Odyssey #1: Damsel in Distress was an interactive text adventure programmed by Joel Mick & Jeffrey M. Richter and published in 1980. You may remember Joel Mick from 1979’s Burial Ground Adventure. Before I even began the game I was expecting a noir murder mystery based on the title so I was pleasantly surprised to find that the game involves the rescue of a princess from a medieval castle. I am a sucker for the fantasy genre and while we have seen many text adventure / CRPG hybrids I was looking forward to experiencing an all text adventure in a fantasy setting that did NOT include a treasure hunt.
The game begins much like any table top Dungeons & Dragons session; in a tavern. You are seated in the tavern when a royal messenger walks in. I spent quite a bit of time trying to interact with the messenger but to no avail. I even tried typing in WAIT thinking that at some point the royal messenger was going to, wait for it, deliver a message! I finally gave up trying to interact with the messenger and set about exploring the environment. I mapped out all of the surrounding area and it soon became apparent that I could go no further until I advanced the plot ahead.
This is the part of the game that threw me for a loop. I returned to the tavern, and grimacing, I cold bloodedly murdered the royal messenger. It became obvious that this is what the game wanted me to do all along as I then found a scroll upon his person containing the message that he was supposed to deliver. I also relieved him of his outfit and put it on. This allowed me access past the guards stationed at the road into the kingdom. I have to say I was very surprised the game took this turn. I felt a bit dastardly and evil smiting the poor bastard. I was equally surprised that no one seemed to care and that it was all right to deliver a fatal blow to the poor man in the middle of the tavern. It gives a whole new meaning to the phrase; “Don’t shoot the messenger…”; instead just stab the guy.
Once you read the scroll found upon the messenger you realize your mission is to rescue a princess from inside a castle. The puzzles are fairly straight forward and I was able to complete the game without any kind of aid. When I have finished with a game I always then like to read reviews, blogs from other archivists, and walkthroughs to see if I missed anything or did anything differently than most.
It seems that many had a difficult time with one particular puzzle that involves trying to get into the castle. I was feeling pretty good about myself in that I actually figured out pretty quickly what I needed to do to get inside. However, much to my chagrin, I had a difficult time trying to figure out how to lower the drawbridge whereas it did not seem to be an issue for many.
Once you make your way into the castle you have to explore the castle and then find the damsel. There is a little bit of puzzling you’ll have to do in order to find the secret passage that leads to the captive damsel but it is not that difficult. Once you find the damsel you need to get her out of the castle. This involves needing to lower the drawbridge in order to escape. Why we couldn’t leave the way that I came in is beyond me. I realized that I did not have the item necessary to lower the draw bridge and I had at that point “soft locked” myself from being able to finish the game. I had to start over and make sure I brought the needed item into the castle with me. I had left it behind as a result of juggling inventory.
Once I lowered the drawbridge I was able to get the princess out of the castle. When we reached the tavern I made the mistake of dropping the damsel and this prompted Prince Charles’ guards to immediately show up and capture the damsel again thus causing me to lose the game.
Damsel in Distress take 3 – CLACK!
I realized, and I believe you will as well dear reader if you ever choose to play this game, where I then needed to safely deposit the princess. Once I had her safely out of the castle again I took her to that particular destination and dropped her.
It took me about an hour to make my way through the game. I am still a bit surprised that the game took such a dark turn in the beginning but perhaps I am making too much of it. I enjoyed the game and I feel that Joel Mick did show growth and progression from his first game to the second. Burial Ground Adventure was written in basic and Damsel in Distress was written in machine code. Burial Ground contained both early text adventure tropes featuring the obligatory treasure hunt and maze whereas Damsel in Distress had an actual plot or mission to fulfill. I found myself looking forward to Joel Mick’s next offering: Treasure Island.