Murdac (by Avon designers Thackray and Partington) sees you flying off to the ancient land of Murdac. Your mission? To discover its secrets with the help – if you can call it that – of the old, wily witch Duessa. True to the game's introduction, "...in this challenging game you'll meet ogres, cannibals, the Old Man of the Sea, and after endless hours of trudging you'll come across a beatifully laid out garden and a small stone hut where the secrets of Murdac will begin to be revealed!" Murdac is in many ways a typical Topologika game: a "pure puzzle" adventure with hardly any plot development or character interaction. The puzzles are even more difficult than those in Avon, and require the player to be very patient with a limited parser (which can't understand some simple verbs, e.g. EXAMINE), and to be very observant with room descriptions not to miss a clue or two about the current puzzle. All in all, a fun dungeon romp that's worth a visit if you like Zork, although nowhere near as addictive. Reviewed by: Underdogs |