''Zork Nemesis: The Forbidden Lands'' is a
graphic adventure game
An adventure game is a video game genre in which the player assumes the role of a protagonist in an interactive story driven by exploration and/or Puzzle video game, puzzle-solving. The Video game genres, genre's focus on story allows it to draw ...
developed by
Zombie LLC, published by
Activision
Activision Publishing, Inc. is an American video game publisher based in Santa Monica, California. It serves as the publishing business for its parent company, Activision Blizzard, and consists of several subsidiary studios. Activision is one o ...
, and released in 1996 for
Windows 95
Windows 95 is a consumer-oriented operating system developed by Microsoft as part of its Windows 9x family of operating systems. The first operating system in the 9x family, it is the successor to Windows 3.1x, and was released to manufacturin ...
,
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 ...
, 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 the eleventh game in the ''
Zork
''Zork'' is a text-based adventure game first released in 1977 by developers Tim Anderson, Marc Blank, Bruce Daniels, and Dave Lebling for the PDP-10 mainframe computer. The original developers and others, as the company Infocom, expanded and ...
'' series, and the first title not to be marketed under the
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''.
...
label, while featuring a darker, less comical story within the Zork setting. The story focuses on players investigating the sudden disappearance of four prominent figures and their children to the hands of a mysterious being known as the "Nemesis", and uncovering a sinister plot during their investigations that they must thwart. The game features performances by Lauren Koslow, W. Morgan Sheppard, Allan Kolman, Stephen Macht, Paul Anthony Stewart, Merle Kennedy, and Bruce Nozick.
The game received favorable reviews, despite some criticism of the puzzles and lack of relevance to the Zork setting, and won the 1996
Spotlight Award for "Best Prerendered Art".
The MS-DOS edition of the game was later released by
GOG on their website, who made it compatible for use with
Windows XP
Windows XP is a major release of Microsoft's Windows NT operating system. It was released to manufacturing on August 24, 2001, and later to retail on October 25, 2001. It is a direct upgrade to its predecessors, Windows 2000 for high-end and ...
,
Windows Vista
Windows Vista is a major release of the Windows NT operating system developed by Microsoft. It was the direct successor to Windows XP, which was released five years before, at the time being the longest time span between successive releases of ...
,
Windows 7
Windows 7 is a major release of the Windows NT operating system developed by Microsoft. It was released to manufacturing on July 22, 2009, and became generally available on October 22, 2009. It is the successor to Windows Vista, released nearly ...
,
Windows 8
Windows 8 is a major release of the Windows NT operating system developed by Microsoft. It was Software release life cycle#Release to manufacturing (RTM), released to manufacturing on August 1, 2012; it was subsequently made available for downl ...
, and
Windows 10
Windows 10 is a major release of Microsoft's Windows NT operating system. It is the direct successor to Windows 8.1, which was released nearly two years earlier. It was released to manufacturing on July 15, 2015, and later to retail on J ...
.
Gameplay
''Zork Nemesis'' operates from a first-person perspective and uses a simple point-and-click system. The cursor fundamentally allows for interaction with the player's surrounding, changing to symbolize what can be done; an arrow going forward or back allows for movement; arrows for side-to-side or up-and-down allow for examining locations from different viewpoints; a gold arrow allows for interaction with objects; and a hand icon allows for objects to be picked up or to symbolize where objects can be used. Each location, ranging from corridors, small rooms, and vast halls, can be viewed in panoramic 360-degree to find objects to examine and interact with, with a still screen used when zooming in to examine an object in more detail (i.e. a book). Items collected by the player are stored in a simple inventory that be cycled through the right mouse-button.
Puzzles in the game generally require the player to find clues that will help them solve it, ranging from finding certain objects or triggering something in the right combination; a score system mostly denotes when a player has completed a section of the game's story.
Story
Setting
The game takes place in the fantasy world of Zork, with players initially solving puzzles and exploring the Temple of Agrippa, a large complex situated in a mountainous region within the Forbidden Lands. Later the player has the ability to travel and explore the following locations: Frigid River Branch Conservatory - a musical school and performance hall near to Flood Control Dam #7; Steppinthrax Monastery – an abandoned monastery in disrepair; Grey Mountains Asylum – a mental institution in the frigid, frozen peaks of the Grey Mountains; Castle Irondune - a military fort with private museum of battles, situated in the Irondune desert.
