Legend of the Sword

In what was a most unusual delve into what is arguably one of the oldest titles that is currently on offer over on Steam here, Legend of the Sword is an 1988 text adventure game released by Rainbird Software way back when Text Adventure games were starting to explore the early graphical side of things, something that the then-legendary studio Sierra would master their crafts with over the years spanning after this old title. Considering just how old this DOS title is, it goes without saying that it's gaming mechanics are quite dated by today's standards and, as a result, is not exactly playable to the same expectations from your average gamer as a result, even those who are a fan of these sorts of retro adventure gaming from way back. Now, despite what my overall review suggests, I am going to express something that might come as a surprise to those who are reading this review right here: I actually enjoyed some parts of this game as far as the overall storytelling goes and how it does do a decent job at depicting the graphics of both the world and it's characters alongside any actions taken by the player alongside generally having some fun banter in certain moments. However, d…

This old adventure is a sort of a hidden gem. I remember it fondly in the nineties, I played it at a friend's place who had an Atari ST (I had Amiga at the time), the writing was very evocative, the illustrations modest, but contributing to the immersion, and the text parser - although not as impressive as the Infocom games - had a sensible answer to almost any idea, even the crazier ones. That said, the solution to problems often had very little logical sense. Attacking with a knife might succeed where attacking with a sword fails (the game says you tripped, but why exactly?) There is also a lot of sudden deaths, and there is a time limit in the form of "stamina", which although does create a bit artificial sense of urgency, does not mix well with exploration and experimentation. That said, the game is still very much recommended. If you are into written fantasy novels and can word with text, you may find out that the text adventures provide experience modern games seldom offer. After all, they don't make them this way anymore...