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3-PART ZORK FEATURETTE: PART 1

I’ve featured Zork on here before, but I’d like to give this truly outstanding series a little more attention by doing a more in-depth featurette of the original trilogy!

Zork I: The Great Underground Empire is among the earliest of text adventures. Although not the first, it’s certainly one of the best. It earned this distinction through its immersive gameplay, made so by excellent writing, clever puzzles, a wry and slightly warped sense of humor, and – not in its initial release, but in subsequent releases – a tradition begun by Infocom (and eventually picked up by other developers) known as “feelies” – physical items included with the game package which were styled as items from the game world. In Zork I’s case, it was a copy of a booklet titled “The Great Underground Empire: A History” by one “Froboz Mumbar”, and a map of part of the playable area of the game.

You begin the game as a hapless adventurer who has been deposited into the world without explanation. Although the goal is initially unclear, through playing and exploring you figure out the goal, which is to collect the 20 treasures of Zork that are scattered throughout the world.

The game requires you to have a good think through your actions, because there’s little to no room for trial and error. A seemingly innocent action such as turning off a light can leave you dead, having been devoured by grues, featureless and deadly beings that exist in pitch darkness (and let me tell you that the game was immersive enough to leave young me terrified of pitch darkness). You were, however, able to save the game whenever you liked – it wasn’t quite as punishing as the likes of some modern-day games such as Dark Souls.

Zork’s popularity and subsequent sales continued to rise over time, leading to a number of re-releases. Professional critics left glowing reviews. In 1996 Computer Gaming World magazine listed Zork I at number 13 among its list of the 150 best computer games of all time.