Wednesday, February 19, 2025

Temple of Apshai Trilogy - Olias' Basement

General Layout

In addition to having some overlapping spaces, there's a large number of one-way doors within this level. The general geometry isn't too bad, however, as the player will generally either loop back round to the entrance or will use the alternative exit found in the northeast corner.

Olias the dwarf is one of the NPCs who may rescue the player upon their death and, since he takes all of your treasure for the privilege, we can assume that the wealth in his basement is either our own or has come from similarly unlucky adventurers. The room descriptions paint a much grander picture than simply a "basement". Olias seems to have his own castle!


Notable Treasures

Speaking of the wealth in his basement, Olias has a lot of treasure.

Normally, the large amount of treasure (more than five thousand silver's worth) found in Room 19 would be the haul for a whole dungeon floor. There's actually a second, similar reward in Room 27 to further pad out our now impossible-to-spend hoard.

Easily the best reward so far across the trilogy, Room 34 holds more that twice the aforementioned treasure along with a belt that permanently increases our Strength by one.


Full Reference


Temple of Apshai Trilogy - Merlis' Cottage Map

General Layout

This level is quite a lot more confusing. It's likely the first time that the player experiences a layout that doesn't follow conventional geometry and there are times where exiting a room and then trying to return will instead send you to a third location. I've represented this on the map with notes by the appropriate doorways. The only exception is room 19 which doesn't have a western wall at all; a trick of the layout that's particularly hard to visualise.

Other than this, the level is small. There's the cottage itself, which sort of has two versions that the player travels between, and a forest to the southwest (filled with bees and culminating in finding the hive).

It is worth noting that the enemies in this level give far more experience than both the Innkeeper's Garden and the first two floors of the original Temple of Apshai. I found it trivial to fight my way to what I'd assume was character level 6 (following AD&D rules) by running through the cottage a few times.


Notable Treasures

There's a source of elixirs (honey from the hive) found in the very southeastern corner of the map.

Room 6 holds the best treasure in pure coinage: a chest containing gold worth 1000 silver pieces.

However, by far and away the most exciting loot here is found in the well-hidden Room 19. It's a magic wand with no material value, but collecting it permanently gives the player a single point of Intelligence.

It is trivial for the player to loop through the cottage repeatedly picking up the wand and the chest of coins. During my playthrough, I did this until I had increased my Intelligence to a total of 18.


Full Reference


Monday, February 17, 2025

Temple of Apshai Trilogy - The Innkeeper's Backyard Map

General Layout

The first level found in the Upper Reaches expansion is a far more relaxed affair. Rather than delving into an underground maze, the player is tasked with tidying up the innkeeper's land. The player has a lot more opportunity here to talk to creatures rather than resorting to violence. In fact, getting carried away can lead one to slay the innkeeper's wife!

The majority of this level is outside, though there is a sizeable barn to the north and a shed to the southeast. There is a large open space made up of twenty-four "rooms" representing a field of berry bushes. All of these spaces hold the fruits as treasures, but some are covered in vicious thorns.

Interestingly, there are some aggressively growing tomatoes in a garden adjoining the main field. Some of these attack you, and some of them even have knives! Feels a lot like a certain 1979 movie...


Notable Treasures

There is very little to be found on this level. I think this makes the most natural starting point into the trilogy, but it's a little disappointing if the level is explored later on.

Room 41 (a cave in which a bandit hides) holds the only meaningful treasure, presumably the spoils of the bandit's... banditry.


Full Reference


Temple of Apshai Trilogy - Level 2 Map

General Layout

The second floor of the Temple of Apshai is again largely made of natural spaces that have been expanded and smoothed out. The initial rooms are plain, but the southwest corner of the map shows evidence of industry, including a jeweller's workshop and a forge. The floor is dominated by the bleak gaol and extensive torture chambers on the western side. We also have locations reminiscent of the first floor: underground natural water features give the impression that I am exploring a space that's a continuation of where I was previously.


Notable Treasures

The quality of treasures here has not improved meaningfully since the first floor. This matches up with the rough description in the instruction manual that the first two floors are suitable for adventurers of levels one to three. A player may gather a decent proportion of the valuable treasures by only exploring the western third of the floor.

Immediately upon entering the dungeon, the player can enter Room 9 to find some valuables. The manual hints that the skull ring found as part of the loot may have an additional effect, but it is too vague to see anything going on. If I were to guess, I'd take a stab that the ring protects the player from the stat-draining effect that attacks from some undead can have.

