#andy backhouse

The aim is to navigate the cave, find the treasure chest and get out again with any additional loot adding to your score. You have a first person view of the action as you move though the boxy wireframe maze, one square at a time in a manner similar to much later crawlers like Dungeon Master and the recent Grimrock series. The walls are lined with doors behind which you may find the treasure, some other valuable, a clue, or a fearsome enemy – either a ‘trog’ warrior or a giant soldier ant. The only other hazards are rockfalls and bottomless pits that can be overcome with equipment found during your search.

Combat is dead simple: you have a few precious seconds to type a letter based on the one displayed on the ant’s head or trog’s shield. On the lowest level you just have to hit the same key, on the highest you must find the letter four places after in the alphabet. Get it wrong and it’s death on the end of a trog’s sword, or the ants escape and seek their queen – who then starts seeking you. From this point, the game takes on an atmosphere of dread familiar to anyone who played 3D monster maze.