Dungeons of Daggorath was one of the first games that attempted to portray three-dimensional space in a real-time environment, using angled lines to give the illusion of depth. The player moves around a dungeon, issuing commands by means of typing — for example, typing "GET LEFT SHIELD" or "USE RIGHT TORCH" (or abbreviations such as "G L SH" and "U R T"), gathering strength and ever more powerful weapons as the game progresses. Various creatures appear, and can often be heard when they are nearby, even when not visible. The object of the game is to defeat the second of two wizards, who is on the fifth and last level of the dungeon.
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Another early first person dungeon crawler similar to Wizardy, but utilizing command lines like many text adventures of the time. The heart rate system adds a sort of early stamina concept to the mix.
Recommended by Liquidrocks as part of this list.
"I DARE YE ENTER...
...THE DUNGEONS OF DAGGORATH!!!"
A wireframe wizard greets me with this phrase as I first boot up Dungeons of Daggorath. The screen is pitch-black, nothing but the sound of our intrepid hero's heart beating faster yet faster as I attempt to parse the command prompt and figure out how to even begin to start my adventure, which so far consisted of the far-off sounds of monsters assailing my eardrums whilst I bump into walls typing 'MOVE'.
Static fades in.
The UI fades out.
The wireframe wizard appears once again to taunt me with this message:
"YET ANOTHER DOES NOT RETURN"
Thus far, the adventure proves fruitless.
Dungeons of Daggorath was released in 1982 (a whopping 40 years ago as of time of writing), so if I wanted to make any headway, I was going to learn how to meet this game on its own terms. A search for clues leads me to a .pdf file of the game's instruction manual, which provided me with the much needed context for this endeavor: An ancient land besieged by the return of an evil wizard and a tome left behind by the previous valiant hero full of tips and tricks for surviving the eponymous Dungeon of Daggorath, cheekily revealing the manual itself a diegetic part of the world. More importantly though, I found the list of commands needed to get this show on the road.
PULL RIGHT TORCH
USE RIGHT
LOOK
MOVE
Vision. A rattlesnake of some kind, presumably the very same that dispatched the last 3 or so bumbling adventurers. Browsing the manual as my lumbering oaf of an adventurer has his calves nipped at provides the remedy for this situation:
USE SWORD ???
PULL SWORD ???
PULL LEFT SWORD
USE SWORD ???
ATTACK ???
ATTACK LEFT
My bumbling with the command prompt seals yet another adventurer's fate, consigned to becoming a beast's meal.
"YET ANOTHER DOES NOT RETURN"
Back on Floor 1. The sounds of beasts creep ever-closer. To lollygag has proven fatal before.
P R SW
P L T
U L
Now that the first major hurdle has been overcome and the gameplay has slowed down, I am left with naught but my own thoughts and the masterful soundscape of Dungeons of Daggorath. Instead of a traditional health bar reminiscent of the TTRPGs Daggorath is obviously inspired by, your status is represented via a heart monitor on the bottom of the screen, a constant thump-thump that speeds up and slows down according to the current strain on your body. In the dungeon, each enemy has their own unique sound, alongside dynamic volume levels in relation to your current position to let you know exactly how close they are to your current location. The static hissing of a rattlesnake. The thunderous footsteps of a golem. The clanking of a knight's armor. The tell-tale beating of your adventurer's heart filling your ears, providing tensions that would be unmatched for a decade bare minimum as you run down a hall in an attempt to lose your pursuer, the once-steady heartbeat turning into a double-kick stroke that threatens to burst from your very chest.
An attempt to escape a blob monster with a wry smirk leads to my adventurer dead on the floor from the strain put on his heart. Four Pine Torches and my Iron Sword, gone down the drain.
"YET ANOTHER DOES NOT RETURN"
P R SW
P L T
U L
Another try. I've figured out how to pace myself as to not put too much strain on the heart of this asthmatic would-be hero I'm apparently playing as. A hole in the ground that signifies progress. Floor 2, featuring a new color palette to enjoy (stark white), and a knight that turns me into a fine red mist. Another run down the drain.