Room 13 contains another magic cloak. While I couldn't verify that this actually improves a player's defenses, it's worth grabbing as early as possible just in case it does.

Room 31 contains a magic sword. Again, it seems random whether this is a bonus or a curse, but at least this room is easily accessible from the entrance to repeatedly collect it.

An elixir can be found in Room 16, but it is probably easier to repeatedly enter level 1 in order to pick up the lilies.

There is also a magic talisman which the manual describes as able to "endow the holder with wondrous powers of mental perception." The effect is too subtle to see, but I assume it increases my chances of (s)earching for a trap or (e)xamining for a secret door. It is found in Room 24.


Full Reference


Thursday, February 13, 2025

Temple of Apshai Trilogy - Level 1 Map

General Layout

The first floor of the Temple of Apshai is presented as being relatively unimpressive. We are treated to descriptions of smoothed out natural passages and expansions to already-existing caves rather than entirely artificial constructions. Sections are flooded or have water flowing through them (particularly the southwest and northeast corners). The middle of the map appears to be the most interesting and has the most signs of long-past habitation, but outside of this region, there is little furniture remaining. Finally, the southeast corner is made up of tunnels dug out of the earth by the antmen who now roam the whole floor.


Notable Treasures

While this is only the first floor, there are still a few treasures worth collecting.

Room 7 contains an easily-grabbable elixir source: magic lilies. Since the dungeon resets each time you return to the inn, it is relatively trivial to only do further exploration once you hold a safe quantity of elixirs. They heal a lot more than the salves you can buy from the innkeeper!

Room 48 contains a magic sword. It is random whether this is a +1 sword or is cursed, and there is no way to know which you have received until you leave.

The ant passages in the southeast corner of the map (Rooms 37-48) contain a multitude of small diamonds which should make it trivial to purchase everything the inn has to offer.

There is also a magic cloak that makes the player a little tougher, but it disappears upon leaving the dungeon. It can be found in Room 15.


Full Reference


Full Spoilers Map

Map created in DungeonScrawl using icons created by Daniel F. Walthall.

Saturday, February 8, 2025

Zork III: The Dungeon Master - 1982


Pausing to release their first non-Zork game, Deadline, Infocom quickly followed it up with Zork III. The last pieces of the now heavily chopped up and borrowed from PDP-10 "mainframe Zork" were used to create the backbone of the game.

By this point in Infocom's history, they had released four games which all would go on to sell more than 100,000 copies. They would only manage to cross this threshold three more times across their whole catalogue, a total of thirty-five games. The trilogy would later be repackaged into one box (with just a single floppy disk!) in 1988, potentially as a last-ditch effort to lift their rapidly diminishing sales figures.


Starting Out

by David Ardito and Steve Meretzky, 1982

I start right where I left off. I finished Zork II at the start of a staircase and I begin this game disheveled and confused at the base. The scene-setting is flowery compared to the previous entries and it points towards this entry being a bit more magical and a bit less static than its predecessors.

As in a dream, you see yourself tumbling down a great, dark staircase. All about you are shadowy images of struggles against fierce opponents and diabolical traps. These give way to another round of images: of imposing stone figures, a cool, clear lake, and, now, of an old, yet oddly youthful man. He turns toward you slowly, his long, silver hair dancing about him in a fresh breeze. "You have reached the final test, my friend! You are proved clever and powerful, but this is not yet enough! Seek me when you feel yourself worthy!" The dream dissolves around you as his last words echo through the void....

I grab my familiar light source and start mapping the surroundings. Similarly to Zork II, I note an improvement in the prose, especially in the language used to describe where I stand in relation to the wider world. I also quickly notice that there doesn't seem to be a huge amount of space to explore and that I really don't have much idea what I am doing.

I have a slightly awkward interaction with a man who appears to be trying to rob me. I battle a little with the parser here, but following his instructions seems to work and I am left with a wooden staff. I am also beset by a foe while walking around the Lands of Shadow so I spend far too many turns killing him. More on that mistake later...

I also notice that I can give some bread I found to an old man and he opens up a secret passageway.


The Portal and the Aqueduct

by David Ardito and Steve Meretzky, 1982

Realising that I could swim in the lake after more time than I care to admit, I find a few more rooms to explore. In fact, I find what has become one of my favourite puzzles from across the whole trilogy. Within the Scenic Vista is some sort of scrying/teleport system that lets me step briefly into one of four rooms; one from Zork I, one from Zork II, the Damp Passage from this game and some sort of instant death sequence that could be a preview of Zork IV.

