The opening proved a real baptism of fire, casting
you into the sewers below the city of Waterdeep
with a rockslide preventing your escape. You’d no
choice but to head onward and downward. Then
the first Kobolds arrived to knock ten bells out of
your frontline pairing and you knew you were in
for a fight.
CLASSIC MOMENT
I
f you’ve enjoyed Legend of Grimrock
or its sequel recently, then look no
further than Westwood’s vintage
dungeon-crawler for its biggest
inspiration. A perilous descent into a
dark and unforgiving underworld, this
was an RPG that thrived on pressure,
its mouse-based real-time interface
lending combat a frantic intensity as
you desperately juggled weapons and
spells against increasingly hard-hitting
creatures. With the ability to recruit
additional party members – either by
talking to key NPCs or resurrecting
corpses – you could give yourself more
of a shot at reaching the eponymous
Beholder. Thankfully, the Amiga port
offered a more fitting reward than the
PC original’s abrupt ending.Developer Westwood Associates
Publisher Strategic Simulations, Inc.
Genre Role-playing game
Released 1991