When you think of the Atari 7800 you probably don’t think of role-playing games. Spire of the Ancients is exactly that, a new role-playing game by a member of the AtariAge forums.

What is cool about the development of Spire of the Ancients is, we can follow along and if you have the talent, even help with development.

First person role-playing games are not all that common today. Not on computers, not on consoles. Nowhere. This was once a promising sub-genre of the RPG realm. Classics such as Dungeon Master, Eye of the Beholder, and many more populate this genre having earned tons of respect from fans. If you enjoyed Alternate Reality: The City or The Dungeon then you will feel right at home with Spire of the Ancients.

Spire of the Ancients seems to be a new entry in this genre and boy is it interesting looking.

Currently levels in Spire of the Ancients are about 16 x 16 grid spaces. That is a respectable size, especially considering the limitations of the hardware (the Atari 7800, while great is still quite limited).

The gameplay of Spire of the Ancients is squarely in the grid-based area. There is no scaling to speak of as the screen updates with each step. This makes mapping the levels quite easy so whip out the graph paper and start mapping.

There is not a lot available in Spire of the Ancients just yet, it is still in development. Right now, you are only able to explore three areas and reach the end of the level. For fans of this genre, like me, this is going to be a fun adventure.

I have yet to tear into Spire of the Ancients as it stands but will do so as soon as possible. I am extremely intrigued by the available media (screen shots and YouTube video above). I just want to wait till there is a little more meat on the bones before jumping in myself. I hate getting addicted to something only to find out that I have a very long wait for more content to be available.

Head over to the AtariAge forums and follow along with the development of Spire of the Ancients.

Carl Williams

It is time gaming journalism takes its rightful place as proper sources and not fanboys giving free advertising. If you wish to support writers like Carl please use the links below. https://www.paypal.me/WCW https://www.patreon.com/CarlWilliams