"YET ANOTHER DOES NOT RETURN"
Another glance at the manual would reveal the Save function I've been desperately missing for the past 2 hours.
P R SW
P L T
U L
To survive Dungeons of Daggorath is to immerse yourself in its now arcane terms, play dirty and exploit the rules to give yourself any edge necessary. Allow a lone spider to nip at your ankles, since their attacks do fuck-all damage to your heart-rate and it keeps other monsters from occupying the same space as you, allowing hit and run tactics to be exploited to their full potential. Scatter your inventory on the floor in front of you and snuff out the lights, the dungeon itself filled with kleptomaniacs who will prioritize picking up your goods over maiming you, leaving our brave soul to beat the monsters to death with an unlit torch in the pitch-black abyss. These kind of insane game plans are not only completely viable, as even the manual makes note of these phenomena, but a breath of fresh air that makes Dungeons of Daggorath stand out even today, its minimalist design and technological limitations giving way to such insane gameplay mechanics and situations that make the experience worth having solely for the stark contrast to the decades of refinement and technological advancement we've had that would frown upon such ridiculous exploits.
Floor 4 robs you of everything in your inventory except for what you carry in your own two hands. A brutal lesson in grinding was learned here.
ZLOAD
"YET ANOTHER DOES NOT RETURN"
ZLOAD
"YET ANOTHER DOES NOT RETURN"
ZLOAD
On Floor 5 lies the cruel wizard in wait. The sun has long since set, and a sense of sunk-cost fallacy is the only thing keeping me going against a gauntlet of beasts most foul. A smorgasbord of magic rings and hours of hit and run tactics ingrained into my muscle memory serve me well in our final encounter.
In an era built upon many layers of innovation and game design advancements, it's always good to come back to the games of old to humble ourselves, to see how we've grown and witness the unique ideas that are often left behind in the nebulous name of progress, especially with games as that are as seemingly limited as Dungeons of Daggorath. Even if you don't have the determination to reach the final floor of the dungeon, I believe that simply bumbling around for an hour or two is an important experience for any enthusiast looking to see the roots of the medium, to observe what we called revolutionary in the era of the ColecoVision, to glimpse for a moment what was once cutting edge.
"BEHOLD! DESTINY AWAITS THE HAND OF A NEW WIZARD..."
"I DARE YE ENTER...
...THE DUNGEONS OF DAGGORATH!!!"
A wireframe wizard greets me with this phrase as I first boot up Dungeons of Daggorath. The screen is pitch-black, nothing but the sound of our intrepid hero's heart beating faster yet faster as I attempt to parse the command prompt and figure out how to even begin to start my adventure, which so far consisted of the far-off sounds of monsters assailing my eardrums whilst I bump into walls typing 'MOVE'.
Static fades in.
The UI fades out.
The wireframe wizard appears once again to taunt me with this message:
"YET ANOTHER DOES NOT RETURN"
Thus far, the adventure proves fruitless.
Dungeons of Daggorath was released in 1982 (a whopping 40 years ago as of time of writing), so if I wanted to make any headway, I was going to learn how to meet this game on its own terms. A search for clues leads me to a .pdf file of the game's instruction manual, which provided me with the much needed context for this endeavor: An ancient land besieged by the return of an evil wizard and a tome left behind by the previous valiant hero full of tips and tricks for surviving the eponymous Dungeon of Daggorath, cheekily revealing the manual itself a diegetic part of the world. More importantly though, I found the list of commands needed to get this show on the road.
PULL RIGHT TORCH
USE RIGHT
LOOK
MOVE
Vision. A rattlesnake of some kind, presumably the very same that dispatched the last 3 or so bumbling adventurers. Browsing the manual as my lumbering oaf of an adventurer has his calves nipped at provides the remedy for this situation:
USE SWORD ???
PULL SWORD ???
PULL LEFT SWORD
USE SWORD ???
ATTACK ???
ATTACK LEFT
My bumbling with the command prompt seals yet another adventurer's fate, consigned to becoming a beast's meal.
