Acheton

From the Database of Home of the Underdogs

GAME DESIGNER:Jonathan Partington & Jon Thackray
GAME DEVELOPER:Topologika
GAME PUBLISHER:Freeware
Copyright 1990, Topologika

One of Topologika’s earliest games is Acheton, a huge IF adventure in the Colossal Cave style. Similar to Zork (which was released on the VAX mainframe not long before that), Acheton is a fantasy treasure hunt set in a claustrophobic dungeon. Although it boasts over 400 rooms and 200 objects, thereby making it much bigger than Zork, Acheton‘s parser is far inferior to Infocom’s. Most abbreviations, such as “x” or “i,” and some common verbs (such as EXAMINE) are not recognized. The game has a lot of ingenious (some would say cruel) puzzles, though, so expert players will definitely enjoy the game for its puzzle-solving aspect alone… if they can put up with the archaic parser, of course. Worth a look if you consider yourself an IF veteran, or really enjoy a treasure-hunting IF.