Category: Role Playing and Adventure Games

From the Database of Home of the Underdogs GAME DESIGNER:Graeme Devine & Rob Landeros GAME DEVELOPER:Trilobyte GAME PUBLISHER:Trilobyte Copyright 1996, Trilobyte Scary spooks abound in Trilobyte’s ghoulishly delightful Clandestiny. Andrew MacPhiles has just inherited the family castle in Scotland. Being the coward he is (it runs in the family you see), he doesn’t want to…

From the Database of Home of the Underdogs GAME DESIGNER:Ray Dunakin GAME DEVELOPER:Freeware GAME PUBLISHER:Freeware Copyright 2000, Ray Dunakin Twisted! Deluxe is an updated, full-color version of Twisted!, an excellent shareware adventure game for the Macintosh by Ray Dunakin. The original Twisted! was a fun text-adventure-with-graphics game coded with World Builder, a now-discontinued adventure game…

From the Database of Home of the Underdogs GAME DESIGNER:Douglas Morgan GAME DEVELOPER:DynaMicro GAME PUBLISHER:DynaMicro Copyright 1982, DynaMicro In the annals of computer RPGs, just about everyone who has been gaming since the 1980s will cite the triumvirate of Ultima–Wizardry–Might & Magic as the pioneers of the genre. But as usual as in other fields…

From the Database of Home of the Underdogs GAME DESIGNER:Thomas Vitacco GAME DEVELOPER:Worwyk Software GAME PUBLISHER:Worwyk Software Copyright 1992, Thomas Vitacco BlackStar: Agent of Justice is a mediocre shareware adventure game that squanders decent graphics and puzzles by cramming just about every 20th century stereotype you can think of. Written by heavy metal musician Thomas…

From the Database of Home of the Underdogs GAME DESIGNER:Michael Crichton GAME DEVELOPER:Timeline Entertainment GAME PUBLISHER:EIDOS Interactive Copyright 2000, Timeline Entertainment Over the years, certain games have become rather large jokes in the annals of computer gaming history (stand and say hello Battlecruiser 3000 AD ..the worst game in history). Eidos and Timeline Entertainment’s Timeline…

From the Database of Home of the Underdogs GAME DESIGNER:Paul Cuisset GAME DEVELOPER:Delphine Software GAME PUBLISHER:Gathering of Developers Copyright 1997, Delphine Software If sword wielding, dungeon hacking, and weak enemies are your forte in an RPG, then Delphine Software’s Darkstone just may be the game for you. You are on a quest to reassemble the…

From the Database of Home of the Underdogs GAME DESIGNER:Andrew Greenberg & Rick Dutton GAME DEVELOPER:Masterplay Publishing GAME PUBLISHER:Electronic Arts Copyright 1989, Masterplay Publishing One of the most underrated, unknown classics ever made for the PC, Star Saga: Two – The Clathran Menace is the second and unfortunately final in the short-lived Star Saga series…

From the Database of Home of the Underdogs GAME DESIGNER: GAME DEVELOPER:Atlus GAME PUBLISHER:Atlus Copyright 1992, Atlus Shin Megami Tensei (Digital Devil Story in English) is an excellent entry in Atlus’ Megami Tensei, a hugely popular RPG series that was rarely translated or released outside Japan. Originally debuted on the NES in 1987 with Digital…

From the Database of Home of the Underdogs GAME DESIGNER:Jim Ludtke GAME DEVELOPER:inSCAPE GAME PUBLISHER:inSCAPE Copyright 1995, Cryptic Corp. & Warner Brothers Bad Day on the Midway is the second and last CD-ROM based on the works of The Residents, one of the world’s most eccentric bands. Designed by inSCAPE, the same company that brought…

From the Database of Home of the Underdogs GAME DESIGNER:Jim Ludtke GAME DEVELOPER:Voyager Company GAME PUBLISHER:Voyager Company Copyright 1993, Cryptic Corp. & Warner Brothers The Residents: Freak Show is one of the most unique and compelling CD-ROMs you’ll ever come across, no less because it was based on one of the world’s most eccentric bands.…

