Labyrinth

Beneath the City of Euqubud on the Ippississim River lie Prince Julien's mines - a labyrinth of hundreds of miles of tunnels and caves which were once the richest source of diamonds in the world. The mines are closed now. The yield became to meager and the cost too great, or so they said.

Many men believe otherwise, and rumors abound of mysterious and terrifying creatures of the dark caverns which chased prince Julien's company from beneath the earth and now jealously guard their riches. Many courageous adventurers have ventured back into the deep seeking the fortune they believe to be there, but none has returned. They learned too late the terrifying secret of the Labyrinth which ensures the doom of even the best-prepared explorer - the walls of the mine are in constant motion, exposing entryways and sealing off exits, as its ghastly guardians render useless both map and compass with their evil engineering.

You are no foolish treasure hunter, and would not consider assuming the risk of entering the Labyrinth for any material gain. But among those missing in the mines is one who holds the key to peace, prosperity and good seats at the Super Bowl, and you are determined to find out what happened to him and the others, and return alive and tell about it.

Labyrinth is an action-adventure game published in 1984 by Acornsoft for the BBC Micro. Its author, Michael Mathison, describes it as:

an amalgam of what I'd seen and liked visually and I wanted to make something like an 'arcade' version of an adventure game - with lots of creatures and lots of running around shooting at things but also with some simple puzzle elements.

Gameplay

Labyrinth consists of a complex labyrinth made up of multiple levels. Each level is made up of a number of rooms, with the player only able to see a single room at any one time. Doorways are provided allowing the player to move between rooms.

Each level contains two special rooms: the "Gate Room," and the "Key Room". The Gate Room contains the doorway to the next level which is barred by a deadly forcefield. The Key Room contains a magical crystal which will remove the forcefield, and is generally the most well-guarded and dangerous room in the level.

Rooms are populated with a variety of monsters which become more dangerous as the player progresses through the game as they move more quickly, shoot at the player, or lay poisonous mushrooms. The player can choose to avoid the various monsters (though they may well follow the player through the labyrinth), or try to kill them by shooting at them (though some monsters are invulnerable in this way and reflect the shots back), or squash them with a "boulder" that the player is able to push around with them as they travel (trickier and more risky than shooting and therefore scores more points). Colliding with a monster will kill it but causes the player to lose health, often leading to the player's death.

Different types of fruit are scattered throughout the labyrinth, which will increase the player's health when eaten. The player slowly loses health at all times while in the Labyrinth, and will eventually die if they don't progress through the game.

Legacy

In 1987 the game was reissued on Superior Software's Acornsoft Hits compilation.

Adapted from Wikipedia , licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0. Text may have been shortened.