Characters
* Madame Sophia Hamilton (portrayed by
Lauren Koslow
Lauren Alice Koslow (born March 9, 1953) is an American actress, best known for her long-running portrayal of Kate Roberts on the NBC dramatic serial ''Days of Our Lives'', which she has played continuously since 1996. She previously appeared in ...
) - An alchemist of water and copper, and head of the Frigid River Branch Conservatory, who teaches music to Alexandria.
* Bishop Francois Malveaux (portrayed by
W. Morgan Sheppard) - An alchemist of fire and lead, father of Alexandria, and a religious man who runs the Steppinthrax Monastery.
* Doctor Erasmus Sartorius (portrayed by Allan Kolman) - An alchemist of air and tin, and a doctor who is head of the Grey Mountains Asylum. Separated Alexandria from her birth mother during her infancy.
* General Thaddeus Kaine (portrayed by
Stephen Macht
Stephen Robert Macht (born May 1, 1942) is an American television and film actor.
As the father of actor Gabriel Macht, he portrayed Henry Gerard, a Harvard University, Harvard professor in the US legal drama ''Suits (American TV series), Suit ...
) - An alchemist of earth and iron, father of Lucien, and a decorated officer in charge of Castle Irondune. Responsible for separating his son from marrying Alexandria.
* Lucien Kaine (portrayed by
Paul Anthony Stewart
Paul Anthony Stewart (born February 23, 1967) is an American stage and television actor.
While Stewart has numerous theater credits, he is best known for portraying Danny Santos in the daytime soap opera ''Guiding Light''.
Early life
Stewart ...
) - Thaddeus' son and a skilled soldier. Despises his father's actions while growing affectionate for Alexandria, before being arrested for desertion when planning to marry her.
* Alexandria Wolfe (portrayed by Merle Kennedy) - A young woman born at the Grey Mountains Asylum, raised by Francois with no knowledge of her real parents, taught music by Sophia, and fell in love with Lucien while performing concerts. Died a mysterious death in the Temple of Agrippa.
* "Nemesis" (voiced by Bruce Nozick; portrayed by Paul Anthony Stewart) - A mysterious entity that took over the Temple of Agrippa, torturing Sophia, Malveaux, Sartorius and Kaine after entrapping them. The Nemesis seeks to find the fifth alchemical element so that it can grant it what it desires, and sees the player as nothing more than a problem.
* The Player - A nameless adventurer, charged by Vice Regent Syovar the Strong to enter the Forbidden Lands and investigate the disappearance of four prominent citizens, replacing a previous agent named Karlok Bivotar who disappeared on the same mission.
Plot
Following the demise of Agent L. Bivotar, Vice Regent Syovar the Strong assigns the player with the task of continuing their investigations within the region known as the Forbidden Lands, in which Bivotar had been instructed to discover what had happened to four prominent figures of the Empire who went missing – Doctor Erasmus Sartorius, General Thaddeus Kaine, Bishop Francois Malveaux, and Madame Sophia Hamilton - while determining if rumours of a mysterious curse that had emerged from within the region were substantiated, and investigate possible illegal magic being conducted. Travelling to the Temple of Agrippa, an ancient temple within the Eastlands that Bivotar had learnt about during their investigations, the player uncovers a message left behind by the spirit of Alexandria Wolfe, a young woman who seeks help to deal with a great evil that resides within the temple.
Entering the main building of the temple, the player uncovers information revealing that Sartorius, Kaine, Malveaux and Sophia were operating in secret as
alchemists
Alchemy (from Arabic: ''al-kīmiyā''; from Ancient Greek: χυμεία, ''khumeía'') is an ancient branch of natural philosophy, a philosophical and protoscientific tradition that was historically practiced in China, India, the Muslim world, ...