From the Database of Home of the Underdogs GAME DESIGNER:Topi Ylinen & Tim Baker GAME DEVELOPER:Freeware GAME PUBLISHER:Freeware Copyright 2000, Tim Baker Zangband is the excellent but now-discontinued graphical facelift of Zangband, arguably the most popular Angband variant today. Short for Zelazny Angband, Zangband has many more features than most (if not all) other Roguelike…

From the Database of Home of the Underdogs GAME DESIGNER:Guido Henkel GAME DEVELOPER:Attic Entertainment GAME PUBLISHER:Starbyte Copyright 1991, Attic Entertainment Spirit of Adventure is a fun but little-known first-person RPG from Attic/Starbyte that was reasonably successful in Germany, but sold poorly in the USA when it was translated and published. As described on MobyGames‘s description…

From the Database of Home of the Underdogs GAME DESIGNER:Paul Turbett GAME DEVELOPER:Silver Lightning GAME PUBLISHER:Merit Studios Copyright 1997, Silver Lightning Trial by Magic is an above-average isometric dungeon RPG that is strongly reminiscent of Event Horizons classic The Summoning, except with much more emphasis on difficult combat. Your objective is simply to descend down…

From the Database of Home of the Underdogs GAME DESIGNER:Tom Hall GAME DEVELOPER:ION Storm GAME PUBLISHER:EIDOS Interactive Copyright 2001, ION Storm Anachronox is a brilliant game from ION Storm (Dallas), designed by none other than Tom Hall, the creator of Commander Keen. Unfortunately, lack of funding was a problem, so ION Storm has sadly gone…

From the Database of Home of the Underdogs GAME DESIGNER: GAME DEVELOPER:Brilliant Digital Entertainment GAME PUBLISHER:Brilliant Digital Entertainment Copyright 1997, Brilliant Digital Entertainment Okay, first off, I must prepare myself with the consoling fact that Cyberswine is not a bad movie. Instead, it is a rather bad game. The reason I say that is this:…

From the Database of Home of the Underdogs GAME DESIGNER: GAME DEVELOPER:Game Arts GAME PUBLISHER:UBI Soft Copyright 2002, Game Arts “Each shall rise to face their destiny” boasts this original Dreamcast release, which was later ported to the PC and Playstation 2. The developer GameArts became a big console RPG fan favourite after the original…

From the Database of Home of the Underdogs GAME DESIGNER: GAME DEVELOPER:Squaresoft GAME PUBLISHER:Squaresoft Copyright 1995, Squaresoft One of the last games made for Nintendos SNES console, Seiken Densetsu 3 is the sequel to the game known in the West as Secret of Mana (which was Seiken Densetsu 2 in Japan), but unfortunately was never…

From the Database of Home of the Underdogs GAME DESIGNER:Hitoshi Sasaki GAME DEVELOPER:Squaresoft GAME PUBLISHER:Squaresoft Copyright 1996, Squaresoft In addition to being one of Square’s most underrated games, Bahamut Lagoon is one of the best strategy/RPG hybrids ever made — a genre popular on the console systems (popularized by games such as Ogre Battle and…

From the Database of Home of the Underdogs GAME DESIGNER:Paul Turbett GAME DEVELOPER:Silver Lightning GAME PUBLISHER:Roadshow Entertainment Copyright 1999, Silver Lightning Ancient Evil is a fun, no-frills “oldskool” RPG that is similar to Blades of Exile for good attention to details and old-fashioned hack-and-slash fun. The plot goes as follows: for centuries, would-be heroes have…

From the Database of Home of the Underdogs GAME DESIGNER:Chrille Blomqvist GAME DEVELOPER:GASPOP Software GAME PUBLISHER:Freeware Copyright 2002, GASPOP Software Calsoon 2 is a funnier, bigger, and better sequel to Calsoon, GASPOPs entertaining but very short fanmade point-and-click adventure. As in the first game, poor Tork (a man with an unconventional hobby of collecting underwear)…

