Mastodawn

#DemonsWinter is a game about a band of kobold marauders who have to be stopped. There is no demon and it's not winter. At least for 90% of the game. Yes, 38 years ago, it was still possible to expect patience from one's audience.

https://www.goodolddays.net/en/game/Demons-Winter/

P.S. I annotated my playthrough "live" here earlier. In case you're interested, check the tag of the game's title.

#AppleII
#Amiga
#C64
#DOSGaming
#SSI
#RetroGaming

Mr Creosote Dec 23

Beat #DemonsWinter by #SSI. Honestly, I don't really understand what happened. For some reason, I had to travel back in time, to "re-imprison" the demon, even though at that time, he would have been well imprisoned already... too much for me to grasp. Anyway, the ending is very bleak. The world remains in constant winter. I just prevented its total destruction. The final sentence hints at it all just being temporary, the threat of the demon will rise again anyway.

(thread continues)

Mr Creosote Dec 18

#DemonsWinter by #SSI. Alright, thanks to emulator save states, I explored the complete world, now ruled by eternal winter, again. Turns out one single town has survived. Phew... Also, the dwarves are there, available to power up my equipment. Off to the showdown on the weirdly shaped island...

Mr Creosote Dec 17

#DemonsWinter by #SSI. The showdown with Eregore, Malifon's disciple, was exactly the kind of interaction and dialogue I expect of such a cliché fantasy game: the baddie having lied to his followers all along, taunting them when they discover it. Now, FINALLY, the world is cast in eternal winter! Worse, all towns have been destroyed. Eh. I understand the design choice to let me play and struggle a lot before this even happens, because this cuts off the regular supply of healing, levelling etc.

Mr Creosote Dec 3

Cool special encounter in another dungeon of #DemonsWinter by #SSI: each of my characters had to face one enemy alone. Each enemy sort of appropriate to the character class. Having just one isolated character for the fight brings a nice change compared to my by now usual tactics.

Plus, rune decipering puzzles, I like those.

Mr Creosote Dec 1

#DemonsWinter by #SSI. The random encounters are becoming quite annoying now. They don't really pose any danger anymore, just slow the progress. After defeating Xeres, I stumbled upon the continuation of the main quest more or less only by accident. As common in those older games, there is really hardly anything leading me towards the subsequent step. I'm now on a mission given by none less than a real god! That Malifon must be the "demon" of the title. After all, he plans to destroy the world.

Mr Creosote Nov 23

I found the greatest dungeon in #DemonsWinter by #SSI! At its bottom, I encountered a group of dwarven smiths which will improve my equipment in exchange for gold. That should put me ahead in those battles.

Mr Creosote Nov 22

#DemonsWinter by #SSI. I entered a few dungeons, some of which turned out way too hard for my party at this point. More towns and colleges on the other islands. My characters could learn some neat skills. When I finally found the secret temple containing a secret passage to Xeres' lair, my party was well ready for him. Maybe I'm playing too carefully? You never know with these games. The game does not end with defeating him, however. He certainly looked like a demon, but still no winter.

Mr Creosote Nov 20

#DemonsWinter by #SSI. I bought my own ship to travel to other islands. Random encounters continue at sea, but sea battles lack and tactical component. Just random rolls. No gold loot, but huge amounts of experience to be had there! If only I'd known before! Need to balance this with land battles to have gold to repair the ship, though.

Mr Creosote Nov 19

Continuing on #DemonsWinter by #SSI. Irritatingly, it's not winter at all and there's no demon. Not yet, at least. Instead, I found the first real quest, which is about chasing some kobolds which could be responsible for the destruction of a village. The random encounters had prepared me well for this. After slaughtering them mercilessly, in their camp, I found hints at a baddie called Xeres. Maybe that is the eponymous demon?