Return of Heracles
Encyclopedia
The Return of Heracles is an adventure game
for the Atari 8-bit, Commodore 64
and Apple II
computers, originally written by Stuart Smith
and published by Quality Software
in 1983. Built on an engine that was a precursor to Adventure Construction Set, The Return of Heracles is set in the age of Greek myth and allows the player to assume the role of one or more heroes and attempt various quests.
The game has also been sold under the names The Return of Herakles; it was also bundled with another adventure game of Smith's, Ali-Baba and the Forty Thieves, in a compilation called Age of Adventure, published by Electronic Arts
.
It is also possible to find other characters that will join the player's hero or group of heroes. The player gains three Spartes
after killing the Serpent of Ares
for example.
A few of the heroic characters have unique abilities or specifics, listed below:
will only assign a new task after seriously wounding your hero with a lightning bolt. After most quests, you gain some sort of tangible benefit for the hero who completes it.
Two of these quests require that another quest be completed first. You cannot attempt to solve the Riddle of the Sphinx until after you build the city of Thebes, and you cannot attempt to rescue Penelope until after you have rescued Helen.
While Greek myth speaks of a specific hero (or group of heroes) completing each of these quests, the game allows any hero to complete any quest.
A hero may visit the Oracle of Delphi to receive a hint as to how to complete a quest, although the quality of the hint depends on how much gold
the hero is carrying (a character with no gold will be turned away).
-like adventure game. Each character was defined by three basic characteristics: strength, dexterity, and speed. Strength and dexterity determine how effective a character is in combat, while speed determines how many squares you can move in one turn. Characters may also have special training in defensive techniques, use of the sword, and use of the dagger.
Each character may carry a sword
, a dagger
, armor, and wealth (measured in gold
drachmas). Swords and daggers have two basic properties, relating to how well-made they are and how effective they are. The workmanship of the weapon may be "cheap" or "fine", with cheap weapons more likely to break in the middle of combat than fine weapons. The effectiveness of a weapon may be "lousy", "mediocre", "mighty", "terrific" or "Zeus-blessed", each one able to do progressively more damage. The Labrys
(the axe of the minotaur
) is treated as a sword for game purposes.
Weapons and armor may be replaced over the course of the game, but items so replaced may not be recovered later.
Characters lacking a sword may not engage in combat with a foe in an adjacent square. Characters lacking a dagger may still wrestle a foe, but must use their fists (which do minimal damage).
All swords and daggers have a risk of breaking in the middle of an attack. Only natural weapons (such as bare hands, or the natural weapons of monsters) do not risk breaking when used in an attack.
Armor protects a character by reducing the amount of damage dealt by a successful blow (occasionally negating a blow entirely), but reduces the character's dexterity. In general, the more protection a piece of armor provides, the greater the penalty to dexterity. The skin of the Nemean lion
is an exception to this rule (it is simultaneously the most protective and the lightest armor in the game).
Weapons may be poison
ed, and do additional damage with each hit. Poison on weapons wears off after a few hits (unless the poison came from the Hydra
), but monsters with poisonous natural weapons (such as snakes) never run out of poison. Unlike in other RPG-like games, the damage caused by poison is instantaneous; no additional damage is suffered in later turns.
Characters may possess any amount of wealth (measured in drachmas). However, large amounts of wealth weigh down a hero, reducing his speed. It is possible for a character to possess so much wealth that he is unable to move until he drops some or all of it.
, Odysseus
, and Polybius
, were heroes more because of their minds than their physical prowess. The rules of the game do not take a hero's intelligence or wisdom into account; as a result, these heroes are significantly weaker than some of the others.
Some heroes were also described in Greek myth as being skilled with weapons other than the sword
and dagger
, but the game doesn't support any other weapons. This also precludes players, for example, from defeating the Nemean lion
by the means used in legend by Heracles
(since its skin was impervious to all piercing and cutting weapons, he strangled it).
Some monsters were described in legend as being impossible to kill unless a certain tactic was used. Antaeus
, for example, was supposed to automatically heal any injury as long as he was touching the earth. Since the game rules lacked the flexibility to allow such tactics, these monsters were instead made to be subject to normal attacks but otherwise very powerful.
praised the game's transparency, stating "The rules explain
themselves. Although documentation comes with it, you'll never have to read it." Although the review found the game very enjoyable, several flaws were noted, particularly the inaccuracies pertaining to Greek mythology.
Adventure game
An adventure game is a video game in which the player assumes the role of protagonist in an interactive story driven by exploration and puzzle-solving instead of physical challenge. The genre's focus on story allows it to draw heavily from other narrative-based media such as literature and film,...
for the Atari 8-bit, 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 Apple II
Apple II
The Apple II is an 8-bit home computer, one of the first highly successful mass-produced microcomputer products, designed primarily by Steve Wozniak, manufactured by Apple Computer and introduced in 1977...
computers, originally written by Stuart Smith
Stuart Smith (game designer)
Stuart Smith is an American computer game designer and programmer.He is best known for his adventure games, and was a pioneer in the development of graphical adventures in the early 1980s. He was also a unique designer for his time because of his desire to faithfully build history and mythology...
and published by Quality Software
Quality Software
Quality Software is a defunct software design company that published games for Apple II and Atari 800 computers in the late 1970s and early 1980s...
in 1983. Built on an engine that was a precursor to Adventure Construction Set, The Return of Heracles is set in the age of Greek myth and allows the player to assume the role of one or more heroes and attempt various quests.
The game has also been sold under the names The Return of Herakles; it was also bundled with another adventure game of Smith's, Ali-Baba and the Forty Thieves, in a compilation called Age of Adventure, published by Electronic Arts
Electronic Arts
Electronic Arts, Inc. is a major American developer, marketer, publisher and distributor of video games. Founded and incorporated on May 28, 1982 by Trip Hawkins, the company was a pioneer of the early home computer games industry and was notable for promoting the designers and programmers...
