Volcanic Dungeon was designed by Roy Carnell and Stuart A. Galloway and released by Carnell Software for the ZX Spectrum in 1982. It is a follow up to the Black Crystal and is the second game in the Third Continent Trilogy. The third game in the series is entitled The Wrath of Magra. I tried to play Black Crystal, the first game in the series, and I kept encountering errors and getting dumped into source code.
The plot is an interesting one. A war between the forces of good and evil has been won by the light and the dark goddess Methzar and the evil Snow Queen were both defeated. But the witch Magra has managed to escape with some of her army into the titular volcanic dungeon, taking with her a captive elf princess named Edora. The task of the hero known as the Knight of the Star Jewel is to hunt down and kill Magra, and to rescue Edora from her glass coffin.
The war between good and evil destroyed the elves, dwarves, and animals as well as the seeds of the mother of all trees. Edora is the only one who knows where to find the seeds, without which nothing will grow. So finding and rescuing the princess is paramount to the future survival of all mankind.
Volcanic Dungeon has the same basic gameplay as a Rogue-like dungeon crawler but with a text adventure interface. The game is extremely difficult. You must find your way around the dungeon using the map provided in the manual. There are over 300 tunnels and rooms to explore and the dungeon is a veritable maze. You can get lost quite easily unless you carefully keep track of where you are on the map.
I found it necessary to photoshop the map from the manual and then print out several copies. You will die quite often so if you have to begin again you have a map to mark on to help you keep track of where you are in this labyrinth. The F on the map represent rooms of fire or lava which cause instant death if you stumble into them. The W on the map represents rooms with pools of water and the “ladder-like” symbol represents bridges traversing deep chasms.
There are wandering monsters throughout the tunnels and rooms that need to be dealt with. While you’re playing the game there are two statistics that you need to pay careful attention to. You lose hit points with every action that you take. Each step that you take, each item that you pick up, constantly subtracts 2 hit points from your total. The only way to replenish these hit points is through the experience gained by vanquishing foes. Each time you slay a monster in the dungeon you are awarded more hit points. So you need to be sure that you’re slaying enough creatures to stay alive.
The other statistic to monitor is your water. Remember that you’re exploring a volcanic dungeon. Each step you take further dehydrates you and so your water meter also ticks down with each step much like your hit points. The only way to replenish your water total is to make your way back to one of the rooms which contains a pool of water. When you enter the room your water level resets back to 100. If there is a wandering monster that generates in the water room than you must slay that monster in order to get to the water.
The monsters are the next level of difficulty. Each monster type can only be affected by a particular weapon or combat style and the way in which you defend against the attacks by each of these creatures is specific as well. If you choose the wrong weapon or the wrong defense you will find yourself instantly slain. In my short experience with the first game in the series, the Black Crystal, combat was handled this way as well. So much of my first hours with the game was that of experimentation. I had to discover which weapons or objects worked against each creature type as well as learning how to defend against each creature type’s attack.
I discovered that goblins die from swords, clubs, silver swords, knives, staves, etc. So just about anything except spears, torches, or stakes. Vampires were affected by stakes and the only way to defend against a vampire attack was with a cross. Wraiths were only affected by saintly staves and the only way to defend yourself from a Wraith is with a pentacle charm. Hydras were difficult to beat as well. The only way to defeat a hydra was with a sword and torch combination (slice off one of the many heads and then burn the stump so that a new head can’t grow back). When you defeat a Hydra you can pick up one of the game’s special items known as Hydra Teeth. You can use Hydra Teeth only one time in combat and then they are used up. Using the Hydra’s Teeth summons forth an army of ghostly warriors that will do your bidding and vanquish your enemy and once that is accomplished they disappear. The Gorgon could only be vanquished by a silver sword and shield combination and that same combination had to be your defense as well. Once you have slain a Gorgon you can elect to take the Gorgon’s Head but only if you have in your possession a magic sack to place the head in. Using a Gorgon’s Head against living enemies turns them instantly to stone. The dragon in the game can only be destroyed with a spear or sword and shield combination. Slaying a dragon also results in obtaining one of the game’s special items and that’s the Dragon’s Tears. You will need the Dragon’s Tears as part of the sequence that frees the princess.
The most difficult combat in the game is your confrontation with the evil witch Magra.
The evil witch Magra resides in one of the rooms in the dungeon. This location is different each time you begin a new game because the dungeon is procedurally generated. Once you encounter Magra she uses her spells to continue to conjure creatures for you to do battle with. Each time you encounter Magra the types of creatures she calls forth are randomly generated and different. You have to vanquish these waves of enemies before you can even do battle with her. The difficulty factor resides in the fact that you have to hope that you have the right combination of weapons and defenses against whatever she might throw against you. You can only carry 12 items at any one time so inventory management in this game is critical. If you do not have the right combination of items you will have to retreat and hope that the next time you do battle with her you DO have the right combination of items. Once you do finally reach the witch herself most of your weapons will wound her but it is the torch that finally does her in and affects her the most. When you defeat Magra she drops the Star Jewel which is another special item that you will need to help you free the princess.
The items that are guarded by creatures or that you find in tunnels and rooms are randomly generated. So you’re going to need to keep exploring until you find the right mix of offensive and defensive items that you need. You may find then that you need to retreat from combat often because you know you don’t have the right items you need to deal with the creature and that you need to find them. To compound this dilemma even further is that many of these items break during combat or are used up and then you have to find a replacement for them. Remember too that while your searching for these items you have your Hit Point Meter that is counting down against you and so you have to keep winning combats in order to survive. You also need to keep returning to rooms that have water so that you can replenish your water levels.
So keeping your Hit Point Meter and Water Meter in positive territory, not becoming lost in the dungeon, and finding the right combinations of items to deal with your foes all makes for a difficult experience.
Once you do find the princess encased in her glass coffin you’ll find that the coffin is surrounded by a magical wall of flame. The only way to deal with the flame is to use the Dragon’s Tears that then extinguish the magical flame.
The only way to open the glass coffin is to have the Star Jewel in your possession that you won from vanquishing the evil witch Magra. Beware however that opening up the coffin with the Star Jewel will cost you 100 Hit Points from your Hit Point meter so make sure your hit point total is high before you attempt to open the coffin.
Once you have the princess in your possession you now need to make your way out of the dungeon through the secret tunnel that you used to enter the dungeon. While you are moving with the princess in tow it subtracts DOUBLE the amount of water from your Water Meter. A pack of wolves was in the last chamber and blocking the exit that I needed to leave. My Hit Point Meter and Water Meter were almost depleted but luckily I had held back Hydra’s Teeth in my inventory. I called forth ghostly warriors which luckily vanquished the wolf pack and then I made my way out.
I played Volcanic Dungeon on a ZX Spectrum emulator and I spent about 12 hours and several pieces of printed maps ( I died often ) until I finally won out in the end. This game may not have the graphics to rival Wizardry II or Ultima II which were released in the same year but I found the game to be very enjoyable and highly original in terms of story and in the “gimmicks” that it used to make itself unique; and there were many. A rogue-like dungeon sporting a text adventure interface, a unique map consisting of over 300 rooms that was easy to become lost in, and monsters that had to be attacked and defended against with unique items and fighting styles. The encounter with the witch was exciting and rescuing the princess from a glass coffin using a correct sequence of events was highly evocative and original as well. The game was very difficult because there are a myriad number of ways to die and it is easy to die. Succeeding required a lot of experimentation and persistence. I enjoyed my time in the Volcanic Dungeon and I look forward to the sequel; The Wrath of Magra in the 1983 list.