''Cutthroats'' is an
interactive fiction
''
Interactive fiction, often abbreviated IF, is software simulating environments in which players use text commands to control characters and influence the environment. Works in this form can be understood as literary narratives, either in the ...
computer game written by
Michael Berlyn
Michael Berlyn (born 1949) is an American video game designer and writer. He is best known as an implementer at Infocom, part of the text adventure game design team.
Brainwave Creations was a small game programming company started by Michael Ber ...
and Jerry Wolper and was published by
Infocom
Infocom was an American software company based in Cambridge, Massachusetts, that produced numerous works of interactive fiction. They also produced a business application, a relational database called ''Cornerstone (software), Cornerstone''.
...
in 1984.
It was released for the
Amiga
Amiga is a family of personal computers introduced by Commodore in 1985. The original model is one of a number of mid-1980s computers with 16- or 32-bit processors, 256 KB or more of RAM, mouse-based GUIs, and significantly improved graphi ...
,
Apple II
The Apple II (stylized as ) is an 8-bit home computer and one of the world's first highly successful mass-produced microcomputer products. It was designed primarily by Steve Wozniak; Jerry Manock developed the design of Apple II's foam-m ...
,
Atari 8-bit,
Atari ST
The Atari ST is a line of personal computers from Atari Corporation and the successor to the Atari 8-bit family. The initial model, the Atari 520ST, had limited release in April–June 1985 and was widely available in July. It was the first pers ...
,
Commodore 64
The Commodore 64, also known as the C64, is an 8-bit home computer introduced in January 1982 by Commodore International (first shown at the Consumer Electronics Show, January 7–10, 1982, in Las Vegas). It has been listed in the Guinness ...
,
MS-DOS
MS-DOS ( ; acronym for Microsoft Disk Operating System, also known as Microsoft DOS) is an operating system for x86-based personal computers mostly developed by Microsoft. Collectively, MS-DOS, its rebranding as IBM PC DOS, and a few ope ...
,
TRS-80
The TRS-80 Micro Computer System (TRS-80, later renamed the Model I to distinguish it from successors) is a desktop microcomputer launched in 1977 and sold by Tandy Corporation through their Radio Shack stores. The name is an abbreviation of '' ...
,
TI-99/4A
The TI-99/4 and TI-99/4A are home computers released by Texas Instruments in 1979 and 1981, respectively. Based on the Texas Instruments TMS9900 microprocessor originally used in minicomputers, the TI-99/4 was the first 16-bit home computer. ...
, and
Macintosh
The Mac (known as Macintosh until 1999) is a family of personal computers designed and marketed by Apple Inc., Apple Inc. Macs are known for their ease of use and minimalist designs, and are popular among students, creative professionals, and ...
. It is Infocom's thirteenth game.
Plot
The game takes place in and around the fictional Hardscrabble Island. For centuries, Hardscrabble was a thriving seaport, but the local fishing industry died out in the 1920s. Most of the area's remaining population is an assortment of hard-luck types and people of questionable ethics.
The player's character is a skilled diver scraping to make ends meet. One night, an old shipmate named Hevlin barges in with a map indicating the locations of two previously undiscovered
shipwrecks. Flashing between excitement and
paranoia
Paranoia is an instinct or thought process that is believed to be heavily influenced by anxiety or fear, often to the point of delusion and irrationality. Paranoid thinking typically includes persecutory beliefs, or beliefs of conspiracy concer ...
, Hevlin abruptly leaves, asking the player to safekeep the map. Naturally, the old sailor is murdered as he practically steps from the doorway; someone obviously wants this map quite badly.
As the player attempts to mount a perilous dive for sunken treasure, several characters offer their help. Some of them can be trusted and some cannot. Failure to tell the difference between the two can result in an "untimely accident". Successfully making positive contact with the right characters is the only way the player can advance to the actual shipwrecks. Once the dive begins the player must locate and retrieve the treasure from that wreck to complete the game.
Each time the game is played, either the ''São Vera'' or the ''Leviathan'' is randomly chosen as the wreck to be explored. The other two locations contain no treasure and are
red herring
A red herring is a figurative expression referring to a logical fallacy in which a clue or piece of information is or is intended to be misleading, or distracting from the actual question.
Red herring may also refer to: Animals
* Red herring (fis ...
s.
The game has 68 locations.
Infocom Fact Sheet
Section VI, Game Statistics
Release
Each package of ''Cutthroats'' contained the following physical items:
#''True Tales of Adventure'', a fictional magazine catering to self-styled adventurers
#''Four Shipwrecks off Hardscrabble Island'', a fictional book "published" by the Hardscrabble Harbor Historical Society with information on the wrecks of ''São Vera'', ''H.M.S. Intrangisent'', ''The Fianna'', and ''S.S. Leviathan''.
#A dive map indicating the locations and depths of the above four ships
#A "supplemental price list" from Outfitters International featuring a tide table. As the equipment available does not appear in list form or in any other reference within the game, the player requires the price list packaged with the game for a successful dive.
Reception
''Antic
Alphanumeric Television Interface Controller (ANTIC) is an LSI ASIC dedicated to generating 2D computer graphics to be shown on a television screen or computer display. Under the direction of Jay Miner, the chip was designed in 1977-1978 by ...
'' criticized ''Cutthroats'' use of timed puzzles that "made us feel as though were being overly manipulated", and called others "obscure, illogical and nearly clueless. Be prepared to mail away for the 'Invisiclues''.html"_;"title="Invisiclues.html"_;"title="'Invisiclues">'Invisiclues''">Invisiclues.html"_;"title="'Invisiclues">'Invisiclues''._The_magazine_concluded_that_the_game_was_inferior_to_Berlyn's_''Infidel_(video_game).html" "title="Invisiclues">'Invisiclues''.html" ;"title="Invisiclues.html" ;"title="'Invisiclues">'Invisiclues''">Invisiclues.html" ;"title="'Invisiclues">'Invisiclues''. The magazine concluded that the game was inferior to Berlyn's ''Infidel (video game)">Infidel
An infidel (literally "unfaithful") is a person accused of disbelief in the central tenets of one's own religion, such as members of another religion, or the irreligious.
Infidel is an ecclesiastical term in Christianity around which the Church ...
''.