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"An Early Dungeon Crawler with a Simple Charm"

Sword of Fargoal is a game mostly forgotten by modern gamers but to C64 fans it still lives on in infamy. While the game is by all means simple, that doesn't rule out its ability to turn you into a bigger ball of rage than Henry Rollins at some points. You're first encounter with an assassin is bound to leave you bitter and you'll never look at monks the same way again. That's where this game seems to get me though; instead of dropping the game you'll feel driven to beat it. Victory always feels tangible even after countless lives and hours lost.

The games story only exists in the manual which consists of you venturing into a magic dungeon (the floors randomly generate when going up or down stairs) to find the Sword of Fargoal. I'm not going to try to criticize the story, graphics, or lack of music because I just don't see it as totally possible on a C64 game with one sole programmer who was still in high school.

As for game play, it's pretty straightforward. You have your health and skill randomly generated and then you start on floor one of the dungeon. You uncover the map by walking there and enter combat by walking into whatever enemy you see. Combat is very primitive as you may have guessed and it comes down to who's health will hit 0 first with combat being completely automated. It's always better to initiate combat yourself because enemies that initiate combat with you have a chance to steal spells, gold, or even worse The Sword of Fargoal. You also can find money to sacrifice at shrines to gain experience (that's its only) and chests which can either give spells, bigger gold sacks, enchanted swords, or more often than not traps like pits and falling ceilings.

You venture through the randomly generated floors leveling until you The Sword of Fargoal (which can only appear on floors 15 and below) which is where even more difficultly comes. As soon as you grab the sword a 2,000 second timer begins for you to reach the surface or the sword will be destroyed by a curse. This is where a lot of headaches can start because of how close to victory you feel and how easily it can be stripped away. If you have the sword stolen during your trek to the surface you have to return to get the sword but the timer won't reset so it can put quite a crunch on you.

Overall I'd say the game can be fun and even a bit addictive. There are some problems that come with it though. The random level generation can wall off sections of floor which can sometimes keep you from the sword. I've also noticed that enemies begin to get stronger the deeper in the dungeon you are with not indication. I'd still say this game deserves it's place in history and I still find it playable today. Whenever I have a short or large trip I almost always give at least one crack at Fargoal on my OpenPandora.


Reviewer's Score: 7/10 | Originally Posted: 06/18/12

Game Release: The Sword of Fargoal (US, 1983)