.
Characters
The game allows you to play any of the following heroes from Greek myth. You may play more than one hero at once, but since the game awards bonuses if you complete a quest in less than 200 turns, having multiple heroes in play at once makes it harder to earn such bonuses.- AsclepiusAsclepiusAsclepius is the God of Medicine and Healing in ancient Greek religion. Asclepius represents the healing aspect of the medical arts; his daughters are Hygieia , Iaso , Aceso , Aglæa/Ægle , and Panacea...
, the world's first physicianPhysicianA physician is a health care provider who practices the profession of medicine, which is concerned with promoting, maintaining or restoring human health through the study, diagnosis, and treatment of disease, injury and other physical and mental impairments...
. - CadmusCadmusCadmus or Kadmos , in Greek mythology was a Phoenician prince, the son of king Agenor and queen Telephassa of Tyre and the brother of Phoenix, Cilix and Europa. He was originally sent by his royal parents to seek out and escort his sister Europa back to Tyre after she was abducted from the shores...
, the slayer of the Serpent of AresDragons in Greek mythology-Ladon:Ladon was the serpent-like dragon that twined round the tree in the Garden of the Hesperides and guarded the golden apples. Ladon was also said to have as many as one hundred heads. He was overcome and possibly slain by Heracles...
, and founder of the city of ThebesThebes, GreeceThebes is a city in Greece, situated to the north of the Cithaeron range, which divides Boeotia from Attica, and on the southern edge of the Boeotian plain. It played an important role in Greek myth, as the site of the stories of Cadmus, Oedipus, Dionysus and others...
. - AutolycusAutolycusIn Greek mythology, Autolycus was a son of Hermes and Chione. He was the husband of Neaera, or according to Homer, of Amphithea...
, a thief, wrestler, and ArgonautArgonautsThe Argonauts ) were a band of heroes in Greek mythology who, in the years before the Trojan War, accompanied Jason to Colchis in his quest to find the Golden Fleece. Their name comes from their ship, the Argo, which was named after its builder, Argus. "Argonauts", therefore, literally means...
. - EndymionEndymion (mythology)In Greek mythology, Endymion , was variously a handsome Aeolian shepherd or hunter or a king who ruled and was said to reside at Olympia in Elis, but he was also said to reside and was venerated on Mount Latmus in Caria, on the west coast of Asia Minor....
, the shepherd who was put in eternal sleep when SeleneSeleneIn Greek mythology, Selene was an archaic lunar deity and the daughter of the Titans Hyperion and Theia. In Roman mythology, the moon goddess is called Luna, Latin for "moon"....
fell in love with him. - PerseusPerseusPerseus ,Perseos and Perseas are not used in English. the legendary founder of Mycenae and of the Perseid dynasty of Danaans there, was the first of the mythic heroes of Greek mythology whose exploits in defeating various archaic monsters provided the founding myths of the Twelve Olympians...
, the slayer of MedusaMedusaIn Greek mythology Medusa , " guardian, protectress") was a Gorgon, a chthonic monster, and a daughter of Phorcys and Ceto. The author Hyginus, interposes a generation and gives Medusa another chthonic pair as parents. Gazing directly upon her would turn onlookers to stone...
. - PolydeucesCastor and PolluxIn Greek and Roman mythology, Castor and Pollux or Polydeuces were twin brothers, together known as the Dioscuri . Their mother was Leda, but Castor was the mortal son of Tyndareus, king of Sparta, and Pollux the divine son of Zeus, who visited Leda in the guise of a swan...
, an Argonaut, and one of the Gemini twins. - CastorCastor and PolluxIn Greek and Roman mythology, Castor and Pollux or Polydeuces were twin brothers, together known as the Dioscuri . Their mother was Leda, but Castor was the mortal son of Tyndareus, king of Sparta, and Pollux the divine son of Zeus, who visited Leda in the guise of a swan...
, an Argonaut, and the other of the Gemini twins. - ActaeonActaeonActaeon , in Greek mythology, son of the priestly herdsman Aristaeus and Autonoe in Boeotia, was a famous Theban hero. Like Achilles in a later generation, he was trained by the centaur Chiron....
, a hunter who was cursed by ArtemisArtemisArtemis was one of the most widely venerated of the Ancient Greek deities. Her Roman equivalent is Diana. Some scholars believe that the name and indeed the goddess herself was originally pre-Greek. Homer refers to her as Artemis Agrotera, Potnia Theron: "Artemis of the wildland, Mistress of Animals"...
after he saw her bathing. - TheseusTheseusFor other uses, see Theseus Theseus was the mythical founder-king of Athens, son of Aethra, and fathered by Aegeus and Poseidon, both of whom Aethra had slept with in one night. Theseus was a founder-hero, like Perseus, Cadmus, or Heracles, all of whom battled and overcame foes that were...
, the slayer of the MinotaurMinotaurIn Greek mythology, the Minotaur , as the Greeks imagined him, was a creature with the head of a bull on the body of a man or, as described by Roman poet Ovid, "part man and part bull"...
. - PegasusPegasusPegasus is one of the best known fantastical as well as mythological creatures in Greek mythology. He is a winged divine horse, usually white in color. He was sired by Poseidon, in his role as horse-god, and foaled by the Gorgon Medusa. He was the brother of Chrysaor, born at a single birthing...
, the winged horse. - PalaemonHeraclesHeracles ,born Alcaeus or Alcides , was a divine hero in Greek mythology, the son of Zeus and Alcmene, foster son of Amphitryon and great-grandson of Perseus...
