Twilight’s Treasures

From the Database of Home of the Underdogs

GAME DESIGNER:John Romero
GAME DEVELOPER:Softdisk Publishing
GAME PUBLISHER:Softdisk Publishing
Copyright 1989, Softdisk Publishing

One of the rarest early games by John Romero of id Software fame, Twilight’s Treasures is a decent little action game included in Softdisk’s Big Blue Disk Sampler disk, made to promote the company’s “Big Blue Disk” – a monthly on-disk magazine that features a number of useful utilities and small games with each issue. Your goal in the game is to dive down to grab a chest and resurface unharmed. There are numerous dangers you have to avoid, including sharks and eels, and even floating mines on higher levels. You also have a limited supply of air, so you have to time your approaches carefully. Not revolutionary by any means, but still a nice little game that showcases Romero’s flair for fluid controls and smooth animation years before Wolfenstein 3D. It reminds me a bit of Octopus game on Game & Watch too – anyone old enough to remember that? 😉 Big thanks to Greg who sent us the entire contents of Big Blue Disk Sampler, which contains this game, a nice Klondike card game, and a few useful programs.