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Monsters of Murdac

by Jonathan Partington

Fantasy
1982

(based on 3 ratings)
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About the Story

The forests of Murdac are some of the oldest, as well as the wildest and most isolated, in the whole land. Also they don't take kindly to intruders -- although living on the outermost fringes of the great forest, you have never been able to penetrate it: every time that you followed a track into the dark woods, you found that it somehow turned and took you away from the secret heartlands of Murdac.

It became almost an obsession with you. 'What is the secret of Murdac?' you wondered, frustrated at every turn. In the land where nobody ever set foot, there was surely some dread mystery to be revealed.


Game Details

Editorial Reviews

Baf's Guide


Regarding its overall concept, this game is very similar to Zork, except it's playing in a lower league - being smaller in size, and having a weaker parser, terser descriptions, and much less versatile characters. One good aspect of Monsters of Murdac is its hint system (you have got to download the game "feelies" available at the IF-Archive to be able to use it). On the other hand, I thought one couldn't do without the hints to win, because at least 30% of the puzzles were quite obscure (at least to my taste), and the whole thing was anything but fair (one illustration: at the very beginning (which effectively means - from the very first move), the player has got to solve a tightly timed puzzle crucial for his further progress, not even being told there's a problem to deal with). And, as with the vast majority of old-school games, there's a maze (admitted, it's a slight variation of the standard, but it still requires being mapped out). The aforementioned accompanying materials, as well as the intro to the game, hint at a fancy story, but these promises remain unfulfilled. In spite of all these flaws, I can't say I'm regretting the time spent on Murdac - some puzzles were fun, and, being a former commercial game, it's very well polished and thoroughly tested. Plus (although that's not applicable to me), it possesses a certain nostalgic value. Still, if puzzles aren't your main attraction in text adventures, you'd better try something else.

-- Valentine Kopteltsev

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Monsters of Murdac on IFDB

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I Was A Teenage Adventure Gamer by J. J. Guest
I grew up playing IF on the Acorn Electron, and later the BBC Master Compact. My aim here is to create a complete list of all the games that were in my collection back in the 8-bit era. It is not a Recommended List as such. Most of the...

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Games With Unfair Beginnings by Canalboy
By this I mean games that can be made unwinnable near the start or have hellish opening puzzles.




This is version 12 of this page, edited by Anthony Hope on 1 August 2020 at 1:22pm. - View Update History - Edit This Page - Add a News Item - Delete This Page