Bloodwych

STORY / GAMEPLAY
The land of Trazere has been destroyed by an ancient evil. In times long past the Bloodwych, a council of powerful sorcerers was betrayed by an evil person called Zendyck. Now Zendyck rules unopposed and Trazere is suffering an age of darkness. But the Bloodwych are tougher than Zendyck thinks. Using arcane magic they gather the last sixteen champions in the land and transport them into the castle of Treihadwyl, the home of the evil Zendyck. And this is where your quest begins..! You now have to find four magical crystals and finally destroy Zendyck. The castle is pretty large, and contains all sorts of enemies. It is important to know where you are, so it would be a good idea (a very handy solution back in the days) to draw a map as you explore. The character's statistics, hit points, magic and inventory are laid out on the left of the screen, while the picture of your character and his buddies are on the right. Much like the Dungeon Master (and the like), the system is easy to use and is quite clear. You get magic points based on your character's class that increase by gaining a new level. Of course each character has ratings for strength, intelligence, charisma and agility, and belongs to a character class (fighter, mage, assassin, and adventurer) and a magic class. You can talk to strangers as well as some of the enemies. Bloodwych also offers a two-player option (the screen then is squeezed making it too difficult to distinguish objects etc), which lets you both have a party of four, trade items and help or hinder each other! There are plenty of spells to find and cast, characters to recruit to your party, puzzles to solve and baddies to kill so, virtually, the game is identical to the Dungeon Master. Overall, Bloodwych is a good RPG that requires a fair degree of concentration and strategy!

GRAPHICS / SOUND
The graphics do the job fine and the majority of the 3D corridors are identically (but beautifully) drawn. The various traps, doors and monsters found inside the castle are displayed greatly animated in the main window. Note that the Atari ST and the Amiga versions are identical in colors and details. The game's sound is good too, offering some creepy sound effects (some of them sampled), but comparably tthey are inferior to the Amiga version.