or surprised me really wouldn't still be an issue. Plus, this is the best of the early computer dungeon crawler RPGs since PLATO, so...) I lovvvve the in-game demo-style guide where it can help you get used to the game, btu only up until you die to some Skeletons, allowing you to get a taste of the game with in-game help. Super cool idea. I love that unlike a lot of text adventures and early dungeon crawlers, RPGs, and action-adventures, this beginning scroll (you Pick it Up then Examine it like in a text adventure) is cryptic without being Zelda 2 cryptic ha. And to think this far predates Zeldas! This makes me excited to explore, with some goals in mind, and the knowledge to not mess with the Minotaur till I find its weakness (which of course if I were young, I'd play this over and over to find out, but I figure after a try or 2 I will research its weakness :-p )

I love how the minimap slowly reveals itself like in a PLATO RPG, tho I do wish it had a filling-out-a-full-map-on-screen factor like some of the PLATO RPGs do. But it made navigating an otherwise complex maze situation not so bad and much easier to map (tho I eventually started using a made map I found via google, if I were young I'd map it myself and this minimap helps with that). Now, the collision masks certainly were clunky as I was navigating around but this isn't really meant to be much of an action-adventure anyway heh, so that can be forgiven. At least you can go diagonal! Unlike a lot of its contemporary, straight-up action or action-adventure games! (I suppose, when backtracking and going fast through areas and dipping/dodging/running past enemies, the minimap revealing itself got a bit nauseating... I still forgive it tho :-p )

Pro-tip: You wield the beginning Scroll. And unlike usual equip processes for RPGs, you will have to "Swap hands" till your weapon is in your right hand. Apparently our hero is a rightie? :-p (There is a "Wear"/equip factor for Armour, though. But you need a free hand to pick up an item so you might as well just drop that Scroll heh)

I was going to say the inventory limitation is quite frustrating, but you wear the Rings, Armour, etc. so that makes room. Also, there's a Backpack item! Good call! (you can wear it by the way) Anyway, is it just me or are the spiders way OP? heh.

Pro-tip: Magic Shield helps so much when you know you have a lot of melee coming up. Like when in the big open floor with the Skeletons, Hellhound, and Orc (which by the way, make sure you push through that battle because necessary items come from it!! maybe a weakness for one of the enemiessss [vampires]). Tho keep in mind the morning star/mace is still best for most the enemies, so go ahead and talk that special weapon into your Backpack.

Spoiling pro-tip: Don't waste your time with the Vampire + Magician on the next floor after the aforementioned one. Not only is that a difficulty duo (lure the Vampire away) but also the Scroll was lying when it said the Magician is important >.<

Oh shoot, enemies can go up and down stairs too btw haha. Don't die like I did >.< Luckily the game is one you learn, know the route, and can replay quite quickly so deaths like that aren't too frustrating. It's just a part of learning the quirks. I wish it were clearer which Dagger is which, either by the graphic or the regular title. I had to Examine repeatedly and Put Down and walk away to distinguish which Dagger was which. (not to mention there also are normal Daggers ha. must have been super hard to discover certain Daggers are essential to the game) And a simple misclick can mean death, because for instance Taking Off nothing counts as a turn so the enemies get another attack. Not a huge fan of how insanely hard-hitting the final boss Minotaur is but that makes sense. RNG plays a bit role in that and I can't deny I savestated before it on the playthrough I won. Surely would've gotten frustrating, and maybe even the music eventually annoying, had I had to repeatedly start over for that final boss. I suppose that's where that usual computer RPG difficulty came in, but luckily I have the privilege of savestating the time I got to the MInotaur with the proper Dagger! :-p

Feel: 9/10 Wow, as people have noted, the music is so damn good. It keeps the vibe fresh. And as it changed up the music a bit to add another cool melody, I read that Orc's weakness was Magic, so I went ahead and used Magic Missile--giving me the PLATO RPG feel--but I loved how the menu worked. Instead of a bunch of convoluted keyboard controls, I simply click on the commands. And even click on the target! Awesome! I love it! And yessss, as I'm admiring the change to the high pitch melody bopping my head, and excited that I picked up what some sites call the Morning Star--tho it's called Mace in here--reminding me of Castlevania and many RPGs, I notice how the UI shows enemies in the room and whether they're dead (kinda lame they stay on the minimap but I can easily forgive that with all the conveniences and advanced mechanics of this dungeon crawler RPG so far)

Yesss, hellhounds making me think of OSRS (which I almost played tonight, but reallllly wanted to play through this). Cool graphic for the Hellhound too

Attachment: 8/10 I thought this would be another overwhelming RPG with convoluted controls or far too high a difficulty and length for me to want to push through. Instead, it is really difficult but with a reasonable enough length (shoot, I could have even chosen to just sneak past and get the amulet like in, what was it called, Dragon Slayer the original one where you don't have to kill the final boss... interestingly I had planned to have that mechanic in the RPG I want to create) and great enough Feel/Sound/UI/well-done RPG controls that I think this will be one of the rare early RPGs I actually push through! There's only been a couple since the PLATO RPG era!

Really cool how I could play this different ways. Honestly, running was pretty doable with most enemies and with well-done navigation (turns out they'll always follow you, it's really only the Final Boss you could do this for.. and apparently Snakes and some Bats... interesting array of enemy AI for its time tbh), you could evade even the biggest enemies. I could play this to kill everything, play this with a no-potions way, speedrun, etc. Love this and I truly believe I will be replaying this with different setups or limitations. I do really wish there were an experience/level aspect, which would add more variety of playthroughs like lowest level etc., because it would make it more fun fighting the enemies knowing you're getting exp. Welp, after all that, I get this ending screen :-p

In the end, while I was 100% sure I would replay this during the first half of the game, the overly difficult Final Boss, the extensive backtracking, and the fact it would be very hard to do a no-fighting playthrough (something I want to make possible in the RPG idea I have) means I'm not so positive I would replay this all the way through. It's definitely possible, though, because I want to try the method of not fighting the Minotaur, but I'm not so positive it'd be a multiple replay game like I was at first. Great game though!

Completion: 100% (got the Amulet and returned it) Playtime: ~1.5 hours including all attempts, apparently ~25 mins for the one I successfully finished by exploiting savestates at 2 parts ha.