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Dracula

CRL Group 1986

Language:
English
Authors:
Ian Ellery info, Rod Pike
Platforms:
Amstrad CPC info, C64/128 info, Spectrum
Genres:
Based on literature info, Horror
Entered by:
blurgle, Gunness
Added:
10-05-2010
Edited:
04-08-2014

Synopsis

Plot

THE FIRST NIGHT

A young solicitor is travelling overseas to meet with a client on whose behalf he has purchased a house in England. He is also to advise on the details of importanting some soil back to England.

This chapter is concerned with the last stopover at "The Golden Krone Hotel", before the final leg of the journey to Castle Dracula. Here, he immediately senses something very ... odd with the local people. They are altogether too preoccupied with something else. Having eaten (do try different combinations of food and drink each time you play), night ensues,
bringing with nightmares and terror!

THE ARRIVAL

An eventful coach journey ultimately brings our young man to the castle.
After a night or two and some long discussions with the Count, he realises that not only is he a prisoner, but also his life is in danger! Escape becomes his one obsession. Should he succeed he vows to write to his friend in England to warn of his discoveries. The castle holds terrors which are best not talked about...

THE HUNT

Doctor Seward, a psychiatrist who owns an asylum for the insane in England, receives a very odd letter from a friend on business abroad. Something about boxes of earth and the 'undead'. Although he fleetingly wonders about his friend's sanity, he resolves to investigate further.

He also has problems of his own, with a missing inmate. Renfield had escaped. But as he was not dangerous no one was unduly worried. Outside influences had unfortunately not been considered. The normaly subdued Renfield was turning into a hideously callous murderer, under the malignant influence of Dracula!

Notes

The game roughly follows events of Bram Stoker's novel and features some of its principal characters, two of which the player gets to control.

The game is split into three self-contained parts: The First Night, The Arrival and The Hunt. Play is 95% text but occasionally a single screen graphic appears if you are killed.

The first two parts of the game are extremely episodic / linear (solutions to all problems are either contained in the room or very nearby). Part three includes some multi-directional exploration.

Dracula was the first game to receive a BBFC rating, which was actively sought out by CRL. The game wound up with a "15" rating, but according to Sinclair User, CRL had hoped for an "18".

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Images

Image
Dracula.png Dracula.gif DraculaPart1-TheFirstNight.gif Dracula__Part_2_.png Dracula__Part_3_.png

Rating

Average User Rating: 6.7 (6 ratings)

Your Rating: —

User Comments

Ola H (12-01-2022 18:29)

You can't find the lamp in the labyrinth until you have encountered the three brides of Dracula. The fastest way through, starting from the Gloomy Tunnel Entrance, is: S, S , Get Lamp, N, E.

Ola H (12-01-2022 18:46)

Unusual design, it is structured much like a classic gamebook or a modern choice-based game in that it is time-based more than location-based. Heavily scripted and linear, but due to the parser input and free movement (occasionally!) it feels less constrained than a game book or a Twine game. And the story feels much more like a book than a traditional adventure game. It was one of the first of very few games that really gave me the feeling of partaking in story. Lone Wolf: Fire on the Water (gamebook) and David Cage's Heavy Rain & Detroit Become Human also conjure up the same feeling.

Ola H (15-01-2022 19:22)

Even if you have the stone, you can't smash the window until you have caught Renfield and progressed to a new day.