Hero Quest Download (1991 Board Game)

The famous fantasy-themed board game was converted into an isometric-viewed role playing game in which the evil Wizard Morcar must be defeated. You take control of a wizard, a dwarf, a barbarian and an elf, each with different strengths and weaknesses, who each start the 14 missions from opposite sides of the board.

Strict turn-based movement rules apply, as actions other than movement can only be carried out before or after the move, the size of which is limited by a dice roll. These moves are carried out using an icon-based system. Characters can fight the many monsters which lurk, or cast spells to vanquish them. There are magic potions to uncover, but also hidden traps, so mapping is advised. Treasure can be collected, and traded at the shop after each level.

I remember a Christmas when I was only a child. We were visiting some friend of my mom and decided to celebrate together as well. Snow was falling outside the window, music was playing on the radio and we had just finished one of the biggest turkeys I have ever seen. Slowly it dawned upon us that the time for giving out our presents had come. For the most part my brother and I got the standard gifts; new socks and some jumpsuits, but the last package made this particular Christmas the best one to this date! Hidden behind all the others there emerged a big square bow-tied present for the both of us. As we ripped of the paper we suddenly saw that it was a game. Not any kind of game, though, but one of the earliest RPG-type games ever made: Hero Quest - The board game! Me and my brother stayed up all that night (and many of the following nights as well) playing this game from start to end. We had never seen anything like it before, and I have been hooked to RPG's ever since. If I can look at any game on our site and say: "That game changed my life!" then it would have to be this one.

Of course since this is the PC version of the board game there are certain differences, but they are all for the better. For instance you can only see the view from the person you are playing, instead of seeing everything on the table. Makes the game more realistic. And also the intro is much cooler in the PC version. As for the rest of the game it is just as the board game. So those of you who are familiar with the game can just download the game straight away. The rest... read on.

You can play any combination of four heroes, a barbarian, a dwarf, an elf and a magician. This means that you can in fact play the game in hot-seat mode if you want to play it together with a friend. At the beginning of each mission you are given a brief description of the story behind, and what you will need to do in order to progress. A tip is to start with the easiest missions and start earning some quick money so that you can buy some needed equipment. Also you should check everywhere for hidden treasures and secret doors as there are plenty of both in the game. It is also worth mentioning that the game is completely mouse controlled. The graphic and sound is nice too, and re-creates the feeling of the board game to the smallest detail.

The plot in the game is, however, nothing special. It is a standard story in which the world is in danger, and only you can save the day... that is IF you can prove your worth...

As a closing let me just say that I still have the board game in my closet, and that I do enjoy to bring it out once in a while. For me this game will always mean something special.

Hero Quest (along with Space Crusade) was Games Workshop's attempt to gain a foothold in the mainstream board games market. After an extensive advertising campaign the games and there add-ons gained a fair bit of popularity and it was inevitable that computerised version would be released.

Sooooooo horrible things have befallen the land. Plague, pestilence, fire, brimstone, gophers. In times like this who are you gonna call? A barbarian, a dwarf, an elf and a wizard that's who dagnabbit! Our party must enter the terrible dungeons of Morcar and complete 15 quests, each more horrible and sticky than the last. Find treasure, kill green things and rescue people who are too retarded to rescue themselves.

Each character can be controlled in turn by a different player. Each starts in a separate corner of the dungeon/board, after a random dice roll to determine the order of play its off we go and each little spod goes and does whatever thing that heroes do (rescuing maidens and headbutting orcs I should imagine).

Play goes like this - each character gets one movement and one action per turn. The amount of movement depends on the value that the player has rolled (with a dice.. go figure) and action is carried out before or after each movement. Actions are fighting, casting spells, disarming traps searching for treasure.. that type of thing. The dungeon consists of rooms and passages, with the contents of each room unknown to the player, who must search them using their actions.

Monsters - yep, the dungeon contains nasty things that want to hurt you. Goblins, Orcs, Skeletons, Chaos Warriors (my favourite) all intent on being mean to you =( Each player/monster has body points and mind points. The dwarf and barbarian are dumb but strong, while the elf and wizard are weedy but brainy. As a general rule of thumb high mind points means that you can do magic, and high body points means that you can hit things in the face... hard. The amount of points available to each player can be changed with various potions found in the dungeon... or obviously by walking face first into a trap.

At the end of each quest you get to spend all that lovely treasure that you found (you did find some right?) and buy swords, shields and spells to aid in your quest.

How to run this game on modern Windows PC?

People who downloaded Hero Quest have also downloaded:
HeroQuest, Strategic Command: European Theater, Space Crusade, Space Hulk, Game of Life, Risk (1991), Hero Quest 2, Monopoly