Below the Root (1984)
Genres:Adventure, Platform
Themes:Fantasy
Game modes:Single player
Story:Below the Root is an adventure game released in 1984 by Windham Classics, a division of Spinnaker Software. It is titled after Below the Root, the first of the Green Sky Trilogy of novels, written by Zilpha Keatley Snyder and published between 1975 and 1977. It is an early example of what later became known as the Metroidvania genre.Show more
In 1987 i bought my first PC XT with a hard disk of 10 Mb, with the money of a international literary contest and my intention was to use the PC to write my works. The truth: a friend give me Below the Root and all my life changed, because this game catch my imagination.
In 4 colors, absolutely pixelated, no special effects, but imaginative in a high degree, You can enter in each building, talk with all the people, walk...or fly to every plsce, move in the highs, on the ground or below the root. You learn habilities like read the thinking and othersto conduct and resolve your quest in a limit of time, that was difficult. This and the problem to find food were the only contrasto enjoy this remarkable game that contains many of the resources that was used for posterior games. Below the Root made me a gamer for the rest of my life.
A truly unique experience.
A extremely early "metroidvania", with exploration as it's center.
There is no combat, only dialogue, basic puzzle-solving, and... well, exploration!
Even though the the universe of Green Sky looks and feels simplistic, somehow the presentation is evocative of a unique, live in, and very atmospheric world one might know from the Green Sky books.
I only read about half of one of them, yet, I absolutely loved this game.
One of the first PC games I ever played on my Dad's Commodore 64. I played for hours and hours with my sister (we took turns - it's single player) drinking sugared mint or cinnomon tea.
As a kid, Below the Root felt like a secret world that lived inside my computer. I had not read the books yet when I first played, but the game was so captivating that I asked my parents to buy them for me just so I could learn more about the game world that I loved so much. It was one of the first games that made me feel like I was visiting a place rather than beating a level. (There is a three-book series set in this world, the Green Sky Trilogy, and the author considered the game a canonical continuation of the story.)
What grabbed me most was the freedom. You could wander almost anywhere, climb and glide through treetops, poke into odd corners, and stumble onto hidden paths. People actually had things to say, and when you advanced your character enough, you could even use your skills to sense the emotions or thoughts of those you spoke with. Every so often I would find a tucked-away area or an unexpected shortcut and it felt like discovery, not a scripted moment, even though many of them were.
It also respected the player. There weren't any flashing arrows telling you exactly what to do, so you learned by exploring, experimenting, and paying attention. I made my own maps, retraced my steps, and slowly connected the world in my head. The game shipped with a large map, but I did not have the map or the manual as a kid, so I figured it out entirely on my own. The game rewarded curiosity and exploration, much like the second Ultima trilogy.
Sure, by modern standards it looks dated, but even against its peers from that era it stood out! The atmosphere and openness came together into something memorable. It seemed to go on forever, not because it was endless, but because it left room for my imagination to keep running.
I still play it every few years on my old Apple IIe, and every time I do, it feels like coming home. While I definitely view it through rose-tinted glasses, I still think it is one of the best games of its type to come out of the 1980s.
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