The Dark Heart of Uukrul

Moby ID: 934
Apple II Specs

Description official description

Four adventurers are sent by the Western Council to defeat out Uukrul, a great evil that once defeated the Ancients, thought to be destroyed, to possible invasion to the Western Lands. The last party sent by the council was lead by Mara, and it has been 18 months since they have sent word. The council assumes the worst. Now these adventurers must infiltrate the underground city of Eriosthe, continue to the eastern end of Eriosthe, the heart of Uukrul's stronghold, and destroy the evil once and for all.

The Dark Heart of Uukrul is a first person perspective, turned-based role-playing game (RPG), where the player takes control of a party of four specifically classed adventurers: a fighter, a paladin, a priest, and a magician. The player may use a pre-generated party or create an entirely new party.

The adventure takes place in the immense underground city of Eriosthe, which consists of twisting caverns and dangerous monsters. Adventurers may however, take refuge in sanctuaries - safe havens created by the Ancients to provide safe resting, storing items, and access to teleportation portals. Characters sufficiently experienced will automatically be leveled-up here. Sanctuaries also act as a progress indicator as areas accessed after each sanctuary introduce stronger monsters and tougher puzzles. These safe havens may only be accessed after answering the puzzle by consulting the soul amulets (read=copy protection).

Aside from sanctuaries, the only other gathering place for adventurers is the marketplace. The marketplace is the only area in the whole of Eriosthe which provides services such as a shop to purchase and sell weapons, items and food, a forge to repair weapons, a hospice to heal wounds and cure diseases, a mausoleum where dead characters can resurrected or laid to rest (removing dead members), a guild to meet and replace (if needed) dead companions with new recruits and a teleportation portal, which links to other portals (such as those in sanctuaries) and other areas. The marketplace also links to temples and the Magic Circle, which allows priest and magician characters to advance (by obtaining rings of power). There are also rumors that a sage provides services in identifying objects somewhere deeper in the eastern tunnels...

Adventuring in Eriosthe consists of exploring its caverns and defeating randomly encountered (or pre-set) monsters. An auto-map feature is also available, as well as a directional compass to help guide the way. Certain encounters, such as puzzles may prompt the player to choose various options in handling the situation, each choice with a possible different outcome.

Turn-based combat occurs automatically when the party meets opponents while adventuring (indicated by a sudden picture of the opponent). Fighters and paladins take the offensive role, while priests and magicians (usually) take the support role of casting spells, summoning elementals, and invoking the gods. Surviving combat may uncover money and items.

The Dark Heart of Uukrul has no sound or music.

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Screenshots

Credits (DOS version)

30 People (22 developers, 8 thanks) · View all

Reviews

Critics

Average score: 78% (based on 4 ratings)

Players

Average score: 3.7 out of 5 (based on 20 ratings with 3 reviews)

Truly a deep RPG experience

The Good
The level of gameplay in this game is amazing... you have to keep an eye on your food, get your weapons repaired, resurrect dead allies and, when that fails, recruit and equip new allies. The puzzles are difficult without being maddening, the enemies are varied and interesting and the locations are far flung. The automap is great and allows you to mark locations as "jump point" to enable quick map navigation. The spells and prayers are unique as they are cool. The turn based combat system is easy to use and brings a small amount of tactics into the game.

The Bad
I'm not a fan of investing a lot of time in a character to have them die and not be resurrectable - you can replace them with a comparable character but, well, it's just not the same. The prayer system is a little odd in that the gods will not only ignore you sometimes but actually strike you down for insolence, not something you need when low on health in a battle!

The Bottom Line
Amazing. As rare as this game has become, it is well worth any effort to track down. Resist the urge to download an "abandonware" version, this is one game worth every penny of any asking price. Ignore the dated graphics, lack of sound, and no mouse support whatsoever... this game rocks, pure and simple. This is what people mean when they say "computer RPG". Do yourself a favor and check this game out.

DOS · by Paul Kostrzewa (13) · 2004

A new flavor in the RPG stream. This is not just another RPG.

The Good
Surprisingly I recently played this game again (2001) and the graphics was not to shabby. Like the older games when you play again with the memory of today's graphics, it was a kinda let down. But UUkrul turned out to have very good graphics not far from today's kind.

Anyway, this is an interesting RPG. The creativity of the makers in making the puzzles and simple yet unique interface has to be commended. The new style of magic and gods are an interesting change, as well as the sanctuaries.



The Bad
The story line needed some spice. But the puzzles and funny-like fighting probably made-up for it. This game for basics was Superb. But it lacked variety in something RPG's usually have. Can't quite point the finger, but it's probably is around the story line.



The Bottom Line
A must for an RPG lover.

DOS · by Indra was here (20756) · 2001

THE first serious dungeon quest game for a PC

The Good
This game was amazing and got me hooked on the genre. you had to solve puzzles to advance the story, but you could solve the game even if you failed to solve two of the 8 puzzles. Really great game logic.

The Bad
For the period, there was nothing about this game that I thought was negative.

The Bottom Line
Might be the best dungeon quest game ever. I would play it again 15 years later if the speed of the processor could be compensated for.

DOS · by Troy Giersdorf (1) · 2005

Discussion

Subject By Date
Question on "Junk Items" Indra was here (20756) Jun 22, 2008

Trivia

Copy protection

The game includes a rather complex players guide which includes a back-story and code book for access to the shrines in the game. The code sheet is printed on red paper to help minimize the ease of photo-copying the manual and making it harder for people to pirate the software, as the game is unplayable without the decoder sheet (and the codes are different every time you play)

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  • MobyGames ID: 934
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Contributors to this Entry

Game added by Lisa Wiklund.

Apple II added by JRK. Windows, Macintosh, Linux added by Rik Hideto.

Additional contributors: Jeanne, Patrick Bregger.

Game added February 29, 2000. Last modified April 4, 2024.