Stonekeep

Moby ID: 1876
DOS Specs
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Description official descriptions

When the insane god Khull-Khuum was rampaging the world, devastating everything on his way, the only person who survived the destruction of the Stonekeep castle was a boy named Drake, saved by a mysterious figure. Years later, Drake returns to the ruins of Stonekeep, and the goddess Thera extracts his spirit so that he might withstand the dangers that await him there. Drake must avenge his past, and find a way to liberate the benevolent gods of the realm.

Stonekeep is a dungeon-crawling role-playing game with real-time combat. The entire game is spent underground. There is no character creation; Drake's initial statistics are pre-set. Over the course of the game, up to three other characters will join the party and help Drake in combat, controlled by the computer AI. Drake becomes stronger by repeatedly fighting with a particular type of weapon. Magic is contained within runes, which must be found and equipped on staves. Spells can also be combined by the player to produce various offensive and supportive effects. The game utilizes digitized pictures and animations of live actors to represent characters.

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Credits (DOS version)

221 People (212 developers, 9 thanks) · View all

Reviews

Critics

Average score: 82% (based on 22 ratings)

Players

Average score: 3.6 out of 5 (based on 57 ratings with 4 reviews)

An epic adventure through the castle of Stonekeep and what lies beyond

The Good
-The Storyline is excellent -The game play is great -The size, it lasts ages

The Bad
-There could have been a better variety of weapons and armour

The Bottom Line
In this game you are drake risking your life to free thera (a goddess) and defeat Khull-Khuum (the evil guy). On your way you will have to kill hundreds of Khull-Khuum minions and also save the other gods from Khull-Khuum's wrath!

If you like retro RPG's like the Lands of Lore and Eye of the Beholder seires this game is for you.

DOS · by DOS2DEF (1) · 2007

Released over 10 years past its time.

The Good
I could say "nothing," but I am a generous soul, so I will find some nice things to say. The stereo sound is quite good, almost immersive at times. I didn't really experience any technical problems or bugs. I actually got a laugh out of the introductory video sequence. Finally, Stonekeep does make you appreciate just about every other RPG by comparison.

The Bad
Everything else. This game was in development for 5 years, and it shows. The graphics are cheesy and dated. Your character stutters around in increments rather than smoothly, so you don't get the feeling of really being there like you might in a game like Daggerfall. The main problem isn't programming or design, though, but the game's very concept. A novel was included with the original game, which sounds like a nice bonus until you realize that it isn't a bonus. That's because there isn't any story to speak of in the game itself; you're in the keep, you hack up enemies, the end. There is not only no story, but also no real role-playing, no adventure, and not very much action. So what do you have? A terribly disappointing dungeon hack.

The Bottom Line
It's hard to believe this game was developed by the people who gave us classics like The Bard's Tale and Wasteland. Stonekeep pales even in comparison to those games that came a full decade earlier.

DOS · by PCGamer77 (3158) · 2012

A Dungeon Crawl through a castle cursed by a dark god reborn, and an unlikely hero...

The Good
Firstly, while it makes no attempt to be anything other than a dungeon crawl, it has some extremely interesting and amusing characters. The drunken orc on the first level, Wahooka The Great (or, if you prefer, The Great Wahooka), the Ettin, Khul-Kuum himself, and the various gods that you have to rescue. Combat is quite simple, as is the interface generally, a blessing that, considering your need for quick action in many situations, players should be most grateful for.

The Bad
The puzzles in some cases relied on what is generally known as "pixel-hunting", and very often the items you needed were obscured (a good example of this is a level where an object you are looking for is obscured.This object is, unless you do a pixel hunt, completely invisible). Indeed, many of the solutions to the puzzles are themselves either incomprehensible or invisible. This game was, in a single sentence, a bit frustrating in parts.

The Bottom Line
A dungeon crawl through a cursed castle looking for gods imprisoned by the most evil of their own number. I would also add that the plot, and indeed the justification for the main character, is highly amusing, not to mention cheesy as anything. Finally, I would say that, if you like dungeon crawling, bizarre goblins with more ego than most politicians, and an evil god that sounds like Darth Vader after he bought an asthma pump, this is definitely the game for you. It was for me!

DOS · by Jamie Durbin (2) · 2003

[ View all 4 player reviews ]

Trivia

Cancelled sequel

A sequel was in development at Interplay's division Black Isle Studios, with the code-name Project King, but it was cancelled in 2001.

Development

Counting platform shifts, production and development delays, Stonekeep was almost 7 years in development.

German version

In the German version, almost all blood was removed.

Muffins

Included on the CD-ROM is a file called Muffins.txt. It's a Chocolate Chip Pumpkin Muffin recipe.

Novels

The game included a cloth-bound novella entitled Thera Awakening, written by Steve Jackson and David Pulver (you'll notice they were credited in the actual game in the "Special Thanks to" section). Here are the book's credits:* Layout and Design by Dave Gaines * Edited by Scott Everts * Illustrations by Spencer Kipe * Based on background material by Chris Taylor

The first edition was published October 1995.

Troy Denning wrote a novel called The Oath of Stonekeep that is set in the game's universe. It was published in 1999 and was supposed to take place between events pictured in Stonekeep and its (later cancelled) sequel, a time span of "thousands of years", as the publisher says. There is a clear indication on the book's back cover that the publishers were sure that Stonekeep II will be published for certain. As of 2008, unused books can still be found available for purchase on the internet.

Wahookah

The game's infamous "Wahookah Bug" puzzled Interplay's designers up until the end. It was supposed to be fixed in every updated release, but somehow it never quite was. The problem is that Wahookah, an NPC, is supposed to appear each time you arrive at a certain square. You then give him various items in exchange for clues. The following was included in README.TXT with the latest patch to the game from Interplay... they just gave up:

Wahooka on 2nd level of Stonekeep appears only once. The fix for this would invalidate save games so if Wahookah only appears once for you, here are the clues that he gives you:1. Watch out for traps! The Shamans of the Throgs set many of them around here hoping to stick a couple of dwarves. 2. Search the sewers below for the keys to the Underlands. 3. To succeed in your quest, you must find all nine of the Orbs.

Awards

  • Computer Gaming World
    • June 1996 (Issue #143) – Role-Playing Game of the Year (Readers' Choice)
    • November 1996 (15th anniversary issue) – #10 Top Vaporware Title in Computer Game History

Information also contributed by Adam Baratz, DreamWeaver, Mirrorshades2k, Sciere and Zovni

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Contributors to this Entry

Game added by Chris Martin.

Macintosh, Windows added by Sciere.

Additional contributors: Patrick Bregger.

Game added July 4, 2000. Last modified February 28, 2024.