"YET ANOTHER DOES NOT RETURN"
Back on Floor 1. The sounds of beasts creep ever-closer. To lollygag has proven fatal before.
P R SW
P L T
U L
Now that the first major hurdle has been overcome and the gameplay has slowed down, I am left with naught but my own thoughts and the masterful soundscape of Dungeons of Daggorath. Instead of a traditional health bar reminiscent of the TTRPGs Daggorath is obviously inspired by, your status is represented via a heart monitor on the bottom of the screen, a constant thump-thump that speeds up and slows down according to the current strain on your body. In the dungeon, each enemy has their own unique sound, alongside dynamic volume levels in relation to your current position to let you know exactly how close they are to your current location. The static hissing of a rattlesnake. The thunderous footsteps of a golem. The clanking of a knight's armor. The tell-tale beating of your adventurer's heart filling your ears, providing tensions that would be unmatched for a decade bare minimum as you run down a hall in an attempt to lose your pursuer, the once-steady heartbeat turning into a double-kick stroke that threatens to burst from your very chest.
An attempt to escape a blob monster with a wry smirk leads to my adventurer dead on the floor from the strain put on his heart. Four Pine Torches and my Iron Sword, gone down the drain.
"YET ANOTHER DOES NOT RETURN"
P R SW
P L T
U L
Another try. I've figured out how to pace myself as to not put too much strain on the heart of this asthmatic would-be hero I'm apparently playing as. A hole in the ground that signifies progress. Floor 2, featuring a new color palette to enjoy (stark white), and a knight that turns me into a fine red mist. Another run down the drain.
"YET ANOTHER DOES NOT RETURN"
Another glance at the manual would reveal the Save function I've been desperately missing for the past 2 hours.
P R SW
P L T
U L
To survive Dungeons of Daggorath is to immerse yourself in its now arcane terms, play dirty and exploit the rules to give yourself any edge necessary. Allow a lone spider to nip at your ankles, since their attacks do fuck-all damage to your heart-rate and it keeps other monsters from occupying the same space as you, allowing hit and run tactics to be exploited to their full potential. Scatter your inventory on the floor in front of you and snuff out the lights, the dungeon itself filled with kleptomaniacs who will prioritize picking up your goods over maiming you, leaving our brave soul to beat the monsters to death with an unlit torch in the pitch-black abyss. These kind of insane game plans are not only completely viable, as even the manual makes note of these phenomena, but a breath of fresh air that makes Dungeons of Daggorath stand out even today, its minimalist design and technological limitations giving way to such insane gameplay mechanics and situations that make the experience worth having solely for the stark contrast to the decades of refinement and technological advancement we've had that would frown upon such ridiculous exploits.
Floor 4 robs you of everything in your inventory except for what you carry in your own two hands. A brutal lesson in grinding was learned here.
ZLOAD
"YET ANOTHER DOES NOT RETURN"
ZLOAD
"YET ANOTHER DOES NOT RETURN"
ZLOAD
On Floor 5 lies the cruel wizard in wait. The sun has long since set, and a sense of sunk-cost fallacy is the only thing keeping me going against a gauntlet of beasts most foul. A smorgasbord of magic rings and hours of hit and run tactics ingrained into my muscle memory serve me well in our final encounter.
In an era built upon many layers of innovation and game design advancements, it's always good to come back to the games of old to humble ourselves, to see how we've grown and witness the unique ideas that are often left behind in the nebulous name of progress, especially with games as that are as seemingly limited as Dungeons of Daggorath. Even if you don't have the determination to reach the final floor of the dungeon, I believe that simply bumbling around for an hour or two is an important experience for any enthusiast looking to see the roots of the medium, to observe what we called revolutionary in the era of the ColecoVision, to glimpse for a moment what was once cutting edge.
"BEHOLD! DESTINY AWAITS THE HAND OF A NEW WIZARD..."
yes mom i am waiting on a corner to smack monsters with my torch in the verge of a heart attack while all my belongings are laying around me yes i am doing fine thank you