From the Database of Home of the Underdogs GAME DESIGNER:Chrille Blomqvist GAME DEVELOPER:GASPOP Software GAME PUBLISHER:Freeware Copyright 2001, GASPOP Software Calsoon is a short but sweet freeware adventure game from GASPOP Software. The story goes as follows: “Tork is a perfectly normal guy, well, almost normal at least. He loves to collect underwear. But one…

From the Database of Home of the Underdogs GAME DESIGNER:Chrille Blomqvist GAME DEVELOPER:GASPOP Software GAME PUBLISHER:Freeware Copyright 2001, GASPOP Software One of the best freeware adventure games I have come across, Pleurghburg: Dark Ages is an outstanding detective point-and-click adventure game that boasts an interesting plot, fun and logical puzzles, and very high gaming value.…

From the Database of Home of the Underdogs GAME DESIGNER:Scott Miller GAME DEVELOPER:Apogee GAME PUBLISHER:Apogee Copyright 1989, Apogee In 1989, Apogee released two “Fun-Paks,” Adventure Fun-Pak and Puzzle Fun-Pak, priced at $10 each. Each “pack” contains 4 games that were submitted to Apogee by outside authors, although most of the games were designed by Apogee’s…

From the Database of Home of the Underdogs GAME DESIGNER:Damianzeking GAME DEVELOPER:Freeware GAME PUBLISHER:Freeware Copyright 2002, Damianzeking Laxius Power is one of the best fanmade RPGs I have ever seen. Although the plot is quite cliche, the game more than makes up for this with sheer size: not counting numerous side quests and secret locations,…

From the Database of Home of the Underdogs GAME DESIGNER:Ville M?nkk?nen GAME DEVELOPER:Freeware GAME PUBLISHER:Freeware Copyright 2002, Ville M?nkk?nen The latest game from the creator of freeware classics Bikez II and The Forge is a fun space privateering game in the same spirit of Elite, with a lot less emphasis on plot or physics, and…

From the Database of Home of the Underdogs GAME DESIGNER:Marco Patrito GAME DEVELOPER:Virtual Views GAME PUBLISHER:Mojave Games Copyright 1994, Virtual Views One of the world’s first “multimedia novels,” Sinkha is a creative and very pretty CD-ROM title that is best described as “interactive comic book.” The story is sci-fi, a bit a slightly hackneyed one,…

From the Database of Home of the Underdogs GAME DESIGNER:R. A. Montgomery GAME DEVELOPER:Creative Multimedia Corp. GAME PUBLISHER:Creative Multimedia Corp. Copyright 1992, Creative Multimedia Corp. Beyond the Wall of Stars is one of the earliest, and most unknown, computer game to take advantage of the CD-ROM’s storage capacity. Written and designed by R.A. Montgomery, a…

From the Database of Home of the Underdogs GAME DESIGNER: GAME DEVELOPER:WizardWorks GAME PUBLISHER:WizardWorks Copyright 1996, WizardWorks One of the most obscure adventure games ever made, Dive: The Conquest of Silver Eye is a pretty decent first-person Myst-lookalike adventure game with some interesting puzzles. Although the game offers the same dead silent, unpopulated-but-pretty-to-look-at gameworld as…

From the Database of Home of the Underdogs GAME DESIGNER:John Allen GAME DEVELOPER:SoftDisk Publishing GAME PUBLISHER:SoftDisk Publishing Copyright 1988, SoftDisk Publishing Dungeon of Shalan is a primitive adventure/action maze game that plays like a clone of Atari’s classic Indenture. Your task is to find the evil Shalan in his dungeon and kill him. But before…

From the Database of Home of the Underdogs GAME DESIGNER:Jamie Schmalz GAME DEVELOPER:SoftDisk Publishing GAME PUBLISHER:SoftDisk Publishing Copyright 1993, SoftDisk Publishing Legends of Murder is a fun fantasy RPG/murder mystery game designed by Jamie (later James) Schmalz, who would years later be famous as one of Unreal designers. Similar to MicroProse’s The Legacy, the game…

