''Gift from the Gods '' is a British

video game Video games, also known as computer games, are electronic games that involves interaction with a user interface or input device such as a joystick, controller, keyboard, or motion sensing device to generate visual feedback. This fee ...

published in

1984 Events January * January 1 – The Bornean Sultanate of Brunei gains full independence from the United Kingdom, having become a British protectorate in 1888. * January 7 – Brunei becomes the sixth member of the Association of Southeast A ...

for the

ZX Spectrum The ZX Spectrum () is an 8-bit computing, 8-bit home computer that was developed by Sinclair Research. It was released in the United Kingdom on 23 April 1982, and became Britain's best-selling microcomputer. Referred to during development as t ...

. Written by Denton Designs, a group of programmers and artists who worked on the unfinished ''

Bandersnatch A bandersnatch is a fictional creature in Lewis Carroll's 1871 novel ''Through the Looking-Glass'' and his 1874 poem ''The Hunting of the Snark''. Although neither work describes the appearance of a bandersnatch in great detail, in ''The Hunting ...

'' for the ill-fated software company

Imagine Software Imagine Software was a British video games developer based in Liverpool which existed briefly in the early 1980s, initially producing software for the ZX Spectrum and VIC-20. The company rose quickly to prominence and was noted for its polished, ...

Plot

In the game you control your character

Orestes In Greek mythology, Orestes or Orestis (; grc-gre, Ὀρέστης ) was the son of Clytemnestra and Agamemnon, and the brother of Electra. He is the subject of several Ancient Greek plays and of various myths connected with his madness an ...

, who must avenge his father's murder by returning to the palace of Mycenae, entering its catacombs, and solving a puzzle. The game is based loosely on a Greek myth attributed to Homer, in which Agamemnon, the father of Orestes, is murdered by his wife Clytaemnestra. In the myth, Orestes along with his sister Electra, avenge their father's death by killing their mother, Clytaemnestra.

Gameplay

Essentially a maze game, there are 16 rooms each containing four "Euclidean shapes" - six of which are real and must be taken to the Guardians chamber, which will then allow Orestes to escape, the remaining 58 being just illusions. Orestes' sister Electra will point him in the direction of the nearest room with a real shape, and point at it. Most rooms have four illusions, and a single room can contain several real shapes. If Orestes slays one of the large magical monsters found in the maze the illusions will disappear for a short while making the choice easier. Clytaemnestra is also in the maze, and will kill Electra if the two meet, making the task all the more difficult to accomplish Orestes stamina is sapped by the maze monsters, and can be replenished by either entering the Guardians chamber which instantly restores health, or by finding life giving water that drips from the ceiling replenishing at a much slower rate. Orestes can walk, run, fly and fight using the same set of controls. If Orestes is near a monster fight mode will be used, whereas if he is near a ledge he will fly over. The maze is not straightforward, for instance moving first up then right will take Orestes to a different room than moving first right then up, however, it is mappable as the map logic is consistent.

Reception

References

External links

*{{WoS game, id=0002041
GameFAQs
1984 video games Action-adventure games Denton Designs games Europe-exclusive video games Ocean Software games Single-player video games Video games developed in the United Kingdom ZX Spectrum games ZX Spectrum-only games