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Highly requested first-person RPG classic The Dark Heart of Uukrul joins GOG.COM’s always-growing library of titles today. Originally released in 1989, it's one that holds a special place in many people’s hearts, including Scott Greig (Kill0byt3), who sadly passed away while working on bringing this game back to gamers everywhere.

Scott had a monumental role in re-releasing this game. Sadly, he passed away back in March 2020, while working on making it a reality. According to GOG Stream Team member, Kilg0re, “Scott was a huge fan of the game. He contacted the devs, got them interested, and organized the re-release with the two people responsible for making it, Ian Boswell and Martin Buis.”

His friend, Gregory Wilson (ArvanEleron), also wanted everyone to know how dedicated Scott was to the project: “Canada and Winnipeg area native Scott Greig was a graphic designer and web designer, an aspiring author, streamer, and lover of video games. For a number of years, he was the webmaster and principal graphic designer for GOG's Twitch streamer ArvanEleron, responsible for many of his on stream videos, overlays, and graphics (several of which are still featured every week on Arv's Pen & Pixels show on GOG). Scott was also a mod on a number of channels, and both well-liked and well respected by many online and offline communities.”



So, if you aren’t familiar with this classic game, we’ll catch you up to speed so you can hopefully get a better understanding of why Scott and so many others wanted to see this game brought back from the limbo of history and onto modern PCs everywhere.

The Dark Heart of Uukrul is a first-person turn-based RPG that has you playing as a party of four. You’ll take control of some classic high fantasy characters: a fighter, a paladin, a priest, and a magician.

In Eriosthe, a huge underground city, there are winding tunnels and twisting caverns, monsters that you’ll need to fight, and puzzles that you’ll need to solve. It’s not all doom and gloom though, as safe havens created by the Ancients will give you a place to heal yourself, teleport to other areas, and even level up your team of adventurers.

Need to get some new gear? You’ll need to make your way over the lone marketplace, where traders and cooks are more than happy to make a deal with you. In the case you’ve lost party members along the way, you’ll be able to revive them at the mausoleum, or you can visit the local guild to replace them.

The game is a hidden gem in a sea of RPGs from that era, and what makes it that way is that not only was it not really marketed, but it was released near the end of the Apple II’s lifespan, meaning many gamers missed out on this title.

Thankfully, through Scott and other people’s hard work, The Dark Heart of Uukrul is getting a second life.

Have you heard of The Dark Heart of Uukrul before?
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Wolfram_von_Thal: I configured dozens of DOS-games years ago with that ancient build and have no issues at all. I now and then tried other DOSBox-versions, but I never heard a difference in quality, so I stayed with this version. Personally I don't like to have to rely on external programs, I like my games portable with everything in the folder so I configure DOSBox accordingly. That's the reason why I don't use MUNT (which is a fine program) anymore.
VirtualMIDISynth is great, yes, I used it some time. But there are other custom DOSBoxes (I think the ECE, but I'm not sure) which allow you to use Midi-soundfonts without the need to install an additional program.
In other words, you recommend a (in 2 months) 6 year old DOSBOX fork with a just as old Munt compiled in because you never had a problem with the hand full of games that you have tried on your system.

Newsflash: Practically every system is unique (different combination of OS, hardware and drivers) and everyone likes different games. If it works for you that's fine but you can't assume it will work just as well for everybody.

Just read the changelogs of DOSBOX, Munt und VirtualMIDISynth from the last 6 years and you'll see how many improvements and bugfixing went into them.

Since the configuration isn't really rocket science once you read up how it works forks this old should be buried, not recommended.

Don't get me wrong, I don't want to talk you out of using what you like. If it works for you and you don't want to change to anything else just keep using it. Just don't recommend stoneage versions to other people because you are setting them up for major headaches.