, each mastering one of the four
elements: Air, Fire, Earth, and Water. The group had been seeking the mysterious fifth element called "the Quintessence" - , until a mysterious entity known as the Nemesis killed them. After finding each member's corresponding element, the group explain that Nemesis not only killed them but also Alexandria, Francois' daughter, and Thaddeus' son Lucien. Using their combined power, the group stop Nemesis from attacking the player, and advises them to visit their homes and seek out the elemental metals aligned to each of them. Using a special planetarium, the player travels to each member's home – Steppinthrax Monastery, Castle Irondune, Grey Mountains Asylum, and Frigid River Branch Conservatory – and find the pure samples of each metal within each alchemist's personal laboratory.
Whilst in each of these locations, the player slowly learns more about the Alchemists' work and the identity of the Nemesis, through visions and various letters. The player learns that Sartorius sought to complete the research of his father into the Quintessence which could grant eternal life. Learning that it required mastery of the four elements and their pure metals, both of which he could not accomplish on his own, Sartorius recruited the assistance of Sophia, Francois and Thaddeus, each for their own reasons: Francois sought to avoid his death from an incurable disease; Thaddeus sought power to win a war against a rival; and Sophia sought to live forever, having fallen in love with Thaddeus. The group soon learned that they needed to create a child, who had to be born when an alignment of planets, each corresponding to each alchemical element, occurred at the same time of a solar eclipse, who would lead them to finding the fifth element.
Sartorius sourced the child, Alexandria, from one of his patients at his asylum, and left Francois in charge of raising her. Alexandria was taught a special song by Sophia, unaware it would purify her soul for a ritual the group would perform on her. However, the alchemists had not foreseen Lucien falling in love with Alexandria when he attended one of her concerts, thus Thaddeus had him arrested on a false charge of draft-dodging. Knowing the fifth element would be theirs at the next solar eclipse, the group lured Alexandria to the Agrippa Temple for sacrifice. Lucien, learning of their plan, escaped from his cell, but arrived too late to save Alexandria. Angered, Lucien killed the group in revenge, and became the Nemesis in order to find the fifth element himself, and revive Alexandria with it. When the player returns, having revived the group, the alchemists attempt to convince them to drink from a chalice, but seeing them not willing, chose to send them away, while resuming their ritual.
Lucien, knowing they must not find Alexandria's body, beseeches the player for help since they know the truth, and passes on a gold ring. Entering a hidden chamber below the temple, the player creates a special Alchemy symbol, representing Infinity, from both Lucien's and Alexandria's rings. With the rings now purified and imbued with the fifth element, representing pure love, the player quickly uses it to stop the Alchemists. The resulting power from the fifth element kills them, revives Alexandria, and destroys the temple. This ends the curse in the Forbidden Lands, and the game ends with Lucien and Alexandria walking away together to live in peace.
Production
''Zork Nemesis'' employed technology Activision dubbed "
Z-Vision Surround Technology," which gives users a simulated 360-degree view of each location visited. It was one of the first games to employ such technology, though ''Zork Nemesis'' only allows panning in either horizontal or vertical where both panning options are available, unlike in later games such as ''
The Journeyman Project 3: Legacy of Time'' or ''
Myst III: Exile''. Furthermore, details were far more difficult to make out in the panoramic scenes than in the still screens; the sequel, ''
Zork: Grand Inquisitor'', made significant improvements to the Z-Vision system. Technical director Laird Malamed felt the game suffered from time constraints, saying that once the advanced
game engine
A game engine is a software framework primarily designed for the development of video games and generally includes relevant libraries and support programs. The "engine" terminology is similar to the term "software engine" used in the software i ...
was completed, the team didn't have enough time left to implement anything more than simple control panel puzzles.
Like other adventure games of its time, ''Zork Nemesis'' made use of live actors. The game features a significant amount of screen-time for the actors, thanks to its use of flashbacks at key locations (or objects) and the use of monologues in which characters address the player explaining and justifying their actions.
