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Wednesday, January 17, 2024

Advanced Dungeons & Dragons: Treasure of Tarmin

The second Dungeons and Dragons licensed game on the Intellivision.  But whereas the first game was a very loose adaptation of the subject matter with an arcadey bent, Treasure of Tarmin draws far more inspiration from earlier D&D-inspired games like Wizardry, Ultima and even the old mainframe clones like Oubilette and DnD.  With a first-person perspective, monsters to vanquish, traps to avoid, some inventory and equipment management, and six stats to keep tabs on, it's an archetypal dungeon crawler.  Melee weapons and spells you find are single-use, while bows and spellbooks can be used repeatedly (the former as long as you have arrows, the latter as long as you have Spiritual Power), but nevertheless have a chance to break on each use.  Potions appear to restore war/spiritual strength and some special spellbooks can allow you to glance through walls, teleport through them, or power up equipment.  One can also find treasures like coins, crowns, lamps and golden chalices, though these are only used for points.  There's a surprising amount of depth and nuance for a game released where and when it was, and as probably the first game of its time to appear on a console, it's worth checking out from a historical perspective.


Developer: APh Technological Consulting
Publisher: Mattel Electronics
Released: 1983
Platforms: Intellivision, Mattel Aquarius