This is the interior of a huge temple of primitive construction. A few flickering torches cast a sallow illumination over the altar, which is still drenched with the blood of human sacrifice. Behind the altar is an enormous statue of a demon which seems to reach towards you with dripping fangs and razor-sharp talons. A low noise begins behind you, and you turn to see hundreds of hunched and hairy shapes. A guttural chant issues from their throats. Near you stands a figure draped in a robe of deepest black, brandishing a huge sword. The chant grows louder as the robed figure approaches the altar. The large figure spots you and approaches menacingly. It reaches into its cloak and pulls out a great, glowing dagger. It pulls you onto the altar and, with a murmur of approval from the throng, slices you neatly across your abdomen.

Rest in peace me I guess.

I get lucky here as the map I have made so far lets me intuit the layout of the world just well enough to guess at the overall puzzle here almost immediately. The architecture is dominated by a large aqueduct/drainage system that is noted in the descriptions of several rooms, so I'm pretty sure that I'm going to be making my way along the top of it before long. Since the Damp Passage may be chosen as a destination for the scrying window and it appears to be the natural, northern end point for the aqueduct, I'm pretty sure I need to leave something there. After completion, this puzzle feels like a more elegant version of the mine shaft in Zork I. In both cases, I need to get a light source into a location that I will be entering in future. The big difference, and the reason I am much happier with the Zork III version, is that a player may solve the puzzle while trying to achieve something slightly different. I used the viewing window as a way to pass the torch (which I had assumed had infinite duration) out beyond the lake so that I could use it when the lantern ran out, but instead found it illuminating my destination after completing the aqueduct. In contrast, Zork I required an active decision to use a relatively unclued leap of logic (that one room sat directly beneath another) with no benefit if you were wrong. On the way, I douse myself in the previously unused grue repellant from Zork II and find myself a curious magical key, which appears capable of changing shape.


The Museum

by David Lebling, 1978

Just a quick aside here: I really don't like the time limit the game imposes before the aqueduct collapses. You are given no in-game warning and, after between 100 and 150 turns, the whole thing falls apart. This opens up a new area (which took me far too long to notice) but also leaves players unable to complete the game. When I compare this to the overarching meta-puzzle of Zork I — where you have several tasks to complete in mostly the right order, but you can and puzzle them out and feel like you are progressing in any direction prior to attempting a "complete" play through — this part of Zork III feels a little clumsy.

The collapsing aqueduct has broken open the passage into the museum, which contains two puzzles: liberating the crown jewels and the Royal Puzzle.

In the game files, the Royal Puzzle is named the Chinese Puzzle, possibly as a reference to the traditional Huarong Pass Puzzle but is more recognisable as a version of Sokoban. However, Sokoban actually released a few years after mainframe Zork, so the whole thing feels a bit like comparing Seinfield to other American sitcoms that followed! This is my favourite puzzle across the trilogy because it relies heavily on mapping the area out before attempting a solution. There's also what appears to be a red herring in how to get out; an easily accessed door appears to destroy any item used in an attempt to unlock it. My only complaint is that the game is a little generous in giving you information in the form of the little top-down 3x3 map you are given each time you move. Completing this puzzle allows me to leave with a book, one of a growing number of items that I appear to be automatically equipping myself with.

The other puzzle here involves attempting to liberate the crown jewels from a museum using time travel. There's a bit of a cultural reference here too: the time machine conjures strong images of H. G. Wells' device. While the core premise of this puzzle was interesting — and contains some fun failure messages! — I found that there was the familiar struggle around guessing some actions that were possible to be taken without clues pointing me there like, most notably, the fact that the whole device may be pushed into other rooms. However, even though this puzzle left me struggling a little, it still felt like there was a natural progression to my failures. The further I get through the series, the more partial successes exist, which give a rewarding sense of improvement and knowledge on my part. For example, the first time I manage to steal the ring, I leave too many clues behind as to how I did it which causes the guards to confiscate the time machine and thus hiding it in the present day.

This, to me, is the true improvement and growth that is happening throughout Infocom's interactive fiction.


