The similarities between THE DEMON'S FORGE and other adventure software end at this point; in fact, in most areas DEMON'S FORGE is a step ahead of conventional computer adventuring. The packaging is unique in appearance, the cover art having been painted by a top fantasy artist from the staff of Heavy Metal. The documentation within is descriptive yet functional, giving a background detailed enough to convey a solid purpose without labouring in details. The operating instructions are clear, though are almost identical in nature to those of past adventures.
Anyone who has ever sweated out a graphic adventure before will feel quite at home with THE DEMON'S FORGE. You are a mercenary of amazing martial skill, your prowess being legendary in the arenas and battlefields of your land. You have fought often in the service of your king, a harsh yet fair monarch with an iron sense of justice. You are arrested for a crime punishable by death brawling with the king's guards. Yet, in considering your past services to him, the king has left your fate in the hands of the gods he has banished you to a dungeon network of ancient origin known as the DEMON'S FORGE, so named because its overseer is a demon of unquestionable power.
No one has ever returned from there alive. As a prisoner within the demon's stronghold you must escape the traps and foes left for you, and wend your way to Anarakull himself, to a final combat which will proclaim your fate and perhaps allow you to escape and regain your freedom. The adventure is, in rough similarity, akin to your typical dungeon fantasy excursion, which to many might seem like a meaningless jumble of traps, puzzles, and disconcerted ideas and yet, when seen in the light of it all, being a subterranean stronghold governed by a supernatural creature who has laid cryptic traps to catch the unwary intruder, it gains a cohesion and purpose which many adventures lack.
The hi-res graphics are quickly drawn and admirable. They get better as one goes farther and farther into the labyrinth, as if greater care was put into the later art. One unique function of the game is minor, though perhaps a necessary addition to future adventures. On the "restore game" feature, in which you are allowed to resume one of ten previously saved games, you are informed of the last game you saved to the disk.
It is a blessing to the player who is constantly updating his game position and might forget the number of the previous game he left off at. If I had to make a serious complaint it might be that THE DEMON'S FORGE has several rooms which appear both intriguing and significant (example: a room shaped like a hemisphere, entitled "The Bowl Room") which in fact have no real purpose in the solution of the adventure. While the majority of the traps, riddles, and poems make sense, they nonetheless take real consideration at points before progress can be made. The adventure is divided into sections, or levels, and normally everything must be completed on one level before a player may move to another.
While completion of THE DEMON'S FORGE is undeniably a challenge, I would not say it is difficult to the point of ridiculousness. I enjoyed THE DEMON'S FORGE and, on the whole, would recommend it to anyone. To those who might play it and get stuck, I offer these words of advice:
1) Write down all hints and poems given to you, and consider their meaning carefully.
2) Items or even entrances to areas of the labyrinth might be hidden from sight until you somehow eliminate the object blocking them.
3) Consider the roles of the elements and elementals.
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