, the man who would become the legendary strongman Heracles. - Hippolyte, the queen of the AmazonsAmazonsThe Amazons are a nation of all-female warriors in Greek mythology and Classical antiquity. Herodotus placed them in a region bordering Scythia in Sarmatia...
. - MelanippeMelanippeIn Greek mythology, Melanippe referred to several different people.* Daughter of the Centaur Chiron. Also known as Hippe or Euippe. She bore a daughter to Aeolus, Melanippe or Arne...
, sister of Hippolyte. - JasonJasonJason was a late ancient Greek mythological hero from the late 10th Century BC, famous as the leader of the Argonauts and their quest for the Golden Fleece. He was the son of Aeson, the rightful king of Iolcus...
, the captain of the ArgonautsArgonautsThe Argonauts ) were a band of heroes in Greek mythology who, in the years before the Trojan War, accompanied Jason to Colchis in his quest to find the Golden Fleece. Their name comes from their ship, the Argo, which was named after its builder, Argus. "Argonauts", therefore, literally means...
. - AchillesAchillesIn Greek mythology, Achilles was a Greek hero of the Trojan War, the central character and the greatest warrior of Homer's Iliad.Plato named Achilles the handsomest of the heroes assembled against Troy....
, the almost-immortal Greek warrior who fought in the Trojan WarTrojan WarIn Greek mythology, the Trojan War was waged against the city of Troy by the Achaeans after Paris of Troy took Helen from her husband Menelaus, the king of Sparta. The war is among the most important events in Greek mythology and was narrated in many works of Greek literature, including the Iliad...
. - Great AjaxAjax (mythology)Ajax or Aias was a mythological Greek hero, the son of Telamon and Periboea and king of Salamis. He plays an important role in Homer's Iliad and in the Epic Cycle, a series of epic poems about the Trojan War. To distinguish him from Ajax, son of Oileus , he is called "Telamonian Ajax," "Greater...
, a strong Greek warrior who fought in the Trojan War. - OdysseusOdysseusOdysseus or Ulysses was a legendary Greek king of Ithaca and the hero of Homer's epic poem the Odyssey. Odysseus also plays a key role in Homer's Iliad and other works in the Epic Cycle....
, the cunning Greek warrior who fought in the Trojan War. - PhilopoemenPhilopoemenPhilopoemen , was a skilled Greek general and statesman, who was Achaean strategos on eight occasions....
, a famous Greek strategosStrategosStrategos, plural strategoi, is used in Greek to mean "general". In the Hellenistic and Byzantine Empires the term was also used to describe a military governor...
involved in several large battles. - PolybiusPolybiusPolybius , Greek ) was a Greek historian of the Hellenistic Period noted for his work, The Histories, which covered the period of 220–146 BC in detail. The work describes in part the rise of the Roman Republic and its gradual domination over Greece...
, a historian and the weakest base character in the game.
It is also possible to find other characters that will join the player's hero or group of heroes. The player gains three Spartes
Spartes
In Greek mythology, Spartoí are a mythical people who were held to be Ares' children.-Spartoi in Thebes:Cadmus arrived in Thebes, Greece after following a cow at the urging of the oracle at Delphi, who instructed him to found a city wherever the cow should stop. Cadmus, wishing to sacrifice the...
after killing the Serpent of Ares
Dragons in Greek mythology
-Ladon:Ladon was the serpent-like dragon that twined round the tree in the Garden of the Hesperides and guarded the golden apples. Ladon was also said to have as many as one hundred heads. He was overcome and possibly slain by Heracles...
for example.
A few of the heroic characters have unique abilities or specifics, listed below:
- Asclepius has the unique ability to heal allies occuping the same map tile he is, and is effectively the game's only support character.
- Pegasus is easily the fastest character in the game and is noted for being a favorite character for high scoring speed runs.
- As Palaemon, the player must survive Hera's serpents with Palaemon's low stats and lack of equipment before becoming Heracles, who statistically is as incredibly strong as he is slow.
- Theseus has good base stats and begins the game in TroezenTroezenTroezen is a small town and a former municipality in the northeastern Peloponnese, Greece. Since the 2011 local government reform it is part of the municipality Troizinia, of which it is a municipal unit....
, in where he can destroy the altar for Aegeus' sword (though any hero can travel to Troezen to do the same if they have enough of the strength stat). - In a nod to his representation in most myths as a powerful boxer, Polydeuces can battle enemies effectively with bare hands, which is helpful should his weapons break in battle.
- Achilles' skin works as a powerful natural armor that loses effectiveness should he actually be equipped with real gear. Adding him to the game also gives the player PatroclusPatroclusIn Greek mythology, as recorded in the Iliad by Homer, Patroclus, or Patroklos , was the son of Menoetius, grandson of Actor, King of Opus, and was Achilles' beloved comrade and brother-in-arms....
as a free bonus character. - Having Odysseus join the game also adds Argus, his faithful dog and companion, as a free player character.
- Non-human characters such as Pegasus and Argus (or a hero transformed into a creature) are unable to attack or be attacked by members of their own species. This makes it impossible for Pegasus to complete the game on her own solely as a horse as the defeat of the Mares of DiomedesMares of DiomedesThe Mares of Diomedes, also called the Mares of Thrace, were four man-eating horses in Greek mythology. Magnificent, wild, and uncontrollable, they belonged to the giant Diomedes , king of Thrace, a son of Ares and Cyrene who lived on the shores of the Black Sea...
is one of the game's objectives. - Endymion and Actaeon start in areas where it is possible for them (or other heroes) to experience the same tragic fates that befell them in myth.
