Elvira (computer game)

Elvira: Mistress of the Dark
Studio	Horror Soft / Flair Software (Commodore 64/128)
Publisher	Accolade / Flair software (Commodore 64/128)
Erstveröffent- lichung	1990/1991 (Commodore 64/128, Atari ST)
platform	MS-DOS , Amiga , Atari ST , Commodore 64/128
genre	Action adventure , role play
Game mode	Single player
control	Keyboard , mouse
medium	diskette
language	English, German, French

Elvira: Mistress of the Dark is a computer game from 1990 that was programmed by Horror Soft and distributed by Accolade . The game combines elements of adventure , action , role play and horror.

action

Elvira's uncle Elmo, who was a very unpopular person during his lifetime, has died and bequeathed an old castle to his niece. Elvira is very pleased about this, because she wants to turn the castle into a tourist attraction. On the evening before All Saints' Day - Halloween - the dead wake up in the castle. And to make matters worse, Elvira's great-great-grandmother Emelda, who died 100 years ago, wants to return to the realm of the living in order to usurp world domination . To prevent this, Elvira hires a ghost hunter, whose role is taken over by the player. His job is to find an ancient scroll that is hidden in a chest somewhere in the castle. With this Emelda can be stopped. In order to be able to open the chest, however, six keys are required, which must also be found. However, right at the entrance to the castle, the ghost hunter is captured by a guard and thrown into the dungeon . After he was freed by Elvira, the search leads him to various places in the castle complex.

Some of the scenes are the main building of the castle with kitchen, library and church, as well as the stables , the herb garden , a hedge labyrinth , the fortifications and various dungeons and catacombs . Numerous undead opponents like knights, monks, vampires , werewolves , the falconer , the kitchen lady and other uncomfortable contemporaries have to be fought.

Presentation and gameplay

The screen is divided into four parts. On the left edge of the screen are the direction arrows that indicate in which direction the player can move. There are also three fields with which the objects of the current room, the inventory and the weapons can be displayed.

On the right are the action fields, which can be used to open and close doors or locks, look into pockets and examine objects, mix and drink magic potions, and use or throw away weapons and objects.

At the bottom of the screen there are indicators that provide information on strength, defense, skills, health and experience. There is also the field with which the player can talk to his counterpart, if he is ready, and which contains important information about the current actions and situations of the game. All items in the inventory are graphically displayed here.

In the middle of the screen, the current field of vision is displayed, which takes up most of the game surface. However, the protagonist does not move freely in space, but always step by step and, if possible, only in 90-degree steps. The game offers around 800 of these settings.

In the kitchen Elvira mixes various magic potions when she is given the necessary ingredients. These can be found, some of which are very well hidden, in different parts of the castle. With the help of these magic potions, the skills can be influenced or opponents can be fought from a distance. One of these spells makes it possible, for example, to suddenly identify all the plants in the herb garden, which was previously impossible. Some of these spells are imperative for solving the game. The magic book with the required recipes that came with the game packaging also served as copy protection. With the help of red glasses, which are also included, the recipes can be made visible, which was previously not possible due to the slight color difference.

If there is an encounter with an opponent during the course of the game, the battle view is switched to. The fights take place from the perspective of the player. Either a stab or a blow can be performed with the weapon. If the attack of the player is blocked by the opponent, he can now attack and the player must defend himself. The attacker strikes either from the left or from the right. Depending on the direction from which an attack is coming, a quick decision must be made between parrying and blocking. If the attack is repelled in this way, the opponent can now be attacked again. The fight ends when one of the two fighters runs out of life points.

If the character dies, this is illustrated by different, sometimes very macabre pictures, depending on the cause of death. For example, the head of the dead rises slowly in a pot of boiling soup if the cause of death was decapitation with a meat cleaver by the undead cook. These representations, the sometimes quite bloody fights and the appropriate musical background, give the game an atmosphere that resembles that of a horror film .

Implementations

In 1990 the game was released for PC and Amiga. A year later it was also implemented by Flair Software for the Commodore 64/128 and the Atari ST. There are some differences to the PC / Amiga version. Some items are in different locations and some puzzles are different from the original version of the game.

Reviews

The game was rated quite differently by the press, partly because of the long loading times on the Amiga. Above all, the frequent disk changes were criticized here. The game's combat system was also criticized.

The graphics and the atmosphere, on the other hand, were mostly rated as excellent. With many players, the game enjoys a certain cult factor today and is one of the best-rated games in the genre.

Testing:

• Amiga Joker 1/91: 94% (Amiga)
• Zero 3/91: 93% (Amiga)
• Amiga User International 3/91: 93% (Amiga)
• CU Amiga 12/90: 84% (Amiga)
• Zzap 6/91: 81% (C64)
• Amiga Format 2/91: 61% (Amiga)
• Power Play 3/91: 42% (Amiga), 42% (MS-DOS)

successor

Horror Soft released a sequel in 1992 called Elvira II: The Jaws of the Cerberus . The game principle is consistently continued here, but the plot is moved to an enchanted film studio.

In 1993 Horror Soft released the game Waxworks . Despite the same look and playability as well as the location in the horror area, it is not a direct successor, as this game is based on a different background story and Elvira is no longer a character in the game. However, it is seen by many fans as the unofficial successor to the two games in the Elvira series.

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Discussion of the game in Amiga Joker 1/91. Retrieved July 5, 2007 . 
2. ↑ Elvira. (No longer available online.) TheLegacy , archived from the original on May 24, 2007 ; Retrieved July 5, 2007 . Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.