The Summoning

Just seeing this title appear on GOG made my day; it's going to be difficult to resist the temptation to drop everything and jump back in. The Summoning was one of the defining games of my youth. I remember it being challenging — on a couple of occasions, unfairly so, I felt — and there's simply no way a low-res user interface from the early 90s can hold up. Those are genuinely my only complaints, but I still feel they're probably worth docking a star, for most modern gamers. Even so, it'll always be five stars in my heart! It has all the best of games of that era — an archetypical plot of good vs. evil (or is it?); an inventory system which sometimes has you making difficult decisions, but never feels unfair; a teleporter maze which strongly encourages making your own map, but isn't so complex that doing so is a chore. What really stood out to me at the time were the character interactions, the spells and items, and how good it felt to just *explore*. If you aren't turned off by older games and like good, meaty, satisfying adventure, I encourage you to give The Summoning a try. Now if you'll excuse me, I gotta go Kano some doors.

I never finished this back in the day. Probably combination of struggling with english, the game being tough in later levels, and maybe something else I don't remember anymore. I intend to finish it this time (if all fails, cluebook is included as extra). Docking one star for one pretty annoying mechanic. Everything is limited in some way. Weapons and armor break in mid-fight, and I found no indicator that they are close to breaking. Arrows are moderately rare. Fired arrows can be collected, unless you fire them into the wall by accident (which is incredibly easy to do), then they have good chance of disappearing. Magic items have limited "charge". Found amulet of +1 str (which does very little in terms of gameplay)? You can wear it for about two minutes, then it disappears. No chance to recharge, or indicator how much charge is left. "Too-precious-to-use" syndrome at it's finest. Mana for healing or offense is probably the only inexhaustible resource (kinda slow recharge though, and items that boost regen disappear after a while too). Give yourself the +1/+2 bonus with save editor, and save other magic items until situation really calls for them. Then it's fine nostalgia-fueled dungeon crawler.

This is a game I return to fairly frequently. A real joy. An RPG where the actions you use define your character. You gain levels in 4 different fighting styles, and 4 different magic styles by using them. There are various ways to navigate the dungeons, and lots of ways to experiment to finish sections and quests. The good: * Innovative magic system. Very unique at the time and still is. Very satisfying gaining a level in any spell ability and seeing improved effects * Map system is great * Combat isn't too bad, lots of ways to mix magic with combat * Game looks good with the right DosBox scaler The bad * Inventory management is a pain. Never sure if you'll need something later, so I horde. Do yourself a favor and reroll until you have max strength at startup. * Weapons break. Very, very frequently! Gets annoying fast but you never really are without a weapons so it's not the worst. * Savescumming is kind of required to figure out some puzzles. Don't let that get you down! It is definitely innovative enough to be worth the price - just hold onto those potion bottles if you can - try not to throw too many at folks!

I'm really enjoying the game. I'm 5 hours into the game. This is a story rich game to the extent that its companion manual contains an excellent introductory story. You will interact with various NPCs throughout the game, who will tell titbits of the story, give you some advice and free items, trade items and give you side quests. Some will even fight you! I really like the play mechanics; You can completely rely on the mouse to move your character and interact with the environment i.e. taking\using items and interact with UI to 'memorize' spells and casting them, control hands actions when equipped with items. the other option is to use both the mouse and keyboard shortcuts especially in tight situations!