Castle Quest was created in 1980 by Rick Taubold for the Compucolor Computer (CoCo) and distributed on disk number 33 of the CHIP (Rochester Compucolor Users Group).
I was rather surprised at the pull of this game and soon found myself addicted. The game is a turn-based dungeon crawler with a fixed map of 20 rooms to be explored. The goal is to amass 20,000 experience points through exploration of the dungeon without dying.
When you first start the game it asks if you want to continue with a saved game or start a new one. You can save the game once you successfully exit the dungeon. If you start the game back up later and want to continue with the same character all you have to do to access that character is type in the character’s name. The game features permadeath so if you die within the dungeon you cannot access the saved character again.
There are four different experience levels in the game. 2nd level can be attained with 2,000 experience, 3rd level with 5,000 experience, and 4th level with 10,000 experience. When you enter the castle you choose your difficulty level between 1-4 which depends of course on your experience level. You have to pay 50 gold coins each time you enter the castle so you MUST keep your entrance fee in reserve at all times otherwise you will soft lock your game.
You gain experience points from slaying monsters however your experience point total is not updated until you leave the castle. Encumbrance is a part of the game as well and your character has maximum weight limits. I found myself dumping gold pieces at different points in the game because I was overburdened.
Armor represents Armor Class and the lower your score the better. It starts and 10 and shields and armor that your purchase or find subtract from that Armor Class.
I found that the maximum hit points were random and usually between 30 and 39.
The type of weapon you purchase definitely impacts the amount of damage you can do. In one of my playthroughs I did find a Sword +1 as well so there are magic weapons to be found.
The game features six different kinds of spell scrolls that you can purchase. Knock which opens locked doors, Dispel removes traps in the room including those in chests, Heal will mend some of your wounds, Repel which also rebuffs monsters away from you, Flame which acts like an offensive fireball spell, and Shield which prevents monsters from attacking you for six rounds. I found the Knock, Heal and Shield spells to be absolute necessities so once you have some success you’re going to want to begin to purchase these spells. When you purchase a spell, and then use it, the spell is gone. So you constantly have to spend gold to replenish your spells.
I can’t tell you the number of times I’ve seen this tombstone screen. It is extremely hard to survive in this game. You could be third level, have 50 hit points, have an arsenal of spells, and if you’re hit by a Giant Spider and poisoned you die instantly. There are numerous different examples of this of this kind of instant permadeath in the game.
The game is unique in that you type in a number to move to that room number on the map but you are not yet in the room, you are merely just outside of the room. It took me a couple of playthroughs to realize this. You can then Enter the room if the door is unlocked. If the door is locked you have to use a Knock spell to open the door. You have to be careful with your Knock spells, you’ll need to always carry at least two, otherwise just ignore locked doors. Why? Many rooms will have a trap that when you enter the room the door locks behind you and the walls begin to move in. You have three rounds to get out or you will be crushed to death.
Chests can contain gold, gems (worth 10 to 99 gold each) or jewelry (worth 100 – 499 gold each), rings, or magical weapons. Most of the time you find gold but it is thrilling to find gems and jewelry. When I find a cache, I’d usually leave the castle and purchase better equipment or spells.
Some of the monsters have special abilities such as poison, flame, regeneration, and multiple attacks. You need to be very aware of these special abilities. Note that spells can only be used in the first round of combat so it is important to hold your powerful spells in reserve for when you encounter the deadlier denizens of the dungeon.
After all of this work and anxiety to survive, you are rewarded at the end with a screen that merely says congratulations. I have to say however that I found this game wildly addictive and could not stop playing it.
I had originally planned to start Autoduel which was released by Origin Systems in 1985 but got sidetracked with this little gem. Next up on the docket will indeed be Autoduel.
Until next time………..