Friday, February 26, 2021

Zork Nemesis The Forbidden Lands Review

 

Out of all the Zork games, I think this game has to be one of the most interesting as the game really revolves around the magic aspect of everything in the Zork universe.  Out of the other three games, this is the their second fully graphic themed game using the point and click system.  Zork Nemesis The Forbidden Lands was released by Infocom in February 29th, 1996.  So let's get started!

Zork Nemesis The Forbidden Lands: Temple of Agrippa

Game Description
In a desolate corner of the Underground Empire, an evil demon torments the Land. Evil rules the Forbidden Lands. Here, the souls of the Empire’s Great Alchemists lie in perpetual hell…at the hands of the Nemesis. Now the forces of the Underground beckon you to uncover the mystery behind the Nemesis’ curse…Travel through five mind-bending worlds to discover the ancient secret of Alchemy that will free the trapped souls from evil’s grip….Before the Nemesis imprisons you with the others…For eternity. Do you dare enter the Forbidden Lands?

Five highly detailed worlds entice you with over 65 innovative puzzles.  Spectacular production value - Hollywood actors, dramatic live-action video, hypnotic ambient music and dazzling special effects.  Directed by live action director, Joe Napolitano of X-Files and Murder One fame.

Zork Nemesis The Forbidden Lands: Planetarium

Storyline
I will admit that out of the other three Zork games that this storyline was a lot darker than the other two games.  Especially since my favorite Zork game, Zork: The Grand Inquisitor, was developed more as a happy go lucky and joking.  While Nemesis forces on the darker aspect of an evil curse known as Nemesis causing a significant portion of the Eastland to be declared as the Forbidden Lands.

In the game it is your goal to find out about the disappearance of four prominent citizen of the Great Underground Empire.  These missing four were alchemist working together to break Nemesis curse at the Temple of Agrippa.  This game is full of so much mystery and a few weird things a well that I'm not sure I fully understand or I just missed something in my play through.

Zork Nemesis The Forbidden Lands: Magic Wand

Puzzles
One thing that I absolutely love about this game is the puzzles.  Though I found some of these puzzle to be super difficult, especially if you don't know what you're doing, each of the puzzle can be solved fairly easily.  Many of the puzzles are solvable based on the information provided around the game and in a sense, it is your job to find the hidden information to solve each one.  I will admit that I cheated my way though some of the puzzle due to having difficulties finding the information needed to solve the puzzle.

Zork Nemesis The Forbidden Lands: Irondune Castle Main Hall

World/Graphics
Though the game definitely shows its age of being over 20 years old, I still think that the graphics and the design of this game still looks amazing!  There are so many locations to explore in the school and I loved seeing all the different magical themed items that decorated each of the rooms.  The amount of detail that has gone into this game is amazing and I feel after playing this game I'm still feel like I'm seeing new locations that I had never seen before.

Zork Nemesis The Forbidden Lands: List of Zork Instruments

Game Extra's
After I purchased my copy of Zork on Steam I decided to search the internet for anything Zork related since I wanted to see what was out there for the game.  Well, in my search I found The Zork Library, a fan sight where they uploaded a tone of information not only about Zork Nemesis, but all the Zork games!  Which includes images, audio files for the 3 interactive games, strategy guides, game patches for those who own the original CD, and so much more!  I was super excited to find this site since there were so many things I found there that I thought would be useful for players, I decided to share it here.  So I would highly recommend checking out this page, since there are a ton of fun things to learn and discover about the Zork universe.

Thank you everyone for reading!  I had so much fun replaying this classic game even if it did age me out of frustration when the game broke and crashed.  So remember, save often and have multiple saves!  If you want look for game recommendations you can check out my Games Review page.

Until next time,

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