Adventure / Adventure - RPG (2-D) · 1981
Crypts of Terror
Published by Inhome Software
atarimania.com — atari-400-800-xl-xe-games-crypts-of-terror-1437
Information
- Genre
- Adventure - RPG (2-D)
- Language
- BASIC
- Controls
- Joystick
- Players
- 1
- Programmer(s)
- Dorey, Daniel J.
- Year
- 1981
- Publisher
- Inhome Software
- Country
- Canada
- License
- Commercial
- Medium
- Tape, Disk
- Rarity
- 8 (Tape), 9 (Disk)
Votes / Statistics
Rating: 7.6/10 · Votes: 21 · Downloads: 2,569 · Hits: 13,174
Additional Comments
Screenshots (5)
Cover Art (3)
Instructions (2)
Ads (1)
Book / Magazine Reviews (1)
The Book of Atari Software · 1984 · Rating: C+
The game is the typical slug-it-out-with-the-monsters game in which you need to find enough treasures and supplies in the various chests to remain alive and complete your quest. There is a monster in every room that must be killed with a sword or rifle (you need bullets, remember) before you can open a chest. Since you can only carry one item at a time, you must double back and exchange your sword for a key by passing over the item that you wish to carry. You must refrain from pressing the fire button when you want to drop objects. In this game, a map is displayed showing the contents and status of each room. It is available after you have opened a chest. Since plotting all of the items is rather slow, pressing the button is to be avoided.
Life points dwindle rapidly in any encounter with the monsters. Extra life points can be earned by finding food in the chests or by trading gold coins with the Tree of Life. You must balance fighting with finding enough treasure to sustain life. The game ends once you have lost all three of your men.
The game's concept is good but the game becomes rather tedious after extended play because it has no puzzle qualities. The graphics and speed are good, considering it is an adventure game written in BASIC.
| Overall rating | C+ | Difficulty | B- | Originality | A |
| Puzzle quality | B | Ease of use | C | Documentation | C |
| Text quality | C | Vocabulary | C | Holds interest | C |
| Graphics quality | C+ | Save/restore | C | Value for money | C- |
Comments (9)
Eegad — 9 Jan 2017
Dug out and have been playing with my old Atari 8-bits the past few years. Was just thinking "what was the first game I bought for my 400? Crypts of something....". Still have my disks & drives in working order, and have been playing with the emulators for years. But have lost track of the earliest cassette games. Just found this. Wow. What a flashback to summer of 1981 and my first computer!
Jeff — 3 Dec 2016
Played this game as a kid and eventually completed it... what a sense of achievement that gave me! A satisfying ending too iirc. Would love to play it again.
Daniel J. Dorey — 18 Nov 2016
I am the author of this game and would love to answer any questions. I am working on a modern version hopefully complete in 2017 if you have any suggestions.
Muffy St. Bernard — 8 Nov 2009
For some reason I was enraptured by this game as a child...I probably didn't have the thinking skills to realize...hey, this is impossible and tedious! Kudos for effort and fitting it into 16K, but only a masochist (or me as a small child) would try to finish this game. You have no clue which of the 50 chests the goal is in, so you just keep picking up the sword, entering the next room, killing the monster, dropping the sword, going back to the previous room, getting the key, entering the next room, opening the chest, repeat. Yes, your sword only points to the right, and you can only carry the sword, key, or gun (!) at any one time. Combat is pretty much random. Press FIRE for a map of the crypts, if you have the patience. If you find "drugs" in a chest, I think the only cure is to later find "food" in a chest...the trees won't cure you.
Muffy St. Bernard — 7 Nov 2009
Never mind...upgrading to the latest version of the emulator fixed the problem!
Muffy St. Bernard — 7 Nov 2009
Any tips on loading this with the Atari800OSX emulator? After the introductory screen it doesn't seem able to continue loading from the tape image. I played this like CRAZY as a kid, and then the tape became corrupted. I'd love to try it again...
Howard — 22 Sept 2006
Made in Toronto, yay!
Dominic Trill — 22 Jan 2005
Another one of my 'most played',even though it's in Basic and on tape(still trying to convert the non-standard format onto disk now!!!),never completed all the levels even after 22 years!Must try harder!
martin — 20 Jun 2004
written in BASIC, using redifined characters as graphics, this RPG is very interesting. be careful not to be greedy when visiting a tree of life.