Enchanter Download (1983 Adventure Game)

You are a dim ignorant Apprentice Enchanter, but your task is enormous. You must save the world from a Warlock who is ruling the land with his evil powers. You are not the first in this quest but hopefully you will be the first to succeed. You know the basics of magic and will have the chance to learn many spells. Keep your wits and use everything you can to your benefit.

Difficulty Level: Standard

Original C=64 Grey Box Shipped with the following Contents: Booklet - A Brief History of Magic By Gustar Woormax, Ancient Scroll from the Circle of Enchanters, Official Wax Seal.

Enchanter is another text-based adventure by the lords of interactive fiction, Infocom. The game itself takes place in the world of Zork, but it is more serious. An evil warlock called Krill wants to destroy your world, and the Circle has chosen you, a young and inexperienced Enchanter, to defeat him and fulfill the prophecy. So...

The Circle rises and intones a richly woven spell, whose many textures imbue the small, darkened chamber with warmth and hope. There is a surge of power; you are Sent.

If you've played any of Infocom's works before, then you won't be surprised to see a well-written story, a very intelligent parser, and a world which draws you in after a few minutes. There is nothing to be said about the graphics, except the ones you see before you while reading, and those are amazing. There is no sound either, except what you hear as the story unfolds.

The way you act is exactly the same as in any other interactive fiction: you simply type in a verb, and the name of an object you wish to interact with, i.e. "look castle". However, as an Enchanter you will need to use your book of spells to solve problems. Be sure to read your spell book before you go on your journey, and don't forget to learn a spell before you use it. During your quest you will encounter many magical scrolls, which disappear after you've used them; it is wise to use the "Copy To Spell Book" spell on them, to keep them for future use, as you will need certain spells frequently. One thing that I found annoying is that you need to eat, drink and sleep every now and then, even if you cannot see anything edible and there are dark shadows lurking around; so take everything movable, look everywhere, and try everything. Fortunately, the Circle of Enchanters will resurrect you a few times, before you finally pass out.

The game itself isn't incredibly hard, so even those new to interactive fiction can give it a try, especially since you can save and restore. Because of the thirst-and-hunger feature, I give it a 4, but I strongly recommend it to anyone who likes to read very good stories.

You are being sent out to defeat the mighty Wizard Krill. You, an apprentice - merely to be called magician. You only know 3 spells - why you? Why not another mighty wizard? It seems like Krill would detect another one of his power too easily. Too soon. You will need all your skill and intelligence to fulfill your mission.

The storytellers of Infocom managed again to create this intense athmosphere and packed it into their powerful parser. You can count on many hours of gameplay. This one is not easy, but still challenging, while not being as hard as for example Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy.

Enchanter is the first entry in the Enchanter Trilogy, a series set in the Zork universe, except casting you as a magic user than a clueless adventurer. The premise is typical fantasy fare: you are a novice enchanter sent to Krill's castle to save the world from his evil plans. Your start out with a handful of not-so-powerful spells in your spellbook, but as you progress you will acquire more powerful spells which you can copy into your spellbook for later use. Similar to AD&D RPGs, you will need to memorize spells before you can cast them. This is a bit cumbersome, but once you get used to it, it becomes second nature.

Enchanter has all the charm of Zork games, although it (and the entire trilogy) is decidedly much more serious and less whimsical. Almost all puzzles require appropriate use of spells. None of these is particularly difficult - you can solve most of them by simply trying out all the spells in your repertoire. This makes the game a good introduction to the much harder sequels (Sorcerer and Spellbreaker). As you can expect from an Infocom game, the writing is excellent and the parser powerful enough to understand a wide range of synonyms and sentence structures. One thing I particularly like is how location descriptions change as Krill's destructive spells spread across the landscape. This corresponds to a time limit you have to accomplish your mission (although that time limit is so generous that you should be able to finish the game with plenty of time to spare.

Part of the fun in Enchanter lies in reading the game's often funny responses when you cast spells on the wrong objects. True to Infocom's tradition, there are numerous tailored responses that show an amazing level of attention to detail. Although it is a more serious game than Zork series, Enchanter does have a few hilarious moments. My favorite is the encounter with the "adventurer," a bumbling fool who looks like the player (i.e. you) in Zork game, who will make you chuckle with his funny antics.

Even with the banal plot and easy puzzles, Enchanter is a fun game, thanks to atmospheric writing and interesting spells. The only nitpick I have is that the game forces you to deal with "realistic" conditions like thirst or hunger - a nuisance that doesn't add anything to gameplay. Otherwise, Enchanter is a good game that marks a good start to the trilogy.

How to run this game on modern Windows PC?

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Sorcerer, Zork 1, Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, The, Deadline, Planetfall, Spellbreaker, Wishbringer, Suspect