Arthur: The Quest for Excalibur
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| Arthur: The Quest for Excalibur | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Developer | Challenge[1] |
| Publisher | Infocom |
| Designer | Bob Bates |
| Artists | Darrell Myers Tanya Isaacson Sophie Green |
| Engine | Z-machine |
| Platforms | Amiga, Apple II, MS-DOS, Mac |
| Release | Amiga, Mac: June 6, 1989 Apple II: June 22, 1989 MS-DOS: July 14, 1989 |
| Genre | Interactive fiction |
| Mode | Single-player |
Arthur: The Quest for Excalibur is an illustrated interactive fiction video game written by Bob Bates and published by Infocom in 1989. It was released for the Apple II, Amiga, Mac, and IBM PC compatibles. Atypically for an Infocom product, it shows illustrations of locations, characters and objects within the game. It is Infocom's thirty-fourth game and is the second of two Infocom games developed by Challenge using Infocom's development tools.[1]
The player assumes the role of a young Arthur, before the legendary days of Camelot. The "sword in the stone" (which in the legends was not Excalibur, but is often confused with Excalibur by people unfamiliar with the legends) that would signify Arthur's destiny to rule, has been stolen by the evil King Lot. In the quest to regain the sword, the player must prove to Merlin that he has the qualities needed to be a great king: chivalry, experience, and wisdom. Merlin assists Arthur by giving him periodic advice as well as the power to transform into animals, but also tells Arthur that unless Excalibur is recovered within three days, Lot will usurp his destiny as a king of legendary stature.
Feelies
Although Arthur was one of the last interactive fiction games Infocom released before closing, the packaging still included a modest attempt at the extra objects, or feelies, that had been a long-standing tradition for the company. The package for Arthur contained a copy of a Book of Hours, which explains the Canonical hours such as Matins, Lauds and Vespers. The book also contains a poem, lines of which are used as passwords in the game as a form of copy protection.
Production
Arthur: The Quest for Excalibur was the second Infocom game to be developed by another company, Challenge Inc, published by Infocom in their "Immortal Legends" genre.[1] The only other game published in this line was the 1987 release Sherlock: The Riddle of the Crown Jewels, also written by Bates. By the time of Arthur's release, Infocom had stopped rating their games in terms of difficulty. Arthur roughly corresponds to the level of their previous "Standard" games.