Curse of Enchantia

Moby ID: 2409
DOS Specs

Description official descriptions

Little Brad didn't believe in witches until he met one. The evil hag torments the fantasy land of Enchantia, and has just summoned Brad from the Earth as an ingredient to her potion of eternal youth. Brad doesn't like this plan. And who would be better suited to rid Enchantia of the sorceress than a tender teen?

Curse of Enchantia is a graphic adventure game with an icon-based interface. The game contains almost no text: there are no object descriptions, and the purpose of most items is apparent. In the rare occasions of interaction with other characters, symbols in balloons substitute words. If there is text on the screen, it usually consists of either signs or comic phrases.

Starting in a prison cell, Brad will have to free himself and find his way on the ocean floor, through a medieval city, a junkyard and an ice castle. The player commands Brad via an icon bar that pops up if the right mouse button is pressed. The hero can perform a variety of actions, e.g. wearing, inserting, combining or fighting. Apart from steering Brad around, there is no need to click on the screen. Brad has to stand next to the object he wants to interact with, which will then appear as an icon in the command bar. It is impossible to die in the game: in fact, doing potentially deadly things is often rewarded with funny animations.

Screenshots

Promos

Credits (DOS version)

14 People (12 developers, 2 thanks)

Producer
Game Design and Puzzles
IBM Programming
Amiga Programming
Backgrounds
Sprites
Music & Sound
Playtesting
Documentation
Special Thanks To
  • Rob Northen
  • Everyone at Core Design for their ideas and help in producing this game

Reviews

Critics

Average score: 72% (based on 19 ratings)

Players

Average score: 2.4 out of 5 (based on 33 ratings with 5 reviews)

Cute and colorful game for newbies

The Good
It's nice to see that Core Design could make an adventure game or a two, even if it was in the old days (before getting obsessed with Tomb raider). It's amazing to see how much artwork went into the game as our character travels from one diverse land to another. I loved the part in the graveyard. Trapped in a grave and knowing how it feels to be buried alive was a unique touch. Then being chased by the poor vampire who's trying his best to attack Brad, but with drastic results was hilarious. I can't comment on the music in the game, since I only played it with PC speaker. However, the sounds on the speaker were amusing enough. Interestingly, Brad has only two words in his vocabulary "HI" and "HELP" (sounds like a typical American teen, right? heh!) Puzzles were easy enough (with a few exceptions) and they were no horrible mazes as found in most adventure games. Jokes were amusing like a band of slugs playing a tune (probably a parody of the band - Beatles).

The Bad
The game has an icon-driven interface which the player is supposed to use to perform various functions. It was supposed to be intuitive, but sometimes it was quite obscure. Occasionally, I had to click on all icons after clicking on an object to use it. Yikes!! Some puzzles were vague, illogical and even tricky like the icicle puzzle at the entrance of the ice palace or walking on the cloud to get an item or placing the planks in the right order to cross the stream etc. The plot is pretty weak too.

The Bottom Line
The plot goes as such, Brad is magically transported to the land of Enchantia, while playing a game of baseball. He finds himself imprisoned and chained to the wall. So, he must figure out a way to escape (solve the various puzzles here and there) and defeat the evil queen, who's responsible for it all. It's a nice, fairly easy adventure game for beginners or those new to the genre. Kids will especially enjoy it, since the hero of the game, Brad doesn't die no matter what you do. Although, he does pose as a mud monster's mate and a pig. So, if that bothers you, be warned! ;)

DOS · by Roger Wilco (1144) · 2003

Curse of the bad puzzles.

The Good
To keep this short: Curse of Enchantia isn't a good game, but it's not entirely bad either. In fact, it's one of these cool-shell-rotten-core titles that make you drag your best friends to your screen to show them the awesome graphics, but drive you to insanity when you actually play it. Enchantia could have found its place in the annals of gaming history as a light-hearted, humorous fantasy adventure with cool animations, if it wasn't for...

The Bad
...the puzzles. They're the mind-boggling, far-out, illogical kind that keep you banging your head against the keyboard, shouting "How am I supposed to know that I need to whack the robot with a gold-filled sock?" You do not get hints. You never know which icon to use. To push a gun from a shelf with a broom, you need to click on the "fight" symbol. Yeah, sure. Curse of Enchantia is a trial-and-error adventure. Trial-and-error is not entertainment.
Additionally, there's the slightly awkward icon interface, but you can cope with that.

The Bottom Line
Curse of Enchantia features nice graphics, excellent animations and a few really funny scenes. Too bad you'll probably never see them -- the puzzles are ridiculous.

DOS · by -Chris (7762) · 2000

Hi! HELP! Open Sesame!

The Good
Surrealistic LSD-enhanced fantasy about a boy, a monster, some garroting, and a giant condom. Some might complain about the supposed "illogical nature" of the puzzles, but we heartily disagree. We recently ran an experiment wherein we attempted to place a fishbowl on our heads and breathe underwater. It worked very well. Additionally, we have seduced troll-like creatures by applying mud and sticks to our child-like bodies. Therefore, we would like to thank the creators of this game for teaching us so much about life. Oh, and I have not yet mentioned the best part: stuffing pubic hair into a giant condom, causing it to seize and explode into the air. Game design at its best.

The Bad
Here are the top 10 things we did not like about this game: 1. Not enough shipwrecks 2. Witch not eternally-youthful 3. Bug musicians use antiquated magnetic tape recording system. Should be recording directly to CD like any self-respecting bug musician 4. Robot not life-like 5. Aerosol deoderant not environmentally friendly. 6. Skeleton in dungeon is uncommunicative. 7. Primative undersea bartering system. 8. Inappropriate use of computer monitor. 9. Bug musicians do not hold exclusive rights to "game bugs". 10. Application of rubber gloves makes some players nervous.

The Bottom Line
FISH = ROD

DOS · by Elder Bug (2) · 2002

[ View all 5 player reviews ]

Discussion

Subject By Date
The game crashes when I enter the door Nowhere Girl (8680) Dec 18, 2017

Trivia

References

In Ben's costume shop, even the caped crusader (or Batman to you ordinary folks) outfit is on display. Check the screenshot to see it.

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Contributors to this Entry

Game added by -Chris.

Amiga added by Rantanplan.

Additional contributors: Roger Wilco, Jeanne, Patrick Bregger.

Game added September 16, 2000. Last modified February 22, 2023.