Sorcerer’s Castle Adventure is the fourth Greg Hassett adventure we’ve now been exposed to. If you remember; Greg was only 12 to 13 years of age when he began to churn out these commercial adventures. In 1978 we reviewed Journey to the Center of the Earth, House of Seven Gables and King Tut’s Tomb. This is the first of three additional commercial releases from Greg Hassett in 1979.
In our last game review; Empire of the Overmind showed us just how powerful and immersive an interactive text adventure could be. It broke convention and influenced other text adventures in the coming years.
Sorcerer’s Castle Adventure embraces current text adventure tropes. The definition of trope? A common or overused theme or device. Emphasis on the word overused. The plot here is non-existent. You have as much chance of finding a storyline here as you have of finding a Playstation 5 before Thanksgiving. You begin play in a dark forest which is, wait for it, a maze! You have to traverse the maze of the dark forest to find the Sorcerer’s Castle. Chester the Jester will magically appear to help you with this task.
But why stop at only one maze? There are actually THREE different mazes in this game. Two of the three have the locations merely labeled as Maze. Accompanying this trio of mazes, like white wine is to sushi, is the proverbial treasure hunt.
Once you find the Sorcerer’s castle and make your way inside you’ll begin to find treasures scattered about. Through trial and error I discover that I get points for these items by dropping them outside the front door of said castle.
There are 14 total treasures to find and they are as follows:
- bag of coins
- priceless painting
- giant opal
- golden bar
- persian rug
- priceless sapphire
- set of silverware
- platinum pen
- velvet pillow
- pewter cup
- scepter
- golden pistol
- golden sword
- crown
You actually do find the old sorcerer ensconced in the study of the castle that you’re robbing. I politely ran him through with my golden sword which was dreadfully underwhelming. There really are no puzzles to speak other than working your way through the three different mazes. I recommend dropping items to get your bearings. It works wonders.
For as exhilarating as Empire of the Overmind was; this game felt old and tired with mazes and treasure hunts merely thrown in for ritual or as a habitual act. I have played 15 text adventures thus far in 1979 with 4 more still to play on my list. Sorcerer’s Castle Adventure will likely find itself at the bottom of that list.