The House of Usher was developed and published by Crystalware in 1980 for the Apple II, Atari 800, Commodore PET, and Commodore 64. In the Apple II version, I would periodically find my character trapped outside the walls of whatever room was loading and unable to go anywhere. In the Atari 800 version, I would play for some time and then encounter a fatal error in which the game would dump me into code. A special shout out to Bennett for helping me with my technical difficulties with the Atari 800 version. I ended up ultimately playing the Commodore PET version and encountered no errors or glitches with that version. The game took me roughly 4 hours to beat. Each computer system sported different cover art.
All three different covers were well done and it’s hard to pick a favorite.
The game is loosely based on Edgar Allan Poe’s short story, The Fall of the House of Usher, published in 1839. The short story is a work of Gothic fiction and includes themes of madness, family, isolation, and metaphysical identities. It is considered one of Poe’s more famous works.
House of Usher is not the first Crystalware title we’ve experienced. The previous titles have been quite eclectic and sporting terrific, evocative documentation reminiscent of the documentation packaged with Epyx’s Dunjonquest games. Games like Fantasyland 2041, Forgotten Island, Crypt of the Undead, The Nightmare, and Quest for Power were all original with brief moments of greatness but have since been relegated to obscurity. The documentation which accompanies the game is brief, consisting of only four pages which is a bit unusual for a Crystalware title.
The mystery alluded to in the documentation above concerns the mystery of Virginia’s death in the game. How did Virginia die? What are the sounds behind the walls of the library? Where is the red room? The game advertised a $100 cash prize to the first person able to solve the mystery.
In the Atari version lightning flashes across the screen and an image of the Usher mansion presents itself. The beginning is pretty impressive for a title from 1980.
There is more than one way to win the game. The easiest way to win is by amassing 1000 courage points. This is done by encountering and defeating the different creatures in the game. This is the way in which I won. When I obtained over 1000 courage points the game suddenly ends with a congratulatory screen. I was not allowed an attempt to solve the mystery in this fashion. It is my understanding that if you win the game by acquiring 1000 in wealth, which is difficult to do, then you will also be given an opportunity to type in the solution to the mystery.
What makes either road to victory exceedingly difficult is that you are on a time limit. You enter the Usher Mansion at 6:00 P.M. and you have until 6:00 A.M. to acquire the requisite number of courage points or accrue enough wealth. If you fail to accomplish either before the sun comes up then a screen will appear. This would appear to be a lot of time to explore however the countdown is exceedingly fast. It is impossible to explore more than half the mansion in this amount of time. Your entire clock can run down in just real-time minutes. Needless to say I died many times in my exploration of the Usher Mansion.
The Usher Mansion represents a fixed map consisting of three levels: the ground floor, basement (including catacombs), and the upper floor. The encounters appear to be randomly distributed throughout the mansion with each new playthrough.
Most of the screen is used to graphically display the room you’re exploring. The bottom of the screen displays character statistics, your location, time, and any enemies that you’re facing.
The room locations make a lot of sense and it was fun to see how each of these were graphically laid out. You can interact with the various objects in the room as well and the exploration of your surroundings is encouraged.
Your Courage has a starting value of 0 and it increases by eliminating enemies. You may also encounter friendly ghosts who bestow upon you the gift of Courage when they depart. Many of the ghosts you encounter or traps in the house serve to scare you or reduce your courage score. You begin the game with a bow and 60 arrows. You dispatch your enemies by firing arrows at them while simultaneously avoiding their attacks. The Apple II and Atari 800 versions are played using a joystick. The Commodore PET version is keyboard only.
Your Offense number can be increased by finding weapons randomly distributed throughout the mansion. In one playthrough I found a whip which increased my score. Your Defense number can be increased as well in this fashion. I found a pair of pants which increased my Defense score.
You can move about by the 2,4, 6, and 8 keys on your numeric keypad. Pressing Key 5 on the keypad will fire a projectile in the last direction your character moved. Pressing 1 allows you to Use an inventory item.
It was fun to explore and interact with various aspects of the mansion. There are secret rooms, rooms where the walls close in on you, secret passages, and special outputs from different objects you interact with.
To solve the mystery you have to find the hidden red room. Once you enter the red room you can explore it fully and interact with all of the objects in the room to receive clues. There are seven different texts or clues than you can receive. To share even one of them here would ruin the entire mystery for you. If you solve the game through courage you do not get the opportunity to solve the mystery however if you solve the game by acquiring enough wealth and surviving the night then you’ll get the opportunity to guess the mystery by typing a sentence into a blank prompt. If you got it correct in 1980 you could then send the answer in to qualify for the $100 prize.
I enjoyed Hose of Usher. There was enough meat on the bones here to keep me interested. I liked the ability to win in more than one way. There seemed to be an atmosphere to the game that was properly conveyed and the mystery aspect pushed you to interact with the environment on a grander scale.
Next up on the docket we’re doing a bit more housekeeping with Wizard’s Castle.
Until next time…