''Risky Woods'' is a fantasy-themed, side-scrolling

platform game A platform game (often simplified as platformer and sometimes called a jump 'n' run game) is a sub-genre of action video games in which the core objective is to move the player character between points in an environment. Platform games are charac ...

developed by

Dinamic Software Dinamic Software was a Spanish video game producer and publishing company. It was founded in 1983, and its activity ceased in 1992, comprising the Golden Era of Spanish Software. One year later, a part of its owners founded an independent compan ...

and Zeus Software and published by

Electronic Arts Electronic Arts Inc. (EA) is an American video game company headquartered in Redwood City, California. Founded in May 1982 by Apple employee Trip Hawkins, the company was a pioneer of the early home computer game industry and promoted the d ...

in 1992. It was released as in

Japan Japan ( ja, 日本, or , and formally , ''Nihonkoku'') is an island country in East Asia. It is situated in the northwest Pacific Ocean, and is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan, while extending from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north ...

Plot

The ancient

monks A monk (, from el, μοναχός, ''monachos'', "single, solitary" via Latin ) is a person who practices religious asceticism by monastic living, either alone or with any number of other monks. A monk may be a person who decides to dedicat ...

who preserve the wisdom of the Lost Lands have been frozen in stone by Draxos (the antagonist) and his minions. Young Rohan (the protagonist) must plunge into the Risky Woods to release them. Only then can wisdom triumph once again.

Gameplay

Most of ''Risky Woods'' involves Rohan running, jumping between ledges and fighting

monsters A monster is a type of fictional creature found in horror, fantasy, science fiction, folklore, mythology and religion. Monsters are very often depicted as dangerous and aggressive with a strange, grotesque appearance that causes terror and fe ...

while freeing the monks from stone. There are four worlds, each with two levels and at the end of each world the player must face a guardian/boss. The worlds are Mountain Pass, Hanging Gardens, Catacombs and Hidden World. Rohan is initially armed with an infinite amount of throwing knives. Both the standard monsters such as skeletons and flying demons drop coins once defeated. At the end of each level, coins can be spent at "Ye Olde Shoppe." Rohan can trade in his knives for fire, an axe, a chain, or a boomerang. The same weapon can be bought up to three times, increasing its power with each purchase. The player can also pay to top off their energy. In order to complete a level, all good monks must be freed from stone. Bad monks are also trapped in stone and are indistinguishable from the good ones. Once freed, the bad monks will attack Rohan. The only way to avoid bad monks is to remember their locations for the next play through. The secondary objective of each level is to pass through "Eye toll gates." The player has to find two halves of an Eye-Key, then use the completed Eye-Key to pass through the door. Chests drop from the sky randomly during gameplay and contain items that can either help or hinder. Bombs, shields, extra time, and lives make up the good offerings, while the bad offerings can send you back a few screens, send you to sleep and waste your time, or can flip the screen upside down. Continues may be found during the game, but only two are given in the entirety of the game. Once those continues are used up, the game ends and the player has to restart the game. The final level leads to a castle in which Draxos must be defeated, afterward a short animation plays followed by the game over sequence. The

Sega Genesis/Mega Drive The Sega Genesis, known as the outside North America, is a 16-bit fourth generation home video game console developed and sold by Sega. It was Sega's third console and the successor to the Master System. Sega released it in 1988 in Japan a ...

version has some differences from the other versions. The player is able to collect armor links which can be used to improve armor. The "Eye toll gates" require the player to repeat the melodies that the gatekeepers play using their control pad. Rohan holds a staff and wears a

tunic A tunic is a garment for the body, usually simple in style, reaching from the shoulders to a length somewhere between the hips and the knees. The name derives from the Latin ''tunica'', the basic garment worn by both men and women in Ancient Rome ...

toga The toga (, ), a distinctive garment of ancient Rome, was a roughly semicircular cloth, between in length, draped over the shoulders and around the body. It was usually woven from white wool, and was worn over a tunic. In Roman historical tra ...

rather than the tank top and pants that he wears in the other version. The "Eye-Key" and coins are also visually different.

Reception

In 2017, ''

HobbyConsolas ''HobbyConsolas'' is a Spanish video game magazine founded in 1991 by Hobby Press and published by Axel Springer SE. The first issue appeared in October 1990. The monthly magazine offers information about games for all consoles, and since 2012 ha ...

'' named ''Risky Woods'' one of the greatest Spanish games ever released.

References

External links

Amiga Review on ''Risky Woods''GameSpy listing of ''Risky Woods''
*{{moby game, id=/risky-woods 1992 video games Amiga games Atari ST games Dinamic Software games DOS games Fantasy video games Side-scrolling platform games Sega Genesis games Video games developed in Spain Video games set in forests