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Harbinger 23

1986, Apple IIGS. A text adventure based closely on an informal project begun by students at Miskatonic University. Initially developed as a generic dungeon crawl, the release of The Sundering of Vhaxdi in 1986 prompted a hurried namechange and insertion of animated furniture, in the hope that there was money to be made somewhere. A feature of the interface was that the game carefully considered the various meanings of whatever the player typed, and chose the most likely as the direction to follow. Unfortunately this function was somewhat erratic, and adventures inevitably descended into a psychological battle of wills between the player and the game. During the hazardous final areas, it was not uncommon to see commands such as ">I really, really want to go east, please, the exit is just one room away!" and responses such as ">East is boring. You pick up the cupcake". The game did not win many fans, except those who were really good at reverse psychology.