Summary
Not bad, just misunderstood.
The Good
I've gotta say, I'm tired of continually seeing this game listed in Moby's bottom ten.
In order to appreciate
Demon's Forge, you have to understand it. This game was first written for the Apple II back in 1981 and published by a little-known company called Saber Software. Somewhere along the way, Mastertronic acquired the rights to it, and released the PC conversion in 1987 as a budget game. By which time it was thoroughly dated. But taken by early- rather than late-80s standards it's a decent two-word text/graphic adventure, one I had a lot of fun with when it first came out. There are a number of clever riddles and puzzles, and some humorous bits thrown in. And it's an interesting historical title, being Brian Fargo's first released game. Oh, and the box art is classic.
The Bad
Well, it does have it share of guesswork puzzles and unfair foresight required. And the game does tend to be broken down into several somewhat linear segments. But considering its age that's forgivable.
The Bottom Line
Lay off this one, okay?
Demon's Forge looks primitive because it was written more than 20 years ago, not because it's a lousy game. Think of all the big expensive modern projects, with huge teams and budgets involved, that have turned out as complete messes, and I think you'll find that this one is dwarfed in comparison.