Quests
The selected hero(es) are given twelve tasks to complete (many of which overlap with the Twelve Labors of Heracles). They may be done in any order, although if you visit the Oracle of Zeus twice without completing the task assigned during the first visit, ZeusZeus
In the ancient Greek religion, Zeus was the "Father of Gods and men" who ruled the Olympians of Mount Olympus as a father ruled the family. He was the god of sky and thunder in Greek mythology. His Roman counterpart is Jupiter and his Etruscan counterpart is Tinia.Zeus was the child of Cronus...
will only assign a new task after seriously wounding your hero with a lightning bolt. After most quests, you gain some sort of tangible benefit for the hero who completes it.
- Slay the Nemean LionNemean LionThe Nemean lion was a vicious monster in Greek mythology that lived at Nemea. It was eventually killed by Heracles. It could not be killed with mortal weapons because its golden fur was impervious to attack...
. Reward is the lion's skin, which is the most powerful armor in the game. - Slay the HydraLernaean HydraIn Greek mythology, the Lernaean Hydra was an ancient nameless serpent-like chthonic water beast, with reptilian traits, that possessed many heads — the poets mention more heads than the vase-painters could paint, and for each head cut off it grew two more — and poisonous breath so virulent even...
. Reward is the blood of the hydra, which permanently poisons your weapons. - Recover the treasure of Stymphalos, which is guarded by the Stymphalian birdsStymphalian birdsIn Greek mythology, the Stymphalian birds were man-eating birds with beaks of bronze and sharp metallic feathers they could launch at their victims, and were sacred to Ares, the god of war. Furthermore, their dung was highly toxic...
. Reward is the treasure itself. - Slay the serpent of AresDragons in Greek mythology-Ladon:Ladon was the serpent-like dragon that twined round the tree in the Garden of the Hesperides and guarded the golden apples. Ladon was also said to have as many as one hundred heads. He was overcome and possibly slain by Heracles...
, build the city of ThebesThebes, GreeceThebes is a city in Greece, situated to the north of the Cithaeron range, which divides Boeotia from Attica, and on the southern edge of the Boeotian plain. It played an important role in Greek myth, as the site of the stories of Cadmus, Oedipus, Dionysus and others...
. Reward is three new heroes, but the hero who slays the serpent is turned into a snakeSnakeSnakes are elongate, legless, carnivorous reptiles of the suborder Serpentes that can be distinguished from legless lizards by their lack of eyelids and external ears. Like all squamates, snakes are ectothermic, amniote vertebrates covered in overlapping scales...
. - Solve the Riddle of the Sphinx. Reward is access to the city of Thebes.
- Retrieve the Golden fleeceGolden FleeceIn Greek mythology, the Golden Fleece is the fleece of the gold-haired winged ram, which can be procured in Colchis. It figures in the tale of Jason and his band of Argonauts, who set out on a quest by order of King Pelias for the fleece in order to place Jason rightfully on the throne of Iolcus...
. Reward is the golden fleece, which has tremendous monetary value. You also gain four new heroes along the way. - Retrieve the red cows of GeryonGeryonIn Greek mythology, Geryon , son of Chrysaor and Callirrhoe and grandson of Medusa, was a fearsome giant who dwelt on the island Erytheia of the mythic Hesperides in the far west of the Mediterranean. A more literal-minded later generation of Greeks associated the region with Tartessos in southern...
. Reward is the selling price of the cows. - Retrieve the golden apples of the HesperidesHesperidesIn Greek mythology, the Hesperides are nymphs who tend a blissful garden in a far western corner of the world, located near the Atlas mountains in North Africa at the edge of the encircling Oceanus, the world-ocean....
. Reward is the selling price of the apples. - Slay the MinotaurMinotaurIn Greek mythology, the Minotaur , as the Greeks imagined him, was a creature with the head of a bull on the body of a man or, as described by Roman poet Ovid, "part man and part bull"...
. Reward is the LabrysLabrysLabrys is the term for a symmetrical doubleheaded axe originally from Crete in Greece, one of the oldest symbols of Greek civilization; to the Romans, it was known as a bipennis....
, the Minotaur's axe. - Rescue Helen from TroyTroyTroy was a city, both factual and legendary, located in northwest Anatolia in what is now Turkey, southeast of the Dardanelles and beside Mount Ida...
. Reward is the loot from King Priam'sKing PriamKing Priam is an opera by Michael Tippett, to his own libretto. The story is based on Homer's Iliad, except the birth and childhood of Paris, which are taken from the Fabulae of Hyginus.The premiere was on 29 May 1962, at Coventry...
treasury. - Rescue PenelopePenelopeIn Homer's Odyssey, Penelope is the faithful wife of Odysseus, who keeps her suitors at bay in his long absence and is eventually reunited with him....
from hostile suitors. - Destroy the man-eating mares of ThraceThraceThrace is a historical and geographic area in southeast Europe. As a geographical concept, Thrace designates a region bounded by the Balkan Mountains on the north, Rhodope Mountains and the Aegean Sea on the south, and by the Black Sea and the Sea of Marmara on the east...
.
Two of these quests require that another quest be completed first. You cannot attempt to solve the Riddle of the Sphinx until after you build the city of Thebes, and you cannot attempt to rescue Penelope until after you have rescued Helen.
While Greek myth speaks of a specific hero (or group of heroes) completing each of these quests, the game allows any hero to complete any quest.
A hero may visit the Oracle of Delphi to receive a hint as to how to complete a quest, although the quality of the hint depends on how much gold
Gold
Gold is a chemical element with the symbol Au and an atomic number of 79. Gold is a dense, soft, shiny, malleable and ductile metal. Pure gold has a bright yellow color and luster traditionally considered attractive, which it maintains without oxidizing in air or water. Chemically, gold is a...
the hero is carrying (a character with no gold will be turned away).
Gameplay
The Return of Heracles was an RPGRole-playing video game
Role-playing video games are a video game genre with origins in pen-and-paper role-playing games such as Dungeons & Dragons, using much of the same terminology, settings and game mechanics. The player in RPGs controls one character, or several adventuring party members, fulfilling one or many quests...