From the Database of Home of the Underdogs GAME DESIGNER: GAME DEVELOPER:Opera Soft GAME PUBLISHER:Opera Soft Copyright 1987, Opera Soft Goody is a fun 2D action/adventure platformer from Spanish developer Opera Soft. You play a small thief bent on robbing a Spanish bank. Before embarking on this venture, youll need to find appropriate tools for…

From the Database of Home of the Underdogs GAME DESIGNER: GAME DEVELOPER:Piranha Bytes GAME PUBLISHER:Xicat Interactive Copyright 2001, Piranha Bytes In the first months of 2001, German developers Piranha Bytes released this excellent Role-Playing-Game, which soon received very positive reviews from German gaming magazines. Fortunately, non-German speakers didn’t have to wait too much for the…

From the Database of Home of the Underdogs GAME DESIGNER:Cleber Casali GAME DEVELOPER:Freeware GAME PUBLISHER:Freeware Copyright 2001, Cleber Casali Dark Phear is an excellent freeware multi-character RPG created in Quick Basic. The plot is negligible, but somewhat interesting: last night you dreamt of Alicia, your long-lost love who disappeared from town ages ago. You woke…

From the Database of Home of the Underdogs GAME DESIGNER: GAME DEVELOPER:Master Creating GAME PUBLISHER:Freeware Copyright 1999, Master Creating Shadow of power is a fun, big freeware RPG game in the style of Zelda, combining action elements with standard console-style RPG gaming. The plot is simple, but adequate: you are Holger, a young lad who…

From the Database of Home of the Underdogs GAME DESIGNER: GAME DEVELOPER:Infogrames GAME PUBLISHER:Firebird Copyright 1989, Firebird One of the rarest Infogrames games ever made, Quest for The Timebird is an excellent adventure game based on a famous French graphic novel of the same name. In an unknown world, at a time when wizards and…

From the Database of Home of the Underdogs GAME DESIGNER:Craig Pell GAME DEVELOPER:Atari Games GAME PUBLISHER:Freeware Copyright 1991, Craig Pell An excellent remake of classic Atari 2600 cartridge game, Indenture is one of the first maze adventures ever created. The gameplay is very simple: maneuver the square (representing your character) through the maze to find…

From the Database of Home of the Underdogs GAME DESIGNER:Shawn Overcash GAME DEVELOPER:Freeware GAME PUBLISHER:Freeware Copyright 2001, Shawn Overcash Decker is a fun cyberpunk/hacking simulation set in the 22nd century, based entirely on the Cyberspace portions of Wizkid’s popular Shadowrun pen & paper RPG game. Similar to Neuromancer and Uplink, you play a hacker who…

From the Database of Home of the Underdogs GAME DESIGNER:Mario Savoia GAME DEVELOPER:Simulmondo GAME PUBLISHER:Simulmondo Copyright 1993, Simulmondo The second game by Simulmondo based on the horror stories of Dylan Dog is a complete change from its predecessor Dylan Dog – The Murderers. With a better plot, combined with their nice graphics and music, Simulmondo…

From the Database of Home of the Underdogs GAME DESIGNER: GAME DEVELOPER:Microids GAME PUBLISHER:Microids Copyright 2001, Microids Road to India is a very stylish, well-written adventure game that is unfortunately both too easy and too short. You play Fred Reynolds, a young university student whose Indian fiancee had been kidnapped by Kali worshippers bent on…

From the Database of Home of the Underdogs GAME DESIGNER: GAME DEVELOPER:Vulcan Software GAME PUBLISHER:Vulcan Software Copyright 2001, Vulcan Software The land of Valhalla is wracked by civil war. The good king Garamond was slain by his younger brother, the twisted and evil self-proclaimed Lord of Infinity, fourteen years ago. Now, as the sole heir…

