Infidel

This is a game for all ages. No nasty language or objectionable actions, just pure unadulterated adventure. The manual covers how to parse commands to the game, and included with the game is a hieroglyphics translator, which you are expected to use in the game.

Nonetheless, INFIDEL is a good adventure for players with little or no experience with interactive fiction. Get ready to map and translate hieroglyphics.

It stands to reason that Infocom --the pioneers in text adventures, years ahead of their competition-- would inevitably release the first bad text adventure game of all time. Why? A truly horrid finale; this game's conclusion is on my list of Worst Game Endings Of All Time! The idea was that you're an "Infidel" for entering an ancient tomb, even though Indiana Jones has gotten away with far worse than this. The only sales pitch of the game was an amusing puzzle idea, of decoding ancient runes, "drawn" on the screen using standard ASCII text. Big Whoop; with an ending that horrid, what exactly is the point? Even the official hint manual said that the only way to have a happy ending is to not play the game to the very end! Sad.