Ringworld: Revenge of The Patriach Download (1992 Adventure Game)

A graphical adventure set in Larry Niven's "Known Space" universe. The centerpiece of the Known Space universe is the Ringworld, an artificially created planet that is actually an immense band orbiting a distant star (Halo borrows this idea for its setting). If you aren't familiar with Niven's series, go out and pick up any one of the dozens of Known Space books and you won't be far from having to track down all of them.

In Revenge of the Patriarch, the player must travel to the Ringworld to uncover information which could prevent the alien Kzinti from starting another war with humanity. It follows the standard point and click formula for adventure games.

On a search for quality abandonware games I remembered a great police adventure game I really liked. It was Blue Force made by Tsunami Games. So I started searching for other games by Tsunami and soon came across Ringworld. Both parts seemed quite interesting, so I gave them a go and I must say I was thrilled by the games.

In this game Ringworld: Revenge of the Patriarch you get to control a mercenary named Quinn. He is sent by his friend Louis Wu on a very dangerous and uncertain mission. Humans have allied themselves with a race of giant cat-like creatures, but (and I as a dog person really do think this way) you should never trust a cat. That's right, the Kzin have betrayed the humans. Fortunately there are some renegade Kzins left and you must warn them about the danger that is about to befall them. And here is where the game begins.

I must say the game has very good graphics, that are really pleasant to the eye and it all somehow reminds me of Quest for Glory III. The sounds aren't spectacular, but they get you in a certain mood and they never bother you. The soundtrack is actually pleasant at certain points. The game also has a really simple control system. Right click and you get to choose an action or you can look through your inventory (here you can also access the menu). Left click and you execute the order. Although there aren't any hot-spots you don't need to go pixel hunting. The object you can interact with and that you need to use are very logical and clearly visible. The puzzles also aren't that hard, so an average gamer should be able to solve them without any real help. You should save quite often however, because every mistake can lead to death. Unlike early Sierra games you will know exactly why you died and you will realize the danger was obvious (you know you shouldn't climb down a chimney with heavy smoke coming out of it).

The plot is somewhat simple. You must prevent a savage race from destroying other races and to do so you need certain objects which will ensure your success. These objects are found on an exotic and potentially dangerous world which you need to explore. You have your faithful sidekick (and you can even leave some things to him, so you don't need to play out some arcade parts of the game) and of course you meet a pretty girl on the way who naturally wants to join you. Yet the various creatures you encounter on the way will make the story very interesting, for you'll always want to see the next creature. Not to mention the fact, that at one point chiefs hot looking daughter will almost beg you to go to bed with her, because that would make her more desirable for other males of her tribe. Oh the sacrifices you must do...

So far the game looks really great, player friendly, just about enough challenging and with quite a lot of humor. Unfortunately this game does have a huge downside. Iti?1s full of cut scenes (and you can't even skip them). Actually iti?1s more of a computer animated story with interactive features. The ration of interactive scenes and cut scenes should be reversed. You don't get to play all that much. This is a real shame, because the game has no replay ability and even when you play it for the first time, you'll be cursing some cut scenes. You'll get a great story, but not much to do. So this is (as I said) more of an interactive story than a game. But then again it is based on a book, so I guess it's not completely unreasonable to give more attention to the story than to the gameplay.

In conclusion I'd just like to add, that this game is an absolute must for all who are still wondering weather the universe was created or it just came to be. Yes, it does have a religious aspect to it. This game actually reveals to you that all the known space was created. It even gives you the name of the creator! It's Larry Niven. If you don't believe me, just watch the opening credits and you'll see.

How to run this game on modern Windows PC?

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