Maze Games #15

Druid (1986)
By: Electralyte Software / Firebird Genre: Maze Players: 1-2 Difficulty: Medium
Featured Version: Atari 8-bit First Day Score: Acolyte
Also Available For: Commodore 64, Amstrad CPC, ZX Spectrum, MSX2, Tatung Einstein, Famicom Disk System

Like many games of its time, Druid was released on a wide variety of systems including the Speccy, my old favourite of the time. Instead of looking at that version for this here review, however, and even ignoring an excuse to do another review on my newest favourite system, the MSX2, I decided to take a look at what was, to my knowledge, the original version, and on a system I've never played a single game on before. Well, I say 'system' but it's actually a number of systems that fall under the 'Atari 8-bit' umbrella, but more on that another time. For now, let's concentrate on the splendidly-named game in question which recently returned to my brain after many moons away. I don't think I even heard about it in its day, in fact, and few details have reached my ears since, so I was quite excited to recently learn that it's apparently like Gauntlet.

It takes place in a city/realm/world called Belorn which was peaceful and prosperous for donkey's years, etc. UNTIL!! Four idiotic 'demon princes appeared through an inter-dimensional gateway'. Naturally, it's your job to 'destroy' them and close the gateway. Luckily, you are not really you but are actually the catchily-named Hasrinaxx who, you may or may not be startled to hear, is a druid. It's handy that he is too, for the task at hand features some 12 levels to get through. Aside from the first which takes place in pleasingly green and watery surroundings above ground, the levels are more than a little dungeonish in nature, with each being found progressively deeper underground than the last, and you can travel between them at will too, once you've found the staircase amidst the seemingly endless walls and corridors and monsters that dwell therein.

It's not quite that simple though, of course, as you'll need a few things to reach and defeat the cretinous demon princes. These things can all be found in the many treasure chests that fill each dungeon. The catch is: the chests all contain multiple items, but you can only choose one from each. Before detailing what these items are, it's worth mentioning Hasrinaxx's offensive options. Being a druid, he doesn't carry a gun or even a bow and arrows. Instead, he can shoot (presumably from his magical hands) three types of 'missiles' - water, fire and lightning. You start the game with all three and can switch between them at will but, rather unexpectedly, your supplies of all three are finite. This combined with the infinite enemies can make things tricky! Yes, that's right - sadly, there is not an equivalent of Gauntlet's enemy generators here.

The limited instructions aren't too descriptive about what the enemies are but they seem to be various types of ghosts, monsters, giant insects, witches, and other things of a suitably demonic nature. They appear often and, while most are killed by a single shot, most are more susceptible to one type of shot, and they keep coming. That combined with the finite number of shoots means you're better off avoiding enemies when possible. You do at least have an energy meter and can take a fair bit of damage, and each stage features at least one magical pentagram thing which recharges your energy reserves. There are also three types of 'special' spells at your disposal too, which are Invisibility, Golem and Chaos which can all be found in the chests. Something else these enchanted trunks house are keys which are vital for making progress.

There are many doors around each level. Some block access to rooms that have treasure chests in, others block your way generally. The first corridor of the second level, for example, ends with a door, so you better hope you found a key on the first level or you won't get much further! The only help you get is the spooky twirly pentagram (which you'll probably return to over and over until it's too far away to make it worth the trek), and the aforementioned spells. I'd like to think the Invisibility spell is self-explanatory and it can be handy when low on energy, while the Golem spells summons a... well, a golem which is a computer-controlled thingy that follows you around and fights enemies and/or acts as a shield. It has its own energy meter though, and won't last for too long, but the best part is that it can be controlled by a second player.

The last item/spell is Chaos which not only has a smart bomb effect of clearing the screen of enemies but is also essential for defeating the demon princes. It's a big, flashy, trippy smart bomb too, that lasts a few seconds, and you can still walk around while it's doing its thing! There are various hazards around as well though, in addition to the infinite enemies, with new ones introduced here and there. Some just take energy like the pools of water on the third level while others kill you instantly like the big scary faces on the fourth level, and you only get the one life too. Fortunately there is no time limit so you can keep going back to refill your energy at the nearest pentagram if you want, though you might not make it due to the ever-present enemies, and this will also deplete your water/fire/lightning shot reserves too.

A touch of strategy is needed here then, but mostly it's a case of avoid enemies where possible, shoot them where necessary, learn what you need from where on each level as well as the quickest route to the staircase to advance to the next level. It can be pretty tough going for sure, but it is the kind of game where you'll work out little tricks and techniques that will gradually take you further into it. The levels don't vary too much in style after the first, though, which is a little disappointing. They are almost Spectrum-like in terms of their near-monochrome visuals too. This isn't a criticism - I really like Speccy monochrome graphics. I don't know this system well enough to know if this is normal or not but it doesn't look bad for its time, generally. Something that is a criticism, however, is that almost half of the screen is taken up by the score/status panel.

I guess it was hardware limitations that prompted this but it's quite annoying only being able to see the levels in what is basically letterbox format. There is no music to accompany the action either, but there are some nice arcadey sound effects, and overall it's pretty much what I was expecting an Atari 8-bit game to be like. I would've enjoyed Druid much more if the playfield was bigger and the enemies were not infinite, but they are the only major issues I had with it, and it would no doubt have been a favourite for which I had much affection if I had grown up with it. Playing it for the first time now obviously makes its flaws and simplicity more apparent, and it certainly doesn't out-Gauntlet the great Gauntlet, but it's an interesting title with some nice ideas which I'm glad I've now experienced. Just need to play the FDS version now which has extra stuff!

RKS Score: 6/10

Gameplay Video: here's a video of the whole game being played by one of the talented fellows at Atariteca (check out their great channel here). Oh, and don't watch if you want to avoid spoilers!