Infernal Runner was a survival horror computer game similar to Lode Runner

Lode Runner

Lode Runner is a 1983 platform game, first published by Brøderbund. It is one of the first games to include a level editor, a feature that allows players to create their own levels for the game. This feature bolstered the game's popularity, as magazines such as Computer Gaming World held contests...

published by Loriciel in 1985. The game was originally created for the Commodore 64

Commodore 64

The Commodore 64 is an 8-bit home computer introduced by Commodore International in January 1982.Volume production started in the spring of 1982, with machines being released on to the market in August at a price of US$595...

 and later adapted to the Amstrad CPC

Amstrad CPC

The Amstrad CPC is a series of 8-bit home computers produced by Amstrad between 1984 and 1990. It was designed to compete in the mid-1980s home computer market dominated by the Commodore 64 and the Sinclair ZX Spectrum, where it successfully established itself primarily in the United Kingdom,...

. It was one of the first works of game designer Eric Chahi

Eric Chahi

Éric Chahi is a French computer game designer best known as the creator of Another World .- Career :Éric Chahi started programming on Oric Atmos and Amstrad during 1983 for the company Loriciels...

.

Style

The game itself is a jump and run game where the player finds himself trapped in a house with lethal traps and various other menaces, and he must escape alive by collecting all keys and opening all trunks, all while avoiding starvation by collecting food. It is unknown what the actual story is.

The game had a surprisingly dark tone for its time, reached by the variety of traps (spikes, monsters, laser beams, fire, electricity, landmines), which all induced extremely detailed and violent death-animations when encountered. The game featured elaborate animations, meticulous detail (especially on the gore, such as the character twitching and wrangling when being impaled on spikes) and a haunting minor-key soundtrack with eerie sound-effects embedded into it. (The game itself had no sound, just music.) The Amstrad version's music was more playful than brooding.

Lode Runner Online: Mad Monks' Revenge

Lode Runner Online: Mad Monks' Revenge

Lode Runner Online: Mad Monks' Revenge is an enhanced version of the 1994 computer game Lode Runner: The Legend Returns. As the title suggests, the game features online functionality so that players can battle or work together from remote locations in network games.-History:In 1993, Presage...

, as a later released fellow port of Lode Runner, borrowed many features from the game, such as items and hazards.

Credits

The C64 version is credited to Yves Korta and Michel Koell. The Amstrad version was created by Eric Chahi

Eric Chahi

Éric Chahi is a French computer game designer best known as the creator of Another World .- Career :Éric Chahi started programming on Oric Atmos and Amstrad during 1983 for the company Loriciels...

 with music written by Michel Winogradof.

Trivia

• The C64 version's music was eventually ripped into Sex Games, a cartoony porn game on the same platform.

External links

• Infernal Runner on Eric Chahi's personal site
  • Amstrad disk image (from the same site)
• Infernal Runner at Loriciel's website (includes free download of the CPC version, oddly accompanied by a C64 screenshot)
• Longplay at c64-longplays.de (complete video walkthrough)