Swords and Sorcery
Swords and Sorcery is a compilation of four fantasy-themed video games published by Keypunch Software for MS-DOS in 1987, and again in 1993. The games included in the package were very dated, and the packaging was very low-quality. Rather than have disks made for the product, Keypunch bought 5.25" floppies in bulk and stuck on a poorly-printed dot matrix white adhesive label. They didn't remove the manufacturer's label which can be seen behind their label. The disks weren't even placed in paper sleeves, they were just tossed in the box!
Contents
Games
This compilation contains four games. Because Keypunch was essentially a pirate organization, they stripped the names of the developers from the games and unnecessary files were removed from the originals. The games were then given new titles, both to prevent the developers from finding out their programs were stolen, and also to make the buyers think they were buying something more impressive than what the box contained. One of the games was originally printed in BASIC in a magazine, the other was distributed freely on bulletin boards.
The games include:
| Title | Notes |
|---|---|
| Swords of Glass | A wire-frame dungeon crawler with some unique features. I haven't been able to find the developer. |
| Amulet of Yendor | This is just the 1981 BASIC game The Wizard's Castle renamed to resemble an item in Nethack. |
| The Golden Wombat | This is just the 1984 BASIC game Castle Adventure, but advertised as The Golden Wombat of Destiny. |
| NYC Adventure | Survival In New York City with a shorter name. It's a text adventure that doesn't fit with the theme. I haven't been able to find the developer. |
Personal
My cousin had this and several other Keypunch titles for his Tandy 1000 in the late 1980s, and we used to play them all the time. This collection was my favorite as I was very much interested in fantasy during this time in my life. Most of our time was spent playing Golden Wombat and Swords of Glass.
Status
I do not own this game, but I have beaten Golden Wombat.
Media
Box Art
The art has nothing to do with any of the games in the collection, but it looks nice enough. However, considering Keypunch's reputation, it wouldn't surprise me if this were stolen too.
The back of the box has dishonest descriptions of the game, and uses a screenshot of The Golden Wombat of Destiny, even though it's not included in the package.
Download
Since Keypunch probably never secured the rights to these game in the first place, and has long since gone out of business, I'm making the software available here. The two-disk package is combined here in a single archive.
Links
- mocagh.org/loadpage.php?getgame=swordssorcery - Museum of Computer Adventure Game History.
