Entomorph: Plague of the Darkfall

Entomorph: Plague of the Darkfall is a 1995 action-adventure role-playing video game by Strategic Simulations, Inc. It was re-released in 2013 on GOG.com.

Entomorph: Plague of the Darkfall
Developer(s)Cyberlore Studios
Publisher(s)Mindscape Inc.
Producer(s)Scott Cuthbertson
Designer(s)Jim DuBois
Herb Perez
Programmer(s)Ken Grey
Artist(s)Rob Caswell
Platform(s)Windows, Mac OS
Release10 September 1995[1]
Genre(s)Role-playing video game
Mode(s)Single-player

Gameplay

Entomorph is a Top-Down action RPG. The character is controlled by mouse or keyboard with a full range of movement and basic attacks as well as magic spells. The game features an overworld style similar to older legend of zelda games like A link to the Past. I,e you move to the edge of the screen to change areas.

Plot

After a mishap with a giant time controlling spider, Warwick must restart his journey to find and stop the origin of the giant insects that are attacking his home. After reanimating the corpse of the village shaman to summon the ancient guardian of his tribe, Warwick travels to Povros, Where an insidious plot is in full swing to slowly turn the islands inhabitants into giant insects to replace the original insects which all vanished over night decades ago.

Warwick will Join the local resistance alongside his sister and fight his way inside the lairs of 3 types of giant insects. The giant bees, The giant Ants and the giant Spiders. Each nest contains a queen responsible for the production of the Nectar that is changing the islands populous. Tempted at each nest by the Undiluted Royal nectar, Warwick himself will slowly changing into a giant preying mantis with each victory.

Fully transformed, Warwick infiltrates the islands castle where he confronts the original source, The queen. Cursed and changed into a fleshy abomination by an ancient artifact. Warwick defeats the queen only for the artifact to latch onto to him instead. In a desperate flight he manages to make his way to the sarcophagus that housed the artifact and seals it again, Undoing the transformations its power has caused.

Publication history

It is the second video game based in the fictional universe World of Aden, the first being World of Aden: Thunderscape. Though both games share the same setting, Entomorph is not a sequel to Thunderscape.

Reception

Writing for PC Gamer US, Trent Ward called Entomorph "an attractive, innovative break from the usual RPG fare".[4] The reviewer for Next Generation called the game a "refreshing mixture" of mechanics and praised its graphics and music, but found fault with its control scheme and combat system.[2]

In Computer Gaming World, Scorpia wrote that the game "probably does not have enough of any one element to satisfy fans of a particular genre", but that it "does work fairly well with what it has".[10] The magazine included Entomorph in its holiday 1995 buyer's guide, where a writer noted that "the action and unique story will provide gamers with an interesting, and different, CRPG".[11]

Chris Anderson of PC Zone considered Entomorph to be an attempt to compete with Ultima VIII, and he found it unsuccessful in this regard, but summarized the game as "good and reasonably big, with a fairly engrossing storyline".[6] Fusion's Dave Harris called the game "a good beginner's RPG" and "an excellent adjunct" to Thunderscape.[7] In PC Format, Mark Ramshaw agreed with Anderson that the game fell short of Ultima VIII, particularly in its graphics, but also wrote: "That said, it's expansive, it's slick, the plot contains thrills, adventure and genuine humour, and the insect theme is a winner. Make no mistake, Entomorph really isn't half bad".[3]

Andy Butcher reviewed Entomorph: Plague of the Darkfall for Arcane magazine, rating it a 7 out of 10 overall.[5] Butcher comments that "Entomorph's a fun, engaging game that stresses puzzle-solving over endless combat, and the original (compared to most computer games, at least) story offers a lot more interest than yet another dungeon trek".[5]

In his book Dungeons and Desktops: The History of Computer Role-Playing Games (2008), the video game historian Matt Barton called Entomorph and its companion World of Aden: Thunderscape "well-crafted and highly playable games [that] attracted little interest from CRPG fans then or now".[12]

References
  1. "SSI: Press Releases: Entomania!!!". ssionline.com. Archived from the original on 19 November 1996. Retrieved 12 January 2022.
  2. Staff (February 1996). "Entomorph". Next Generation (14). 171, 172.
  3. Ramshaw, Mark (February 1996). "Entomorph: Plague of the Darkfall". PC Format (53): 71.
  4. Ward, Trent (January 1996). "Entomorph". PC Gamer US. Archived from the original on 10 March 2000.
  5. Butcher, Andy (January 1996). "Games Reviews". Arcane (2): 72.
  6. Anderson, Chris (January 1996). "Entomorph". PC Zone (34). 106.
  7. Harris, Dave (January 1996). "Metamorphosis II". Fusion. 1 (6): 124.
  8. Snyder, Frank; Chapman, Ted; Kaiafas, Tasos (December 1995). "Kafka's Lament". Computer Game Review. Archived from the original on 21 December 1996. Retrieved 9 August 2019.
  9. Klett, Steve (January 1996). "Entomorph: Plague of the Darkfall". PC Entertainment. Archived from the original on 18 October 1996. Retrieved 9 August 2019.
  10. Scorpia (January 1996). "Insectocide". Computer Gaming World. No. 138. 201, 203-205.
  11. Schuytema, Paul C. (December 1995). "Santa's Little Software Helper; Entomorph". Computer Gaming World. No. 137. p. 88.
  12. Barton, Matt (22 February 2008). Dungeons and Desktops: The History of Computer Role-Playing Games. A K Peters. p. 279. ISBN 978-1568814117.
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