Nearing the End

by David Ardito and Steve Meretzky, 1982

Finally, I make my way to what appears to be the final region in the game. I encounter the most overengineered in the series and, frankly, it leaves me a little cold. I am given the biggest block of descriptive text I've ever seen and it still doesn't manage to clearly describe what I am inside:

Echoing my frustrations in previous parts of the game, this puzzle relies the leap of intuition that I am actually inside a vehicle, but there is no real hint in the description that the whole apparatus can move. I come to the conclusion that this might be the case because the short pole sounds a little bit like a low-tech handbrake, but I struggle to get the whole thing to move. I end up resorting to finding some answers online and then kick myself — this is the third puzzle in the game solved by "PUSH"ing.

A pair of statues here that destroy anything they see. While this is solved as part of the mirror box vehicle, I find myself wishing that the solution involved tricking them to destroy each other rather that sneaking past them.


Finale

by David Ardito and Steve Meretzky, 1982

Now conspicuously wearing the various treasures I have collected, I find myself at a large door that stands as a barrier to the very last bit of the original Zork trilogy. It's a barrier that I cannot open. I cannot open it because "KNOCK" has not been a verb I have used at any other point in the series and so I am completetly stymied until I get bored and look up the answer. This leaves me with strong feelings. Perhaps contemporary players (especially those exploring the iterative additions to mainframe Zork) would have had a lot more patience with experimenting with new verbs, but I just don't really like it as part of a packaged narrative.

Inside, I am greeted by the Dungeon Master. He becomes a companion like the robot of Zork II and can be ordered around. He helps me solve the final puzzle of the game, which I have to admit I simply brute forced. I am rewarded with the remaining untold riches of the Great Underground Empire:

This is a large room, richly appointed in a style that bespeaks exquisite taste. To judge from its contents, it is the ultimate storehouse of the wealth of the Great Underground Empire.
There are chests containing precious jewels, mountains of zorkmids, rare paintings, ancient statuary, and beguiling curios. On one wall is an annotated map of the Empire, showing the locations of various troves of treasure, and of many superior scenic views.
On a desk at the far end of the room are stock certificates representing a controlling interest in FrobozzCo International, the multinational conglomerate and parent company of the Frobozz Magic Boat Co., etc.

But wait! Something else has happened. It seems that all may not be as it seems. The treasures I have been collecting throughout the game have given me a uniform, and a final event occurs:

That's quite the ending. In mainframe Zork, the final paragraph had not been added so I can imagine this was quite a polarising final screen. It almost feels like the first players to have completed the game were in some way being mocked for their accomplishment. In Zork III, however, the final section gives us a better hint at the true reward we have earned for our journey that started outside the little white house three games ago. I think this underground empire — The Great Underground Empire — is mine now.


Closing Thoughts

While I think that Zork I had the best world to explore, Zork III was leaps and bounds ahead with its puzzles and the ongoing improvements to narrative structure. There has also been a behind the scenes shift throughout the series. More and more of the content has been missable or optional, particularly the interactions with other characters within the world. Being able to peek into the source code and see all the actions I could have taken, especially those around mistakes or silly actions, reveals a wealth of missed things. It is possible, for example, to use the torch to set the wooden staff on fire, which instantly kills you.

Playing these three games has given me insight into what I find enthralling about the genre: the methodical mapping and mastery of the game environment, and well-crafted puzzles that don't rely on guesswork or illogical leaps of intuition.

Is it Worth Playing?
Yes, but it feels smaller than Zork I.
👍

Loot for the Hoard:
A strange key, which changes shape.

My Map:
(Click to view in full size)


A thank you to The Digital Antiquarian, for an entertaining, detailed insight into Zork, Infocom and interactive fiction as a whole.

An additional thank you to Zarf Updates for a neat collection of Zork maps.


Friday, February 7, 2025

Zork II: The Wizard of Frobozz - 1981


Released more than a year after its predecessor, much of Zork IIs background mirrors that of Zork I. A large portion of the game was built out of locations and puzzles found in the original PDP-10 Zork but the game is interspersed with new sections, most notably the climax - the Wizard of Frobozz himself.

Once again, I am playing an emulated instance of the IBM PC port found here. I've had a few things spoilt: the baseball maze, some of the bank, and the riddle. Again, I will be trying to play through the game with an open mind and I will be mapping in Trizbort.


