The Immortal (0)

The Immortal
First release date
1990-12-31
Platform
Amiga Genesis Apple II Atari ST Nintendo Entertainment System Apple IIgs PC
Developer
Sandcastle
Publisher
Electronic Arts

Story

Inventory Screen (Amiga)

The game follows an apprentice who discovers a message in a puff of smoke from an from the who is trapped in the far below and counting on to save him. Continuing further in the dungeon, the apprentice encounters , , and all manner of and monsters. While sleeping on straw, he of an ancient city a thousand years old with and young people everywhere. On his way through the dungeon he frees Ana, Dunric's daughter. Then the apprentice learns that the ancient city was a place where waters from the Fountain of Youth would flow from goblins who ask for his help in distracting , a sort of water monster, in the canals below. Through another dream, he learns of an ancient peaceful civilization of guarding the Fountain of Youth. Using his wits, the apprentice tricks the monster into falling into a , but then he also is sucked in. Barely surviving the event, the wizard presses forth and has another dream. This time it's about the ancient city's council members and wizards gathering together and planning a , and then flashes of battles between wizards and dragons. By now he is nearing the bottom of the dungeon, and at the bottom he discovers one dragon survived the .

Gameplay

Magic Carpet ride (DOS)

The Immortal has a lot of item-based , lots of deadly enemy encounters, tons of , and requires patience to . At times the game is unforgiving, wherein if you use items before they're required or in the wrong place the game will make it impossible to proceed. Sometimes the traps will be inanely difficult to proceed through, such as the infamous "Worm Room". Thankfully each level is short, so if you survive through it all you can record the "certificate" (what The Immortal calls its ) and continue playing another time. Combat in this game is either about entirely , or going to a combat screen where the idea is to until you build up your and then start slashing the enemies to bits with your . There are several spell scrolls to pick up, and at one point even a magic that allows you to cast a minor infinitely. The game also has certain points where you can float around to avoid the giant and tiny such as the and the spell. This mechanic feels the same each time, as it's almost like controlling a car that can constantly accelerate, but the controls are quite horrendous and it's hard to survive these segments, as well as the one later in the game with the creature in the water canals while riding a .

The game has a few with minor detail differences, based upon actions earlier in the game.

Dueling the giant Spider Queen (DOS)

In "The Immortal", there are so many ways to die, and many ways to kill. When fighting goblins and trolls, the apprentice can them, slice them in half at the waist, and from the head to the groin, make their , cause them to turn to ashes, and skin them alive. The apprentice himself can be consumed by , body slammed and eaten by giant worms that burst through the ground, fall through , get stepped on during a shrink spell, use an that causes him to , fed upon by a giant Queen Spider, and can be eaten alive by hundreds of tiny spiders.

Alternate Versions

Level 6

The sixth level of the game only appears in of the title. It features the giant spider Queen and the tiny spider sacks that when touched will overwhelm the apprentice with dozens of spiders that eat him alive. The level also features a brief portion where the wizard can acquire some , and either drink it or use it to solve a puzzle. , and make every direction the apprentice would walk in completely random.

Amount of Gore

The and versions of this game had a markedly different level of gore during in battle. Most of the gory deaths were absent from the PC version, while the Genesis/Mega Drive version had bloody eviscerations which were all kinds of awesome.