

Sword of Fargoal
Epyx, Inc. · 2022 · Retro, Traditional Roguelike, Dungeon Crawler, Fantasy, Perma Death
PC
Positive88% · 26
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About Sword of Fargoal
Originally released in 1983 for the Commodore 64, Sword of Fargoal was a classic Roguelike from Epyx (who also sold the first commercial version of Rogue). Players took on the role of a warrior tasked with retrieving the Sword of Fargoal, the only thing that can defeat the evil wizard Umla, from the twisting maze of a dark dungeon. Now, relive those days in this remastered emulated version.
One of the very first games in the 'Roguelike' genre, Sword of Fargoal exemplifies many of the iconic traits of the Roguelike, with procedurally generated levels, grid-based movement, and permadeath.
Descend through levels of the dungeon, fighting terrifying monsters and gathering loot and experience. Each level is randomly generated, meaning every adventure is different.
Along the way you will find many useful items, from healing potions to magic spells, but beware – there are also fiendish traps that can crush you, drop you into a pit, or even teleport you away to who-knows-where! Collect gold to offer up at temples to the gods, to gain additional experience.
The dark dungeon passageways teem with a plethora of enemies, from assassins to ogres, from elvin rangers to dire wolves, and from dark warriors to dimension spiders.
The sword is hidden somewhere between the fifteenth and twentieth level – but watch out! Once you have collected the sword you will only have 2000 seconds (33 minutes) to escape all the way up the dungeon levels to the outside, before the entire dungeon is destroyed!
This enhanced version introduces a number of modern features to this retro classic, including:
One of the very first games in the 'Roguelike' genre, Sword of Fargoal exemplifies many of the iconic traits of the Roguelike, with procedurally generated levels, grid-based movement, and permadeath.
Gameplay
Descend through levels of the dungeon, fighting terrifying monsters and gathering loot and experience. Each level is randomly generated, meaning every adventure is different.
Along the way you will find many useful items, from healing potions to magic spells, but beware – there are also fiendish traps that can crush you, drop you into a pit, or even teleport you away to who-knows-where! Collect gold to offer up at temples to the gods, to gain additional experience.
The dark dungeon passageways teem with a plethora of enemies, from assassins to ogres, from elvin rangers to dire wolves, and from dark warriors to dimension spiders.
The sword is hidden somewhere between the fifteenth and twentieth level – but watch out! Once you have collected the sword you will only have 2000 seconds (33 minutes) to escape all the way up the dungeon levels to the outside, before the entire dungeon is destroyed!
This enhanced version introduces a number of modern features to this retro classic, including:
- Saving/loading the game at any point
- Support for most modern game controllers
- Full control remapping
- Image scaling and smoothing options
What Steam players say
Recent verbatim reviews from Steam — separate from playze.io community reviews below.
thumbs up, but with caveats. I played this on my c64 back in the 80s. It was fun. Also, i never finished it. I wanted to finally finish it. Honestly, without copious save games (f1 && f5 are your best friends) i'd never have got through it. It's a nightmare without options. If you don't have some kind of nostalgic connection to this game, i doubt you'll enjoy it.1 found this helpful
This is the most "Rogue-like" game of them all, as it is basically a remake of the classic Rogue w/ improvements in visual aesthetics. However, and I am speaking specifically of this version, it's a slow, buggy, clunky mess that is a helluva lot more frustrating than fun. The controls are pretty unresponsive and you have to tap arrow keys multiple times just to move sometimes. That alone sucks the energy out of the game and makes me just want to go back to the super fluid and FUN Rogue. Luckily, I am only out a few bucks.1 found this helpful
A fun, old‑school dungeon crawler.
They got rid of the permadeath in this version by allowing the player to save and reload at any time. I'm fine with saving runs, but they should work just like the original where they're deleted when the player dies. If they wanted to add an easier mode for a casual audience that's fine, but the normal difficulty should maintain the developer's intention.
basic game but very compelling
it's a good game. the music as minimalist as it is still brings back amazing memories. it was one of my first dungeon style crawls on a computer.
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