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Zork I: The Great Underground Empire

Infocom info 1980

Language:
English
Authors:
Dave Lebling, Marc Blank
Platforms:
Amiga, Amstrad CPC info, Amstrad PCW info, Apple II, Atari 400/800, Atari ST, C16/Plus4, C64/128 info, CP/M, Einstein info, Kaypro-II info, Macintosh, Mainframe info, PC info, TI-99/4A, TRS-80 info, TRS-80 CoCo, Z-Machine info
Genres:
Treasure hunt, Underground info, Zork info
Related:
Zork trilogy [1: Zork I: The Great Underground Empire, 2: Zork II: The Wizard of Frobozz, 3: Zork III: The Dungeon Master]
Entered by:
Alex, computerclassics, Eriorg, Garry, Gunness, Mr Creosote, Starscream
Added:
10-05-2010
Edited:
12-09-2022

Synopsis

Plot

The Great Underground Empire confronts you with perils and predicaments ranging from the mystical to the macabre, as you strive to discover the Twenty Treasures of ZORK and escape with them and your life.

Notes

Part of the original mainframe game.

As well as all the official, original release platforms, the original game has been ported to many other systems that support z-machine.

The game was ported to emulated VZ200 in 2022 by R. Banks & S. Marks; see here.

The first part of Zork 1 was, unusually for the time, released as a demo.
Also released in Japanese for the NEC PC-98. Further Japanese versions for the Sega Saturn and Playstation 1 (featuring graphics and music) were released in 1996. However, as these aren't parser-based, they fall outside the scope of CASA.

[+] Users currently playing this game

Images

Image
Zork_I.png Zork_I_Gold_.png zork1-1.png Zork_I_4.png Zork_I_1.png

Rating

Average User Rating: 7.5 (11 ratings)

Your Rating: —

User Comments

Jewwbat (25-04-2019 20:51)

Great little beginning adventure! Only took a few tries and you can save! Definitely a must play for any adventurer!

Exemptus (13-04-2021 20:23)

The stuff of legends, despite some design shortcomings (Infocom would get more sophisticated later on). An awesome parser, not bettered until much, much later, and descriptions that are an awesome mix of evocative, lost grandiosity and self-referential geek wit, made this an instant AAA title. Maybe there is too much contrast between puzzles, but it is a riot to play in any case. Needs a good deal of planning (many an hour has been lost just dealing with the thief in the maze). Some of the older releases in certain platforms (like the original Apple II release 5 version) are so buggy as to be actually unwinnable, but these versions are very rare and an item for collectors.