In this third part of my look at the majority of Classics Digital current Steam library I will be looking at those titles originally developed by Imagitec Design Inc. Three titles were included in the bundle I purchased, while three more are available as part of the "The Humans" series for $6 on Steam. I won't be paying that much for 3 25 year old games so we'll take a look at the three titles included here.

Going by order of release date, our first game is Prophecy 1: The Viking Child. Despite the dramatic name and the inclusion of the number 1 in the title, there was no Prophecy 2. And that is probably a good thing. This game is an awful side scrolling action game. I couldn't make it more than 15 minutes into it so forgive me for my general lack of knowledge. I can say that you have a pitiful sword with a tiny attack range that makes it all but impossible to hit enemies without taking damage. You also can purchase single use weapons from a shop including things like bombs and a fiery demon. These are fine but neither especially fun to use nor especially creative. Lastly, if you use a gamepad you have to press up to jump. I know this is a PC game and all, but if you have gamepad/joystick support, why not let me map jump to an actual button? This game came out after the launch of the Genesis so there were definitely more than two buttons on controllers of the time. That said, I appreciate gamepad support at all so I can't be too mad about the implementation.

So the game involves killing enemies and trying to make it to the end of the level. There is some sort of story but I couldn't tell you what it is and I never beat the first level because the game is awful and the controls are awful and you have two lives after which you start over from scratch. Basically this feels like a game 5 years behind the times. Controls this bad and difficulty this unforgiving were barely tolerable in the 80's. But this game, again, was released in the early 90's.

On an entirely different note, Classics Digital is still unable to include any instructions with their games. This is all the worse in this case as you have to perform a DOS installation of the game on first time start up. So if anyone wants to give this game a shot, I posted a guide on Steam explaining what options to choose. Short version, select 1, then 1, and when it asks to install to the hard drive select N. Choosing 2 and then 2 will make the game look and sound like a game from 1985 as well as play like one. Choosing the first options at least makes the game look and sound like a game from the 16 bit era.

Next up we have Daemonsgate a classic crpg. Now as an old school crpg, this game seems long, complex, and detailed. I am not going to dedicate the time to figuring it out though, especially without a manual. The controls of the game remind me of the 90's Ultima games, but even more clunky. You have to enter a menu to choose to talk to someone. Clicking on them doesn't work. And it is not exactly clear who you are talking to once you do move the conversation screen. The conversations themselves use a text parcer, similar to the even earlier Ultima games from the 80's. You might be able to free type, but the game is kind enough to let you click on any word in a conversation to ask more about it. Of course 95% of the words will give you nothing but it is a step up from just typing whatever you think of like in the oldest Ultima games. I never made it out of the starting town so I can't comment on the combat or rpg mechanics beyond conversing. There seems to be no in game map, the graphics are ugly even for the time period, and the whole thing would just require an absurd amount of effort to play. If you love late 80's and early 90's rpgs of the Ultima style (as opposed to the first person dungeon crawlers in the vein of Wizardry or Might and Magic), this is going to be right up your alley. If you, on the other hand, have no fondness or nostalgia for the era and format I would highly recommend steering clear.

The last game by Imagitec is an odd one. Called King's Table: The Legend of Ragnarok it is an adaptation of an ancient Norse board game that is vaguely reminiscent of a cross between Go and Chess. Are the rules identical? I have no idea. Classics Digital, realizing that this game was literally unplayable, kindly created a Steam Guide, that then just provides a link to the rules of the original board game. But the video game on display is not that exact game. Or at least it doesn't seem like it. The original game is played with simple white and black stones similar to Go but with one red piece as the King, who the black player must capture to win. King's Table features what seems to be quite a few different types of pieces. What do they each do? I have no idea. And the concept of charging someone $6 for a game with no instructions and no in game tutorial is absurd. I'll be honest, it took me ten minutes just to figure out how to start a game (hint: the menu takes the form of the gray rocks on the left side of the screen). Basically, without someone to guide you, this game is essentially unplayable and since there are no guides and no rules that I could find online I was unable to play it. So I can't give you any insight into the quality of the game itself, but I can call it possibly the worst port/emulation of a game released professionally that I have ever played. In fact it is embarrassing in its awfulness. Don't buy it unless you already know how to play it which likely means you already own it which means you don't have to buy it which means this game has no audience whatsoever.

And that does it for today. After yesterday's slight upswing in quality, today we are back with three games that are somehow less enjoyable than the games of Wisdom Tree. Those games I could at least play. I spent more time today fighting with unintuitive menus and obtuse installation screens than I did playing any games today. The one game that did work was a complex crpg that I just didn't have the time to learn. So steer very, very clear of Imagitec's games. They are very much not worth buying, at least in this crippled form.

Tomorrow we dive into the library of Ocean. Let's hope the results are a bit less awful.