-like adventure game. Each character was defined by three basic characteristics: strength, dexterity, and speed. Strength and dexterity determine how effective a character is in combat, while speed determines how many squares you can move in one turn. Characters may also have special training in defensive techniques, use of the sword, and use of the dagger.
Each character may carry a sword
Sword
A sword is a bladed weapon used primarily for cutting or thrusting. The precise definition of the term varies with the historical epoch or the geographical region under consideration...
, a dagger
Dagger
A dagger is a fighting knife with a sharp point designed or capable of being used as a thrusting or stabbing weapon. The design dates to human prehistory, and daggers have been used throughout human experience to the modern day in close combat confrontations...
, armor, and wealth (measured in gold
Gold
Gold is a chemical element with the symbol Au and an atomic number of 79. Gold is a dense, soft, shiny, malleable and ductile metal. Pure gold has a bright yellow color and luster traditionally considered attractive, which it maintains without oxidizing in air or water. Chemically, gold is a...
drachmas). Swords and daggers have two basic properties, relating to how well-made they are and how effective they are. The workmanship of the weapon may be "cheap" or "fine", with cheap weapons more likely to break in the middle of combat than fine weapons. The effectiveness of a weapon may be "lousy", "mediocre", "mighty", "terrific" or "Zeus-blessed", each one able to do progressively more damage. The Labrys
Labrys
Labrys is the term for a symmetrical doubleheaded axe originally from Crete in Greece, one of the oldest symbols of Greek civilization; to the Romans, it was known as a bipennis....
(the axe of the minotaur
Minotaur
In Greek mythology, the Minotaur , as the Greeks imagined him, was a creature with the head of a bull on the body of a man or, as described by Roman poet Ovid, "part man and part bull"...
) is treated as a sword for game purposes.
Weapons and armor may be replaced over the course of the game, but items so replaced may not be recovered later.
Characters lacking a sword may not engage in combat with a foe in an adjacent square. Characters lacking a dagger may still wrestle a foe, but must use their fists (which do minimal damage).
All swords and daggers have a risk of breaking in the middle of an attack. Only natural weapons (such as bare hands, or the natural weapons of monsters) do not risk breaking when used in an attack.
Armor protects a character by reducing the amount of damage dealt by a successful blow (occasionally negating a blow entirely), but reduces the character's dexterity. In general, the more protection a piece of armor provides, the greater the penalty to dexterity. The skin of the Nemean lion
Nemean Lion
The Nemean lion was a vicious monster in Greek mythology that lived at Nemea. It was eventually killed by Heracles. It could not be killed with mortal weapons because its golden fur was impervious to attack...
is an exception to this rule (it is simultaneously the most protective and the lightest armor in the game).
Weapons may be poison
Poison
In the context of biology, poisons are substances that can cause disturbances to organisms, usually by chemical reaction or other activity on the molecular scale, when a sufficient quantity is absorbed by an organism....
ed, and do additional damage with each hit. Poison on weapons wears off after a few hits (unless the poison came from the Hydra
Lernaean Hydra
In Greek mythology, the Lernaean Hydra was an ancient nameless serpent-like chthonic water beast, with reptilian traits, that possessed many heads — the poets mention more heads than the vase-painters could paint, and for each head cut off it grew two more — and poisonous breath so virulent even...
), but monsters with poisonous natural weapons (such as snakes) never run out of poison. Unlike in other RPG-like games, the damage caused by poison is instantaneous; no additional damage is suffered in later turns.
Characters may possess any amount of wealth (measured in drachmas). However, large amounts of wealth weigh down a hero, reducing his speed. It is possible for a character to possess so much wealth that he is unable to move until he drops some or all of it.
Technical limitations
Some heroes, especially JasonJason
Jason was a late ancient Greek mythological hero from the late 10th Century BC, famous as the leader of the Argonauts and their quest for the Golden Fleece. He was the son of Aeson, the rightful king of Iolcus...
, Odysseus
Odysseus
Odysseus or Ulysses was a legendary Greek king of Ithaca and the hero of Homer's epic poem the Odyssey. Odysseus also plays a key role in Homer's Iliad and other works in the Epic Cycle....
, and Polybius
Polybius
Polybius , Greek ) was a Greek historian of the Hellenistic Period noted for his work, The Histories, which covered the period of 220–146 BC in detail. The work describes in part the rise of the Roman Republic and its gradual domination over Greece...
, were heroes more because of their minds than their physical prowess. The rules of the game do not take a hero's intelligence or wisdom into account; as a result, these heroes are significantly weaker than some of the others.
Some heroes were also described in Greek myth as being skilled with weapons other than the sword
Sword
A sword is a bladed weapon used primarily for cutting or thrusting. The precise definition of the term varies with the historical epoch or the geographical region under consideration...
and dagger
Dagger
A dagger is a fighting knife with a sharp point designed or capable of being used as a thrusting or stabbing weapon. The design dates to human prehistory, and daggers have been used throughout human experience to the modern day in close combat confrontations...
, but the game doesn't support any other weapons. This also precludes players, for example, from defeating the Nemean lion
Nemean Lion
The Nemean lion was a vicious monster in Greek mythology that lived at Nemea. It was eventually killed by Heracles. It could not be killed with mortal weapons because its golden fur was impervious to attack...
by the means used in legend by Heracles
Heracles
Heracles ,born Alcaeus or Alcides , was a divine hero in Greek mythology, the son of Zeus and Alcmene, foster son of Amphitryon and great-grandson of Perseus...
(since its skin was impervious to all piercing and cutting weapons, he strangled it).
