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
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| 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
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| 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
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| 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
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| 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
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| 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.
