In a desolate corner of the Underground Empire, an evil demon torments the Land.
Evil rules the Forbidden Lands. Here, the souls of the Empire’s Great Alchemists lie in perpetual hell…at the hands of the Nemesis.
Now the forces of the Underground beckon you to uncover the mystery behind the Nemesis...
In a desolate corner of the Underground Empire, an evil demon torments the Land.
Evil rules the Forbidden Lands. Here, the souls of the Empire’s Great Alchemists lie in perpetual hell…at the hands of the Nemesis.
Now the forces of the Underground beckon you to uncover the mystery behind the Nemesis’ curse…Travel through five mind-bending worlds to discover the ancient secret of Alchemy that will free the trapped souls from evil’s grip….Before the Nemesis imprisons you with the others…For eternity.
Do you dare enter the Forbidden Lands?
Five highly detailed worlds entice you with over 65 innovative puzzles.
Spectacular production value- Hollywood actors, dramatic live-action video, hypnotic ambient music and dazzling special effects
Directed by live action director, Joe Napolitano of X-Files and Murder One fame.
Please be advised that Windows 10 operating system will receive frequent hardware driver and software updates following its release; this may affect game compatibility
Please be advised that Windows 10 operating system will receive frequent hardware driver and software updates following its release; this may affect game compatibility
I was hesitant to buy this after the disaster that was Return to Zork. But, though dark in places, this is the real deal. It hits all the notes older gamers like me remember from the Zork and Enchanter series (and, really, all the best of the old Infocom text adventures) plus the graphics and music are beautiful and the story itself is immersive, creative, and truly excellent. This is the graphic adventure I wanted back when Infocom was putting all its energy and disc space into writing vivid text adventures. You won't be disappointed.
First off, this game is a Zork game in name only. The fun, quirky humor and story of other Zork games has been replaced with a dark and foreboding atmosphere. The music also feels less inspired than Return to Zork. Although there are a few places that have a bit of humor, it almost seems forced and out of place with the rest of the game. Judging the game on it's own merits I still find it lacking. For the most part the puzzles are not that challenging. There really is no inventory like other Zork games and you generally use the things you pick up right away. The most frustrating part of the game is the navigation. Some screens take awhile to load and getting yourself in the correct position to zoom into things can be a bit frustrating. I bought this game when it first came out after loving Return to Zork. I promptly returned it. After repurchasing it on GoG my opinion of the game hasn't changed, but at least I completed the whole game time time before writing a review =p
At a time when Myst reigned supreme due to its $10 price tag, Activision decided to make this. Someone thought: "Hey! Lets take the weird and kooky setting of the Zork universe, and make it all doom and gloomy."
I'm assuming nobody said "But everything has silly names and stuff. Why would you even want to attempt that here? Why not just make a new IP if you want to make a Myst clone?"
If somebody did say that, they were probably told "Because, Myst made a lot of money, and this way we can also tap into the longtime Zork fans wallets. You're fired."
To taunt that newly unemployed and now homeless guy, that executive would walk up to him in his new home which was a cardboard box, and say "Want some rye? 'Course you do!" But he wouldn't give him some. He would just taunt him with it.
Because sadly, that was in Return to Zork, and not this. Just like how the Zork name taunted me when I picked up this game all those many years ago.
They should re-Zork it if they want to keep the name. Give me the source code, and I'll do it myself. I'll change the sad, dreary violin music with happy fiddle music. People will tell you to scram if you keep bugging them rather that repeat the same message over and over again. Several puzzles will be re-done to acceptable levels of silliness.
Or if I don't have that much time, I'll just remove the name Zork from it.
Get all of the other ones instead.
Nothing to do with Zork and terrible in its own right
First, this game has nothing to do with Zork. I don't know the history of it, but I imagine they designed a Myst knockoff first without thinking about Zork, and then decided later to shoehorn in some references to associate with an established name before releasing it. Sure, there are some references here and there to established elements in the Zork world, but they're not integral to the game, and the tone, in particular, is all wrong. I've played all the Zork games, and grim, gory, horror isn't Zork.
Second, even if you just accept it's not really a Zork game and take it on its own merits, it's a terrible adventure game. The puzzles are completely ridiculous. Many of them involve collecting a series of obscure clues spread out all over the place to piece together codes to open this or that. Some of these if you somehow figure out where to find all the clues to the code will give you like five different variants, with nothing to tell you which is right, or will give you the numbers to a code but not the order of the numbers. There are also a number of music based puzzles, which is a mortal sin of game design in my book. Plus, you can die randomly quite easily by clicking on something random, and there are several timed events that kill you. Also, some maddening pixel hunting for objects buried in the blurry, dark graphics. Pretty much everything awful you could put into an adventure game, this game has got.
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