Some monsters were described in legend as being impossible to kill unless a certain tactic was used. Antaeus
Antaeus
Antaeus in Greek and Berber mythology was a half-giant, the son of Poseidon and Gaia, whose wife was Tinjis. Antaeus had a daughter named Alceis or Barce.-Mythology:...
, for example, was supposed to automatically heal any injury as long as he was touching the earth. Since the game rules lacked the flexibility to allow such tactics, these monsters were instead made to be subject to normal attacks but otherwise very powerful.
Perils
In addition to the perils one might expect to encounter while performing the aforementioned quests (such as a lion with armor-like skin or a minotaur with a devastating axe), there are a few unusual perils, some of which can instantly and without warning kill a hero. For example:- A hero who climbs to near the top of Mount OlympusMount OlympusMount Olympus is the highest mountain in Greece, located on the border between Thessaly and Macedonia, about 100 kilometres away from Thessaloniki, Greece's second largest city. Mount Olympus has 52 peaks. The highest peak Mytikas, meaning "nose", rises to 2,917 metres...
has some kind of close encounter with one of the gods. This encounter may be beneficial (e.g. the hero may be granted increased weapon skill) or detrimental (e.g. the hero may lose all his gold and be turned into a crabCrabTrue crabs are decapod crustaceans of the infraorder Brachyura, which typically have a very short projecting "tail" , or where the reduced abdomen is entirely hidden under the thorax...
). - Any hero who climbs all the way to the top of Mount Olympus is instantly killed by the gods.
- There is a spot in the LernaeanLernaIn classical Greece, Lerna was a region of springs and a former lake near the east coast of the Peloponnesus, south of Argos. Its site near the village Mili at the Argolic Gulf is most famous as the lair of the Lernaean Hydra, the chthonic many-headed water snake, a creature of great antiquity...
swampSwampA swamp is a wetland with some flooding of large areas of land by shallow bodies of water. A swamp generally has a large number of hammocks, or dry-land protrusions, covered by aquatic vegetation, or vegetation that tolerates periodical inundation. The two main types of swamp are "true" or swamp...
where, if a hero steps there, he will be consumed (and killed) by quicksandQuicksandQuicksand is a colloid hydrogel consisting of fine granular matter , clay, and water.Water circulation underground can focus in an area with the optimal mixture of fine sands and other materials such as clay. The water moves up and then down slowly in a convection-like manner throughout a column...
. - Any hero who enters the house of CirceCirceIn Greek mythology, Circe is a minor goddess of magic , described in Homer's Odyssey as "The loveliest of all immortals", living on the island of Aeaea, famous for her part in the adventures of Odysseus.By most accounts, Circe was the daughter of Helios, the god of the sun, and Perse, an Oceanid...
is turned into a wild animal. Unlike other scenarios where a hero is turned into an animal, a hero so changed by Circe becomes a non-player characterNon-player characterA non-player character , sometimes known as a non-person character or non-playable character, in a game is any fictional character not controlled by a player. In electronic games, this usually means a character controlled by the computer through artificial intelligence...
. Also unlike other scenarios, this can actually be reversed by having a second hero attempt to enter Circe's sanctum; before entering, Hermes arrives and provides an herb which negates Circe's spell and forces her to return the affected heroes to normal. - Any hero who moves adjacent to CharybdisCharybdisCharybdis or Kharybdis was a sea monster, later rationalised as a whirlpool and considered a shipping hazard in the Strait of Messina.-The mythological background:...
is immediately sucked in and killed. - The SphinxSphinxA sphinx is a mythical creature with a lion's body and a human head or a cat head.The sphinx, in Greek tradition, has the haunches of a lion, the wings of a great bird, and the face of a woman. She is mythicised as treacherous and merciless...
, the unsleeping dragon that guards the golden fleece, and the rocks of the SymplegadesSymplegadesThe Symplegades or Clashing Rocks, also known as the Cyanean Rocks, were, according to Greek mythology, a pair of rocks at the Bosphorus that clashed together randomly. They were defeated by Jason and the Argonauts, who would have been lost and killed by the rocks except for Phineas' advice. Jason...
(which are treated as monsters in the game) are impossible to kill. All hits against them are completely negated by their natural armor, save for the Sphinx. The Sphinx can actually be killed with a force of enough boosted characters, though doing so crashes most versions of the game. The ScyllaScyllaIn Greek mythology, Scylla was a monster that lived on one side of a narrow channel of water, opposite its counterpart Charybdis. The two sides of the strait were within an arrow's range of each other—so close that sailors attempting to avoid Charybdis would pass too close to Scylla and vice...
is also extremely powerful and ideally avoided, but can actually be defeated normally with a strong team of heroes for a considerable amount of drachma. - The Sphinx in particular is essentially an unavoidable death if the player guesses incorrectly to the Riddle of the sphinx. This is compounded by the fact that, in some versions of the game, the Sphinx will only accept "human" as the answer to the riddle despite other passable answers such as "person", "people", "mankind", or even "man". "Man", in fact, was the actual answer OedipusOedipusOedipus was a mythical Greek king of Thebes. He fulfilled a prophecy that said he would kill his father and marry his mother, and thus brought disaster on his city and family...
gave the Sphinx and is even used by the in-game text after the Sphinx is destroyed. The Atari 800XL/XE version of the game also accepts at least "man" and "men" in addition to "human." - Some treasure chests are trapped in various ways. Most traps inflict damage that can be healed by resting, but the "disease" trap causes a permanent reduction in strength, dexterity, and speed. (Strength and dexterity lost in this manner can be recovered by paying for muscle building or agility training, but speed can only be regained by making a sacrifice to HermesHermesHermes is the great messenger of the gods in Greek mythology and a guide to the Underworld. Hermes was born on Mount Kyllini in Arcadia. An Olympian god, he is also the patron of boundaries and of the travelers who cross them, of shepherds and cowherds, of the cunning of thieves, of orators and...
