Unnkulian Underworld: The Unknown Unventure

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- Canalboy (London, UK.), February 28, 2024

- Nav (Bristol, UK), June 4, 2019

- Denk, June 20, 2017

Between the end of Infocom and the beginning of Inform, the biggest news was Unnkulia. This was the first game in the series; it is long, polished, and interesting.

It is also juvenile, with 'cheez' products that are toxic, some sex jokes, names like 'Kuulest' and 'Beegashell' mountains.

As the series progressed, it got better, until The Legend Lives! is actually quite a good game. But this first entry in the series is plagued by unfair puzzles and other features that made more sense when most of its players would be in a small community sharing tips with each other.

Mainly interesting as a historical curiosity. Another good game by the authors, I now remember, is the Horror of Rylvania.

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- Mr. Patient (Saint Paul, Minn.), July 11, 2015

- Egas, August 15, 2013

- DJ (Olalla, Washington), May 13, 2013

- lupusrex (Seattle, WA), October 4, 2009

- Mastodon, March 26, 2009

- Miron (Berlin, Germany), December 11, 2007

Baf's Guide

The first episode in the satirical Unnkulian saga. Like Zork, it's set in a high fantasy environment peppered with anacronisms. You're a slave to Kuulest, a wise hermit who dies during the intro. This makes you free, but also charges you with the obligation of descending into the ancient caverns of the Valley King to set something or other right. All the recurring themes of the Unnkulian games are established here, from Duhdhism and the obligatory fried egg puzzle to the Acme Corporation and its vastly inferior products. Hunger is a factor, but not a seriously limiting one. Contains a maze. Contains a lot of old adventure cliches, for that matter, but mostly for the sake of mocking them. Has some very nice puzzles, the sort where the solution arrives in a blaze of inspiration while you're waiting for the bus or whatever.

-- Carl Muckenhoupt