The Keys of Acheron is an expansion module for Hellfire Warrior which is itself a sequel to the Temple of Apshai. Hellfire Warrior added Levels 5-8 to Temple’s 1-4 and now The Keys of Acheron takes the player on an entirely new adventure. The Keys of Acheron contains only data files so the user must have the Hellfire Warrior program in order to run the adventure contained within.
The Keys of Acheron was designed by Paul Reiche III and was his first computer role-playing game. Fans of Dungeons & Dragons might recognize this name because Paul was responsible for developing some of the most popular adventures ever created. His design credits include: Isle of Dread, Slave Pits of the Undercity, Assault on the Aerie of the Slave Lords and The Ghost Tower of Inverness. These were some of my favorite modules growing up.
Paul, together with Jon Freeman, started the video game company Free Fall Associates. During this time, Reiche worked on Mail Order Monsters and Archon. After a successful tenure with Free Fall Associates Paul struck out on his own to form Toys for Bob based out of California which would also develop video games. The most recognizable games which he was co-creator of include: Star Control I, Star Control II, Pademonium! and Tony Hawk’s Downhill Jam. In later years he would help create Skylanders and build a franchise which would garner 1 billion dollars in sales.
Automated Systems (later Epyx) was known for it’s packaging that came with their games. The room descriptions and art in the Temple of Apshai and Hellfire Warrior manuals helped to create a deeper level of immersion for players in these early CRPGs. The Keys of Acheron was no different and actually represents the best of the breed in my humble opinion. Paul Reiche’s fingerprints could be seen in the quality of the plot and in the room and treasure descriptions found in the manual. His experience with TSR shines through here as the plot sounds like something right out of one of the classic modules that he helped develop.
I used the Hellfire Warrior Innkeeper program to call forth my saved character, Fost Longstrider, as I murmured; “once more into the breach…”
Fost had his work cut out for him. Tasked by the wizard Absosandra with recovering four magical gems (the Keys of Acheron), he would have to explore four different dungeon levels:
- The Abode of the Dragon
- Temple in the Jungle
- Crystal Caves
- Shadowland of Kronus
Each of these dungeons holds one of the keys as well as new monsters, traps, and hazards.
Veterans of the Dunjonquest series of games will immediately recognize the top down look of the dungeon and the screen layout. Nothing has changed in that regard. The movement and combat keys are still the same as well. There is a handy reference card that comes with the game should you find it necessary to refresh your memory.
In the first dungeon level, the Abode of the Dragon, the first key is guarded by a great dragon. The dragon guards the ruby Key in a cave near a magician’s ivory tower. In order to face the dragon and it’s fiery breath directly you must first obtain an enchanted necklace of fire opals from a unicorn living in the midst of a mandrake grove. The mandrake grove is quite large and you will have to explore and map several screens in order to make your way to the unicorn. Once I had the necklace of fire opals in hand I made my way to the ivory tower and then descended into the caves below. You can also reach the caves via a beach. There are baby dragons in the caves amidst egg fragments but these are easily dispatched. Once I found and defeated the dragon I then had to find the dimensional portal located in the ivory tower that takes me home.
In order to find the second key I was sent to a primeval jungle. The jungle was filled with dinosaurs and my encounters were with Allsaurs, Brontosaurs, Sabretooths, Stegosaurs and the most feared of all dinosaurs the Tyrannosaur. The game really does a nice job at keeping the different location descriptions unique from one another. This is done by completely changing the type of creatures you encounter as well as the evocative room and treasure descriptions.
The first and third dungeon levels have room descriptions within the manual. The second and fourth dungeon levels have no room descriptions though the developer uses the treasures encountered in the fourth dungeon level as a type of narrative.
The jungle is vast and the dinosaur encounters numerous though you can choose to flee many of them. Eventually you will find the hidden temple populated by the Sserpa (a serpent-like humanoid). They worship a serpent deity known as Ssin and are covered in a glistening network of scales. My mind immediately flashed back to watching Land of the Lost on Saturday mornings as a kid. Once inside the temple you will eventually encounter the Sserpa shaman who is guarding the amethyst Key.
In the third scenario, The Crystal Caves, you find yourself in the heart of a dead volcano. The rooms are numbered once again in this scenario and have excellent descriptions found within the manual.
In this dungeon you encounter Fungus Men which look like walking toadstools. They disdain light and prefer warm and moist environments making the steamy tunnels the perfect environment for them. The location descriptions suggest that the volcano is not so dead after all.
I found the Crystal Caverns to be a bit maze-like and spent quite a bit of time in this scenario backtracking through areas I’d already been in looking for secret doors. In a very original concept for the series; you encounter secret underwater pools that are filled with piranhas. You have to survive them long enough to make your way to a hidden room and the third key. I have to say I found the different creature depictions in the game to be very well done.
The fourth dungeon level was the most difficult and it took the longest to complete. No room numbers are displayed in this dungeon level and navigation through the maze-like dungeon can be tricky and frustrating.
The monsters which you encounter in this scenario include Astral Skulls, Automatons, Horned Fiends, a Kraken, Shadowbats and Wraiths.
In this scenario there are no room descriptions but the treasures descriptions are used a bit differently and used to drive the narrative. Many of the treasures are taunts from Kronus or descriptions which give you hints as to which way to travel next.
In this scenario it can become very easy to miss a secret door as you almost have to be on top of it before the game allows you to recognize it. I had to backtrack through the dungeon several times until I finally found a way to proceed forward. The first secret door leads to a dock and a boat and you are going to have to cross a Black Sea! Hazards include Black Rain, Fog, Waves and Whirpools. Navigating the Black Sea was a nightmare and I had to just keep moving from screen to screen until I was eventually able to dock. I had to defeat a giant Kraken before I was allowed to dock the boat and disembark.
On land once again I had to traverse what the game calls an onyx path before finding the Citadel of Kronus. There are many Wraiths and Astral Skulls which attack you on this path as you make your way forward. Once inside the Citadel of Kronus you have to navigate the maze-like interior and find a couple of secret doors until you finally find the fourth key. It is at this point that Kronus materializes next to you. He does this often through all four scenarios and your only option is to flee because he seems impossible to beat. Once you flee past Kronus in his own Citadel there is a secret door in the north wall. Once you make your way through that you find another dimensional portal to take you home.
I enjoyed The Keys of Acheron more than any of the other Dunjonquest offerings up to this point. The backstory, room and treasure descriptions, diverse locations and creatures you encounter helped to make this THE most evocative and immersive experience of all of the scenarios. My only critique of the game was that there was no end sequence or congratulatory message at having found all four keys. You have to use your imagination and assume that Abosandrus used the four keys you found to heal the rift in your world. Furthermore, the game was not able to keep track of which of the four keys you had in your possession. Each scenario gets progressively harder than the last but you could have gone in any order. There was no need to have found any of the previous keys in order to reach the endgame. Once I was back with the Innkeeper I kept checking my character to see if there was some hint that I was carrying the Keys or had found them and there was none. It seemed to me that this should have been incorporated into the game but perhaps they were restricted by the Dunjonquest engine. Nevertheless, it was a very enjoyable experience and it is my favorite so far in the series.