Starting Out

by Pier Giovanni Binotti, 1983

I start out in a familiar space: the barrow I was left in at the final scene of Zork I. I am gifted the Elvish sword and the lantern, which appears to somehow have fresh batteries. As I move south, I am struck by the increased length of the room descriptions:

You are standing at the southern end of a narrow tunnel where it opens into a wide cavern. The cavern is dimly illuminated by phosphorescent mosses clinging to its high ceiling. A deep ravine winds through the cavern, with a small stream at the bottom. The walls of the ravine are steep and crumbly. A foot bridge crosses the ravine to the south.

This is a stark shift from many of the purely functional descriptions in Zork I. In fact, the whole starting region seems to be purely decorative. Given the layout, I assume that the chasm I have found is a southern continuation of the chasm from the previous game. This improved narrative gives me a good sense that I am travelling downwards as I continue south.

I find the garden next and am jolted back into the ongoing illogical layout of the Great Underground Empire. Is this garden space open-topped, or is it lit by the same phosphorescence as the cavern I've passed through? I hoover up several items from the gazebo and I spot the unicorn. I completely miss the key item in the unicorn's possession. From the garden, I travel west and I am treated to one of the core elements of Zork II: the carousel room.

You are in a large circular room whose high ceiling is lost in gloom. Eight identical passages leave the room. A loud whirring sound comes from all around, and you feel sort of disoriented in here.

The carousel room doesn't let you choose the exit you leave from, instead it picks randomly for you. I complete a first draft of the centre of my map by leaving and returning this room repeatedly and exploring a few of the branches. I am pleased to see that the length of the room descriptions stays roughly the same. There's very few locations that are described with just a single, short sentence.


The Infamous Puzzles

by David Lebling, 1978

Any online conversation of Zork II inevitably returns to debate around two of its main puzzles: the Bank of Zork and the diamond maze. Due to the wealth of information about them, I cannot use my playthrough as an unbiased example of their reputed unfair difficulty, but I can at least try to work out how I might improve them.

I find the diamond puzzle first. This is a baseball puzzle, which requires a little basic knowledge to solve. The player is hinted at this by a wooden club:

A long wooden club lies on the ground near the diamond-shaped window. The club is curiously burned at the thick end. The words "Babe Flathead" are burned into the wood.

Without completely spoiling the puzzle, I think my improvement would be to have the "home plate" room (DIAMOND-4) signposted. The diamonds on the floor give hints around your progress, but navigating to the correct starting location is where I think players could use some guidance.

Having solved the diamond maze, I am rewarded with... nothing. A new room opens up that I don't seem able to progress through yet.

This is a large rectangular room. The east and west walls were used for storing safety deposit boxes, but all have been carefully removed by evil persons. To the east, west, and south of the room are large doorways. The northern "wall" of the room is a shimmering curtain of light. In the center of the room is a large stone cube, about 10 feet on a side. Engraved on the side of the cube is some lettering.

The Bank of Zork has a real knack for getting people angry online. On the surface, I like the narrative experience of raiding a deserted and previously ransacked bank for missed loot. Unfortunately, I believe the puzzle itself — the light curtain and the vault — commits two sins. The correct actions to type out require guessing the correct verb (one cannot GO NORTH, but instead must type ENTER LIGHT or something similar) and the central conceit that the light takes you to different destinations based on your previous movement is poorly explained.

I think that simply allowing the player to type the normal directions would have gone a long way towards resolving the complaints.

Pillaging the bank gives me a couple of items that are obviously treasures, although I have not yet worked out what I might need them for. Zork II is clearly a game with less obvious objectives.


A Dragon, a Princess and a Hot Air Balloon

by David Ardito and Steve Meretzky, 1981

Next, I tidy up the remaining areas in the northern and eastern reaches of the map. The dragon is... a bit silly. It's a reversal of the combat expectations, but I don't really think the narrative sits right with me. I'm expected to believe that the dragon has never seen ice but his lair is only three moves away from the glacier! I fail at this interaction twice. The first failure was due to misunderstanding how angry the dragon was an striking him one too many times. The second, the wizard cast ferment on me and, drunk, I tried to sneak past the dragon. No one survives trying to sneak past the dragon.

The dragon doubles back and charges into the room, maddened by your attempt to sneak past him. His eyes glow with a white heat of anger. Worse for you, his mouth opens and a great gout of flame puffs out and consumes you on the spot.

Dealing with the dragon gives access to another treasure and reveals the princess. I'm not sure where she is the princess of given the dilapidation of the Great Underground Empire. I completely mess up what I am meant to do here. Three times I get to the garden and find a rose within the gazebo, but nothing else. I eventually work out that she is opening up a shortcut en route and is therefore beating me there each time. I (finally) get a key for my troubles.