From the Database of Home of the Underdogs GAME DESIGNER: GAME DEVELOPER:On-Line GAME PUBLISHER:On-Line Copyright 1999, On-Line One of the best cult classic films ever made based on the theatrical smash hit of the same name, The Rocky Horror Show is undoubtedly one of the most remarkable worldwide media phenomena in the last 20 years.…

From the Database of Home of the Underdogs GAME DESIGNER: GAME DEVELOPER:Flair GAME PUBLISHER:Flair Copyright 1996, Flair Time Paradox is an average adventure game from Flair, released only in Europe in 1996. When the FMV (full motion video) fad is in full swing with dozens of horrendous FMV-based adventure titles released (with a few exceptions…

From the Database of Home of the Underdogs GAME DESIGNER: GAME DEVELOPER:Intelligent Games GAME PUBLISHER:Mindscape Copyright 1996, Intelligent Games Azrael’s Tear is a fun, innovative, but sadly forgotten CD-ROM adventure game that brings the much-vaunted ‘action/adventure’ genre to new heights with a smooth 3D engine, fun puzzles, and even a good plot that offers new…

From the Database of Home of the Underdogs GAME DESIGNER:Mike Riley GAME DEVELOPER:Freeware GAME PUBLISHER:Freeware Copyright 1989, Mike Riley The Land is an interesting and unique shareware RPG based on the fantasy trilogy “The Chronicles of Thomas Covenant” by Stephen R. Donaldson. In typical Roguelike games manner, you create a character, travel the lands and…

From the Database of Home of the Underdogs GAME DESIGNER:Al Escudero GAME DEVELOPER:Strategic Simulations Inc. (SSI) GAME PUBLISHER:Strategic Simulations Inc. (SSI) Copyright 1992, Strategic Simulations Inc. (SSI) Arguably the worst RPG ever from SSI, Spelljammer is a tedious, flat, and even ugly-looking RPG that somehow manages to exclude all the elements that made TSR’s Spelljammer…

From the Database of Home of the Underdogs GAME DESIGNER:Clint Sinclair GAME DEVELOPER:Freeware GAME PUBLISHER:Freeware Copyright 1996, Clint Sinclair Azalta is a decent freeware RPG game with full color graphics,music and sound effects. According to the official blurb, “… it has huge worlds with hundreds of creatures, people, and items to discover, and large cities…

From the Database of Home of the Underdogs GAME DESIGNER:Jason Linhart GAME DEVELOPER:Strategic Simulations Inc. (SSI) GAME PUBLISHER:Strategic Simulations Inc. (SSI) Copyright 1993, Strategic Simulations Inc. (SSI) MobyGames’ description for this “RPG construction kit” from SSI says it all: “…For those who enjoyed SSI’s AD&D “gold box” series, Unlimited Adventures allows you to create your…

From the Database of Home of the Underdogs GAME DESIGNER:John Murphy GAME DEVELOPER:Freeware GAME PUBLISHER:Freeware Copyright 1990, John Murphy Dungeon Explorer is a fun EGA RPG game that is similar to Vampyr, although IMO more fun thanks to more diverse gameplay. The goal is simple: create a character, buy equipment and explore a dungeon or…

From the Database of Home of the Underdogs GAME DESIGNER:Bruce Baker GAME DEVELOPER:Freeware GAME PUBLISHER:Freeware Copyright 1991, Bruce Baker Bones is an excellent freeware text-based RPG that is no different from other RPGs at first glance, but offers plenty of innovative features that will grow on you the more you play. The objective is similar…

From the Database of Home of the Underdogs GAME DESIGNER:Victor Shao & Brian Weston GAME DEVELOPER:Freeware GAME PUBLISHER:Freeware Copyright 1990, Victor Shao & Brian Weston One of the best early EGA RPGs, Vampyr: The Talisman of Invocation is a top-down, single-player RPG in the same vein of Ultima IV, set in the fantasy world of…