Another competition game and another short one, packed into 4k of code. This adventure was submitted to Reset 64 Magazine’s ‘Craptastic’ 4kb Game Competition in 2018 (where it achieved 18th place overall) but it was written earlier, although never completed, for a competition run by the late Paul Panks over on Lemon64. Endurion finished the game almost a decade later and dedicated it to Paul.
This is not the first adventure I have played that starts off in a pitch-black room with no obvious exits or objects. However, it might be the first where I can’t move in any direction or see anything that might help. I am truly stuck in a dark room surrounded by walls.
Anyway, eventually, I pass the first test and I have light!
Now I get very confused and am at a loss for a little while until I try a few things, but at last, I pass the second test and can actually move to another location. In fact, I move into a labyrinth of corridors, some with sockets, one with a code lock, and it is here a map comes in very handy as it is easy to get lost.
A bit of trial and error and several moves and I pass the third test and escape the room!
Endurion has managed to create a real sense of achievement in a very small game and you need to work out what to do with very little information. I have to say this one, so far, has been the most fun and I felt I earned my escape.
As I say, a map is vital…
A fun game, limited in ways that having to keep it to 4k would do, but the parser is actually fine and while room descriptions are kept to a minimum that just adds to the sense of mystery.
You can find and play the game here.
According to CSDb, Endurion has released a load of games and graphics utilities between 2007 and 2020, some of which look like text adventures, so more Endurion to come I think. Incidentally, Paul Panks appears to have been pretty prolific too, and there are a lot of games credited to him in the database, so it will be interesting to play these as and when they make the list.
What’s next I hear you ask? Well, the next two games are unpublished but are included in the GB64 database, so I’ll play through them both. The first will be The 64-Scene-Adventure, and that will be followed by AAS Masters. Yes, people, we’re into the A’s !