In an unexpected echo of Zork I, my favourite segment of the game involves a vehicle. I believe the volcano region might be the best part of the trilogy so far. Each of the actions I have to take seems fair and each of my mistakes leads to an obvious improvement to my actions. Highlights included:

  • Drifting up and out of the volcano but crashing into a mountain.
  • Getting out of the balloon without securing it and having it float away, leaving me stranded.
  • Shutting off the fire, getting out the balloon and still having it leave me stranded because it continues to rise for a few turns.
  • Working out how to tie the balloon down but running out of fuel and crash landing due to spending too many actions accurately mapping the area.

Incidentally, I believe I found a bug. Crash landing the balloon while there is treasure inside seems to leave that treasure permanently inaccessible.


Mopping Up

by Pier Giovanni Binotti, 1983

The last obvious direction I have to explore is southeast. There is a riddle (which I am disappointed to find is not solved like most riddles by saying "TIME") and a slightly awkward puzzle around a magical lift. I work out quite quickly where I am, but I don't really understand the justification for quite why the lift works the way it does. Even worse, how on earth do I empty the bucket of water while I am still standing in it?!

o  b  o
r              z
f  M A G I C  z
c   W E L L   y
o              n
m  p  a

The Alice-in-Wonderland-inspired puzzle isn't bad but seems to include some redundancy. I eat each of the cakes once to see what they do (there's some entertaining messages here) and then solve the puzzle while completely missing the fact that you can reveal the effect of each cake safely in a different way.

Last of all, I briefly interact with a new robot friend and finally stop the carousel room from spinning. The instructions I am able to give here really show off the ZIL parser: "TELL ROBOT TO PRESS SQUARE BUTTON" is a completely logical and readable command that would not have been possible in competing games.


The Finale

by David Ardito and Steve Meretzky, 1981

The final act of Zork II has me invade the personal chambers of the wizard himself. I find a trophy room (which contains a treasure the wizard successfully filched from me), a thematically appropriate workshop with an adjoining pentagram chamber (!!!), an aquarium (???), and the wizards bedroom. It takes me longer to realise than I would like to admit, but I eventually notice that I have missed one of the required crystal spheres — palantirs within the code in a nod to Tolkien. After a quick visit to my robot friend, I return and manage to summon the demon.

"This I do gladly, oh fool!" cackles the demon gleefully. He stretches out an enormous hand towards the wand and taking it like a toothpick (this is a large demon), points it at himself. "Free!" he commands, and the demon and his wand vanish forever.

He demands all of my treasures, I give him a couple of incorrect commands and, after finally getting my hands on the wand, I come to the crushing realisation that I am not finishing Zork II with the maximum number of points. A player is given two points for each treasure given to the demon and those that the wizard stole are not possible to retrieve until after this interaction.

The wand has so many functions that I am disappointed there is so little game left. All of the spells start with the letter "F" — presumably because it was made by FrobozzCo — and there are more than I expect. I'm beginning to get the impression that much of the effort that went into building Zork II was spent on the wand and the wizard. This is a shame because so little of either are required to actually finish the game.

The last few steps fly by. I deal with Cerberus — another ancient Greek reference to go with Hades, Poseidon's trident, and the Cyclops from Zork I — and enter the crypt. I finish Zork II with 398 points out of a possible 400 and a sour taste in my mouth.


Closing Thoughts

I was initially relieved that I had finished Zork II. As I played it almost immediately after finishing its predecessor, I found that it sagged a little. While the wizard and the wand represented some much improved complexity to the gameplay formula, I felt that the more complicated puzzles suffered from poor direction and this coloured my experience.

Looking back (the sting of the imperfect score fading), I am impressed at the number of different actions I can take with the wand, but the overall design suffered by giving it to me so late in the game. It is obvious from the source code that a lot of work went into the magic (and by extension, the wizard). It feels wasted that I don't get to experience more of it.

I find myself wanting to jump ahead to later Infocom games to see where this continued evolution leads.

Is it Worth Playing?
Not quite, unless you really want to experience all of Zork.
👎

Loot for the Hoard:
The magic wand, filled with "F" spells.

My Map:
(Click to view in full size)


A thank you to The Digital Antiquarian, for an entertaining, detailed insight into Zork, Infocom and interactive fiction as a whole.

An additional thank you to Zarf Updates for a neat collection of Zork maps.