Or can you guarantee that this version will work fine with everything on the market today, like for example a virtual sound device (e.g. the NVidia Audio driver) that just generates a PCM from the sound data and sends it out through HDMI to let the device connected to it (monitor with speakers, TV, a 5.1 surround system, etc.) generate and play the actual analog signal? No, of course you can't.

Hint: I know from experience that doesn't work well since I use such a setup with a Pioneer surround system. Expect frequent sound stuttering or cuts with old DOSBOX versions in some games.
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Wolfram_von_Thal: I configured dozens of DOS-games years ago with that ancient build and have no issues at all. I now and then tried other DOSBox-versions, but I never heard a difference in quality, so I stayed with this version. Personally I don't like to have to rely on external programs, I like my games portable with everything in the folder so I configure DOSBox accordingly. That's the reason why I don't use MUNT (which is a fine program) anymore.
VirtualMIDISynth is great, yes, I used it some time. But there are other custom DOSBoxes (I think the ECE, but I'm not sure) which allow you to use Midi-soundfonts without the need to install an additional program.
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Geralt_of_Rivia: In other words, you recommend a (in 2 months) 6 year old DOSBOX fork with a just as old Munt compiled in because you never had a problem with the hand full of games that you have tried on your system.

Newsflash: Practically every system is unique (different combination of OS, hardware and drivers) and everyone likes different games. If it works for you that's fine but you can't assume it will work just as well for everybody.

Just read the changelogs of DOSBOX, Munt und VirtualMIDISynth from the last 6 years and you'll see how many improvements and bugfixing went into them.

Since the configuration isn't really rocket science once you read up how it works forks this old should be buried, not recommended.

Don't get me wrong, I don't want to talk you out of using what you like. If it works for you and you don't want to change to anything else just keep using it. Just don't recommend stoneage versions to other people because you are setting them up for major headaches.

Or can you guarantee that this version will work fine with everything on the market today, like for example a virtual sound device (e.g. the NVidia Audio driver) that just generates a PCM from the sound data and sends it out through HDMI to let the device connected to it (monitor with speakers, TV, a 5.1 surround system, etc.) generate and play the actual analog signal? No, of course you can't.

Hint: I know from experience that doesn't work well since I use such a setup with a Pioneer surround system. Expect frequent sound stuttering or cuts with old DOSBOX versions in some games.
I only shared my own personal experiences. I didn't mean to harm anybody.
Post edited November 13, 2020 by Wolfram_von_Thal
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Wolfram_von_Thal: I only shared my own personal experiences. I didn't mean to harm anybody.
TOO LATE :D

In any case I recommend the rest of the audience to take notes. The default Dosbox config in the GOG games is usually not the best.
Thank you for this great game. Rest in peace, Scott.
If you are not sure to buy the game and what it is like, Matt Barton has a good video about it, giving the feel but not revealing to much.

Matt Chat 417: The Dark Heart of Uukrul
Post edited November 15, 2020 by Arundir
Never heard of this game. Looks interesting.
high rated
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GOG.com: Thankfully, through Scott and other people’s hard work, The Dark Heart of Uukrul is getting a second life.

Have you heard of The Dark Heart of Uukrul before?
Found the game a long time ago at a Goodwill. Hadn't heard of the game at the time and was instantly captivated by the game. Finished it relatively quickly and then went back and replayed it. Sadly, my disk has disappeared and I'm not entirely certain where the box is at. I do still have the manual and copy protection sheet though and have used it to play from a backup of the floppy for a time.

All that to say that this was an insta-buy for me once I saw the release announcement. After reading Scott's story above, I'm definitely happy to make a purchase. Thanks, Scott, for your efforts in bringing this forgotten game back into the light. For fans of classic CRPGs, this is highly recommended.

Flynn
Moon Books LLC, the publisher of TDHoU also has just re-released the rather obscure Mind Mirror, over on the other platform.

With "High Priest of LSD" Timothy Leary having been involved somehow this might be an interesting and worthwhile addition to the GoG catalogue as well.
Wishlist entry