, an act that the player has no control over.) - If a hero witnesses a stag being killed by ActaeonActaeonActaeon , in Greek mythology, son of the priestly herdsman Aristaeus and Autonoe in Boeotia, was a famous Theban hero. Like Achilles in a later generation, he was trained by the centaur Chiron....
's hunting dogs, he will see ArtemisArtemisArtemis was one of the most widely venerated of the Ancient Greek deities. Her Roman equivalent is Diana. Some scholars believe that the name and indeed the goddess herself was originally pre-Greek. Homer refers to her as Artemis Agrotera, Potnia Theron: "Artemis of the wildland, Mistress of Animals"...
bathing, and she will turn him into a stagSTAGSTAG: A Test of Love is a reality TV show hosted by Tommy Habeeb. Each episode profiles an engaged couple a week or two before their wedding. The cameras then follow the groom on his bachelor party...
. This happens even if the hero is a woman (Hippolyte or MelanippeMelanippeIn Greek mythology, Melanippe referred to several different people.* Daughter of the Centaur Chiron. Also known as Hippe or Euippe. She bore a daughter to Aeolus, Melanippe or Arne...
) or an animal (PegasusPegasusPegasus is one of the best known fantastical as well as mythological creatures in Greek mythology. He is a winged divine horse, usually white in color. He was sired by Poseidon, in his role as horse-god, and foaled by the Gorgon Medusa. He was the brother of Chrysaor, born at a single birthing...
, Argus the dog, or someone previously transformed into an animal form). The hero remains under the player's control, but is immediately attacked by the same hunting dogs that brought down the first stag, as well as any species of dog in the game irrespective of alignmentAlignment (role-playing games)In some role-playing games, alignment is a categorisation of the moral and ethical perspective of the player characters, non-player characters, monsters, and societies in the game....
. Argus himself as a dog will even have the option to attack any hero-turned-stag which otherwise is impossible for allies to have. - Similar to the above, EndymionEndymion (mythology)In Greek mythology, Endymion , was variously a handsome Aeolian shepherd or hunter or a king who ruled and was said to reside at Olympia in Elis, but he was also said to reside and was venerated on Mount Latmus in Caria, on the west coast of Asia Minor....
can experience his actual fate in Greek myth by entering the cave where Selene and Zeus place him in endless slumber. When this happens, the player loses control of Endymion as he literally goes into "resting mode" for several turns. The game eventually makes it clear that Endymion's sleep is without end and he is removed from play. - Killing the Serpent of Ares causes Ares himself to instantly turn the hero that dealt the fatal blow into a serpent. As this quest is needed to complete the game, this setback is ultimately unavoidable.
- In a reference to the Lotophagi, there is an area on the Penelope quest called "Land Of The Lotus Eaters". Approaching one of the chests in this area causes the hero, always out of curiosity, to consume the nearby lotus fruit instead of taking the treasure, transforming the victim permanently into a mindless non-player character.
- Once the Trojan HorseTrojan HorseThe Trojan Horse is a tale from the Trojan War about the stratagem that allowed the Greeks finally to enter the city of Troy and end the conflict. In the canonical version, after a fruitless 10-year siege, the Greeks constructed a huge wooden horse, and hid a select force of men inside...
has been brought into TroyTroyTroy was a city, both factual and legendary, located in northwest Anatolia in what is now Turkey, southeast of the Dardanelles and beside Mount Ida...
(after one hero exits the horse into the city), it becomes impossible for any other heroes to enter Troy until the gates are opened from the inside. If one or more heroes infiltrate Troy via the Trojan Horse, but are all killed before they can open the gates of Troy, the city cannot be re-entered, and thus impossible to complete the quest as well as the Penelope quest (as that quest is only unlocked after completing the Troy quest). - In the Trojan Fields, if Achilles is present, and any hero moves onto the tile formerly occupied by HectorHectorIn Greek mythology, Hectōr , or Hektōr, is a Trojan prince and the greatest fighter for Troy in the Trojan War. As the first-born son of King Priam and Queen Hecuba, a descendant of Dardanus, who lived under Mount Ida, and of Tros, the founder of Troy, he was a prince of the royal house and the...
after killing him, Achilles is immediately killed in a sequence involving the "Achilles' HeelAchilles' heelAn Achilles’ heel is a deadly weakness in spite of overall strength, that can actually or potentially lead to downfall. While the mythological origin refers to a physical vulnerability, metaphorical references to other attributes or qualities that can lead to downfall are common.- Origin :In Greek...
". - It is possible to be killed trying to open a "gate", i.e. a door. Gates leading to new areas will sometimes close, and the player must bump into the gate in an attempt to open them. Although rare, this sometimes results in an irate JanusJanus-General:*Janus , the two-faced Roman god of gates, doors, doorways, beginnings, and endings*Janus , a moon of Saturn*Janus Patera, a shallow volcanic crater on Io, a moon of Jupiter...
(who is in fact a Roman god and not a Greek one) to cause masonry from the gate to fall onto the hero, causing enough damage to even kill the hero if the character is weak enough.
