I have always been a fan of Stuart Smiths work. I have played each of his previous offerings in their entirety and found them to be highly enjoyable. When I wrote about Fracas, Ali Baba and the Forty Thieves, and The Return of Heracles, I painted them in a favorable light. One of the very unique things that Stuart Smith has managed to do in all of his titles, whether it is Arabic folk tale, Greek mythology, or Mesopotamian mythology, is provide both educational and historical context. When enmeshed in one of his games I found myself constantly reading about Ali Baba or looking up Greek or Mesopotamian references. His material is always well researched, and it provides the player with yet another layer of immersion. His first game, Fracas, would foreshadow and set the pace for his later offerings. Combat in Fracas, as in all of Stuart Smiths games, is frenetic and always fun.
Stuart Smith’s Adventure Construction Set was released in 1984 for the Apple II and Commodore 64. It would be released in 1986 for the Amiga and in 1987 for DOS.
Since I am ensconced in the 1984 offerings, I chose to play the Apple II version using an emulator. The main purpose of the Adventure Construction Set is to allow players to create their own adventures which their friends can then play. It was very popular at the time and created many enthusiasts much like the Eamon engine did. There were web pages and newsletters all for the express purpose of swapping game creations made with the ACS engine. Here is an example of one of the fan pages that existed. Full disclosure: I’m really not personally interested in attempting to create my own game nor am I interested in playing one of the fan created offerings. Adventure Construction Set comes packaged with a full adventure known as Rivers of Light. It was written and created by Stuart Smith using his Adventure Construction Set engine. I am always going to jump at any opportunity to play a Stuart Smith game.
The premise of Rivers of Light is a highly original one compared to other games up to this date. It seems that rather than saving a kingdom from a maniacally evil wizard, you’re searching for eternal life. The game focuses on Mesopotamian mythology and more explicitly attempts to simulate the legendary exploits of Gilgamesh.
You begin the game by creating a character. You get to choose from an assortment of icons and you get to choose a name but not much else. The game randomly rolls all of your attributes for you until your starting character looks like this:
The name Fitz comes from Robin Hobb’s character Fitzchivalry Farseer from her outstanding Realm of the Elderlings series. He is thus far my favorite literary character and she is hands down my favorite author.
Rivers of Light is a much larger game than one might be led to believe. It is certainly larger than any of Smiths previous games and I would also rate it his hardest game. There are a few difficult puzzles to work through and one of the puzzles in particular frustrated many of his fans. It took me roughly 11 to 12 hours to beat the game and a good portion of that time was spent exploring and backtracking trying to find a solution to the puzzles in the game.
One of the other things that makes a Stuart Smith game very unique is that there are no generic wandering monsters like you encounter in Questron. NPCs that you encounter and monsters all have a specific role or purpose in the game. When you’re in combat, do not be surprised if another opponent joins the fracas (inherited from his first offering). Sometimes your two opponents will begin to fight each other rather than you. There are key opponents that are very difficult to beat who guard necessary items that you need to continue your quest. Most of them are ripped right from The Epic of Gilgamesh such as the Humbaba who guards the Cedar Forest. This epic beast guards the cedar poles which your hero will need later in his journey. The Shedu is another opponent ripped from mythology as well as Yam the dragon. You will find that in order to defeat some of these opponents that you will need to quest for special items to help you overcome them.
The games overall quest is divided up into five key sections. These sections of the game can be easily transitioned into via the overland screens as long as you have the appropriate items. The game is not linear so it is possible that you find yourself in front of opponents that you cannot beat or in a situation that you will not be able to solve. This might then involve you having to “backtrack” to discover what you may have overlooked.
The first section of the game involves you performing a series of quests until you have the swimming ability. Once you have the swimming ability you can then cross the Tigris River to the city-state of Great Assur. This section was exponentially harder than the last and starts to give you a glimpse as to the size and difficulty of the game.
It is in this second section that you’ll have to find a way to beat the Humbaba, Yam the dragon, and Shedu. When you defeat each of these “big bosses” you’ll find cedar poles, a partial tablet, and a key to the Royal Library. These are all important items to be used later. The tablet pieces are especially important. There are three in the game. When you put all three of the tablet pieces together, they give you instructions on how to pass through the three gates to eternal life. The Royal Library contains an important spell you’ll need for your foray into the desert. There are several spells or powers that you’ll uncover that have very specific purposes. There are also several tapestries with recorded messages for you to read.
The third section of the game involves you retracing the path of Gilgamesh. You’ll need to avoid invisible pits, wend your way through a maze, cross over an acidic lake (this is where the cedar poles come in handy) and fight your way through scorpion men.
You will find that many that you encounter do not think highly of your quest for eternal life.
It is from Utnapishtim that you learn of the Gray-Grow-Young bush and where to find it. You need to obtain the bush in order to trade it for the royal key later in the game.
The fourth section of the game involves the desert and you’re going to learn very quickly that there is economy involving your water supply. You’re not only going to have to find and obtain water, but enough of it to get you through the vast desert to the Pyramids.
There are several difficult parts of the game. In no particular order: making sure you have enough cedar poles to cross the acidic lake, finding (no I’m not making this up) a mouth so that you can give it to one of the spirits, making sure you properly go through the gates as instructed to from the tablet, dealing with the fires and denizens of hell, and knowing when to use the spells or powers at the appropriate time. I made liberal use of saves and still died often in this game. There are a lot of hints hidden in the many messages in the game, so it is to your benefit to take copious notes or screen shots of all of these messages. There are two particularly devious puzzles in the game. They are found in Hell and in Two Hero Valley. I found Hell to be particularly devilish – oh the irony.
Two Hero Valley offers up a very unique puzzle to date and also a very frustrating one. Once you reach this part of the game you will find that you need a second player to help you through this area. Every Frodo needs a Sam right? There are two ways to solve the issue. The first is to create a second character and build that character up from scratch to get them to where your original character lies. This would be grueling and take hours however I would bet that many went this route. The second solution involves you moving west before entering Two Hero Valley. When you move west it opens up and creates a transitional area between Great Assur and the Two Hero Valley areas. So, it becomes a simple matter to create a new character and quickly move to that area. Once they assist your original character you can retire them. I found this shortcut quite by accident merely because I decided to explore west first. Otherwise, I would have gone the former route.
Ultimately, I did finally make my way to the third gate and still there is an effort to deter me from my quest.
You will then have to move through a series of areas where the Spell of Luxom, your light spell, will have to illuminate the correct path for you to take. The other doors contain fearsome monsters that you’ll have to fight.
I am given one last chance here to turn back but I’ve accomplished so much and come so far that I felt there was no turning back now.
You finally find yourself before a sealed crypt that is protected by a ring of fire. Luckily, you found the spell of Extinguish Flames very early in the game and they work here to remove the fire for you.
I really enjoyed what would be Stuart Smith’s final offering. I thought the game was strong enough that it could have been sold on its own. The fact that it was pre-packaged with Stuart Smith’s Adventure Construction Set as an example of what you can do with the editor is mind boggling. Smith does a great job of introducing the player to Mesopotamian mythology and there is a lot of it. You’re walking the same path as Gilgamesh, meeting all the principal players and foes from his story, and solving many of the same puzzles. I probably spent too much time reading the story of Gilgamesh and looking up all of the names of the NPCs and foes, but it made my experience more immersive and hence more enjoyable.
Thank you, Stuart, for your art and for sharing it with the world. Thank you for Fracas, Ali Baba & the Forty Thieves, The Return of Heracles, and the Adventure Construction Set with the packaged Rivers of Light. They brought me many hours of enjoyment.
Next up on the docket is Xyphus.
Until next time…