Maze
Maze originated or disseminated a number of concepts used in thousands of games to follow, and is considered one of the earliest examples of, or progenitor of, a first-person shooter. Uncertainty exists over its exact release date, with some accounts placing it before Spasim, the earliest first-person shooter with a known time of publication. Gameplay is simple by later standards. Players wander around a maze, being capable of moving backward or forwards, turning right or left in 90-degree increments, and peeking through doorways. The game also uses simple tile-based movement, where the player moves from square to square. Other players are seen as eyeballs. When a player sees another player, they can shoot or otherwise negatively affect them. Players gain points for shooting other players, and lose them for being shot. Some versions (like the X11 port) had a cheat mode where the player running the server could see the other players' positions on the map. Occasionally in some versions, a duck also appears in the passage.
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HCC #4 = Maze (1973)
Maze predating Wizardry by roughly a decade is something that my mind struggles to process. The influence of Maze's dungeon crawling is immense. It's like it was copied by everything from Wizardry to Phantasy Star to Megami Tensei for decades.
Just exploring the maze got old quickly, so people were added into the maze. There was interaction between characters, with an ability to shoot motherfuckers to boot.
I don't really know what else to say. It's basically THE genesis point of first person games and the cover art is really damn charming.
Next time: Wander (1974)
Lastly: "I GOT EM!"