Discontinuities
While the game is mostly true to Greek myth, it does deviate in some ways, not all of which can be explained by technical limitations of the computer games of the time.- Weapons made of ironIronIron is a chemical element with the symbol Fe and atomic number 26. It is a metal in the first transition series. It is the most common element forming the planet Earth as a whole, forming much of Earth's outer and inner core. It is the fourth most common element in the Earth's crust...
and steelSteelSteel is an alloy that consists mostly of iron and has a carbon content between 0.2% and 2.1% by weight, depending on the grade. Carbon is the most common alloying material for iron, but various other alloying elements are used, such as manganese, chromium, vanadium, and tungsten...
are available in the game, even though such weapons did not exist in the period of the myths. - MedeaMedeaMedea is a woman in Greek mythology. She was the daughter of King Aeëtes of Colchis, niece of Circe, granddaughter of the sun god Helios, and later wife to the hero Jason, with whom she had two children, Mermeros and Pheres. In Euripides's play Medea, Jason leaves Medea when Creon, king of...
falls in love with any hero who visits her in ColchisColchisIn ancient geography, Colchis or Kolkhis was an ancient Georgian state kingdom and region in Western Georgia, which played an important role in the ethnic and cultural formation of the Georgian nation.The Kingdom of Colchis contributed significantly to the development of medieval Georgian...
, even if the hero is a woman (Hippolyte or MelanippeMelanippeIn Greek mythology, Melanippe referred to several different people.* Daughter of the Centaur Chiron. Also known as Hippe or Euippe. She bore a daughter to Aeolus, Melanippe or Arne...
) or not human at all (PegasusPegasusPegasus is one of the best known fantastical as well as mythological creatures in Greek mythology. He is a winged divine horse, usually white in color. He was sired by Poseidon, in his role as horse-god, and foaled by the Gorgon Medusa. He was the brother of Chrysaor, born at a single birthing...
, Argus the dog, or a character who has been transformed into an animal). - When heroes arrives in ColchisColchisIn ancient geography, Colchis or Kolkhis was an ancient Georgian state kingdom and region in Western Georgia, which played an important role in the ethnic and cultural formation of the Georgian nation.The Kingdom of Colchis contributed significantly to the development of medieval Georgian...
to retrieve the Golden fleeceGolden FleeceIn Greek mythology, the Golden Fleece is the fleece of the gold-haired winged ram, which can be procured in Colchis. It figures in the tale of Jason and his band of Argonauts, who set out on a quest by order of King Pelias for the fleece in order to place Jason rightfully on the throne of Iolcus...
, no effort is made by King AeetesAeëtesIn Greek mythology, Aeëtes , , , was a King of Colchis , son of the sun-god Helios and the Oceanid Perseis , brother of Circe and Pasiphae, and father of Medea, Chalciope and Apsyrtus...
or his son AbsyrtusAbsyrtusAbsyrtus, or Apsyrtus , was in Greek mythology the son of Aeëtes and a brother of Medea and Chalciope. His mother is variously given: Hyginus calls her Ipsia, Hesiod and Apollodorus call her Eidyia, Apollonius calls her Asterodeia, and others Neaera or Eurylyte.When Medea fled with Jason, she took...
to kill them, although the heroes must fight and defeat the fire-breathing bulls before they can face the unsleeping dragon that guards the fleece. - According to the legend of the HydraLernaean HydraIn Greek mythology, the Lernaean Hydra was an ancient nameless serpent-like chthonic water beast, with reptilian traits, that possessed many heads — the poets mention more heads than the vase-painters could paint, and for each head cut off it grew two more — and poisonous breath so virulent even...
, HeraclesHeraclesHeracles ,born Alcaeus or Alcides , was a divine hero in Greek mythology, the son of Zeus and Alcmene, foster son of Amphitryon and great-grandson of Perseus...
dipped his arrows in the blood of the Hydra. This cannot be done in the game because it only supports combat with swordSwordA sword is a bladed weapon used primarily for cutting or thrusting. The precise definition of the term varies with the historical epoch or the geographical region under consideration...
s and daggers (although the game does allow the hero who slays the Hydra to dip his sword and dagger in the blood of the Hydra). - In Greek Myth, CadmusCadmusCadmus or Kadmos , in Greek mythology was a Phoenician prince, the son of king Agenor and queen Telephassa of Tyre and the brother of Phoenix, Cilix and Europa. He was originally sent by his royal parents to seek out and escort his sister Europa back to Tyre after she was abducted from the shores...
was forced to do eight years of penance for slaying the serpent of AresDragons in Greek mythology-Ladon:Ladon was the serpent-like dragon that twined round the tree in the Garden of the Hesperides and guarded the golden apples. Ladon was also said to have as many as one hundred heads. He was overcome and possibly slain by Heracles...
, but he was not turned into a snake himself until many years later (after he completed his penance). In the game, the hero who slays the serpent is immediately turned into a snake. - Argus (Odysseus's dog) is treated the same as any of the other heroes, even though he played no significant role in the story of Odysseus. As a character, Argus is very fast and dextrous but very weak.
- JanusJanus-General:*Janus , the two-faced Roman god of gates, doors, doorways, beginnings, and endings*Janus , a moon of Saturn*Janus Patera, a shallow volcanic crater on Io, a moon of Jupiter...
, the Roman god of doors and beginnings/endings, appears in this game despite not being a Greek god nor having a real equivalent in any Greek myth. In the game, he is depicted as the fickle entity behind the gates randomly closing. The player must attempt to win Janus' favor to open closed gates, risking even his wrath, which is at odds with his actual portrayal and worship in myth as a force of change and progression. - The open-ended nature of the game often causes many obvious deviations from the actual myths, such as Achilles, Patroclus, and Ajax all surviving the Trojan War, or Heracles being transformed into a stag by Artemis instead of Actaeon.
Reception
A review in Computer Gaming WorldComputer Gaming World
Computer Gaming World was a computer game magazine founded in 1981 by Russell Sipe as a bimonthly publication. Early issues were typically 40-50 pages in length, written in a newsletter style, including submissions by game designers such as Joel Billings , Dan Bunten , and Chris Crawford...
praised the game's transparency, stating "The rules explain
themselves. Although documentation comes with it, you'll never have to read it." Although the review found the game very enjoyable, several flaws were noted, particularly the inaccuracies pertaining to Greek mythology.