The game's plot was written by Cecilia Barajas,
Nick Sagan
Nicholas Julian Zapata Sagan (born September 16, 1970) is an American novelist and screenwriter. He is the author of the science fiction novels '' Idlewild'', '' Edenborn'', and '' Everfree'', and has also written scripts for episodes of '' Star ...
and
Adam Simon
Adam Simon (born February 6, 1962) is an American director, producer, and screenwriter. His directing credits include '' Brain Dead'' (1990), '' Body Chemistry II: The Voice of a Stranger'' (1992), and '' Carnosaur'' (1993). Simon, along with p ...
and is a departure from the series usual comedic treatment in its games, by featuring a much darker and less humorous story than previous games.
The budget of ''Zork Nemesis'' surpassed $3 million.
The live-action scenes contributed to this cost, which ultimately rose to around
USD$
The United States dollar (symbol: $; code: USD; also abbreviated US$ or U.S. Dollar, to distinguish it from other dollar-denominated currencies; referred to as the dollar, U.S. dollar, American dollar, or colloquially buck) is the official ...
3.5 million.
The game was heavily marketed, with an estimated $1 million spent on this aspect.
Reception
The game received "favorable" reviews according to the
review aggregation
A review aggregator is a system that collects reviews of products and services (such as films, books, video games, software, hardware, and cars). This system stores the reviews and uses them for purposes such as supporting a website where users ...
website
GameRankings
GameRankings was a video gaming review aggregator that was founded in 1999 and owned by CBS Interactive. It indexed over 315,000 articles relating to more than 14,500 video games. GameRankings was discontinued in December 2019, with its staff bei ...
.
''
Next Generation'' said, "With 3D sound and stunning graphics (the game is almost worth the price just to examine the fantastic architectural environments), this game was destined for five stars, until the puzzles – and these are what really count, to us, anyway – dragged the game back down."
[
''Zork Nemesis'' placed 10th on '']PC Data
PC Data was an American market research and point of sale tracking firm founded in 1991 and based in Reston, Virginia. Its founder, Ann Stephens, had worked previously as the head researcher for the Software Publishers Association. Initially, th ...
''s monthly computer game sales chart for April 1996. It secured positions 12 and 11 the following two months, respectively. By November 1996, ''Zork Nemesis'' had sold above 100,000 units. According to Activision, strong sales of the game during the 1996 holiday shopping season contributed to high revenues in the company's third quarter, which increased 78% over the third quarter of 1995.
''Zork Nemesis'' won the 1996 Spotlight Award for "Best Prerendered Art" from the Game Developers Conference
The Game Developers Conference (GDC) is an annual conference for video game developers. The event includes an expo, networking events, and awards shows like the Game Developers Choice Awards and Independent Games Festival, and a variety of tutori ...
. It was also nominated for the 1996 "Adventure Game of the Year" awards of ''Computer Games Strategy Plus
''Computer Games Magazine'' was a monthly computer and console gaming print magazine, founded in October 1988 as the United Kingdom publication ''Games International''. During its history, it was known variously as ''Strategy Plus'' (October 1 ...
'', ''PC Gamer
''PC Gamer'' is a magazine and website founded in the United Kingdom in 1993 devoted to PC gaming and published monthly by Future plc. The magazine has several regional editions, with the UK and US editions becoming the best selling PC games ma ...
'', CNET Gamecenter
''CNET'' (short for "Computer Network") is an American media website that publishes reviews, news, articles, blogs, podcasts, and videos on technology and consumer electronics globally. ''CNET'' originally produced content for radio and televi ...
and ''Computer Game Entertainment'', but these went variously to ''The Neverhood
''The Neverhood'' (released in Japan as ''Klaymen Klaymen: The Mystery of Neverhood'' and referred to in the English version's intro as ''The Neverhood Chronicles'') is a 1996 point-and-click adventure video game developed by The Neverhood, Inc. a ...
'', '' The Beast Within: A Gabriel Knight Mystery'' and ''The Pandora Directive
''The Pandora Directive'' is the fourth installment in the ''Tex Murphy'' series of graphic adventure games produced by Access Software. After its creators reacquired the rights to the series, it was re-released on Good Old Games in July 2009.
...
''. ''PC Gamer'' highlighted ''Nemesis''s "charm and vitality", and called it "graphically gorgeous".
In 2011, ''Adventure Gamers
''Adventure Gamers'' is a computer game website created by Marek Bronstring in March 1998 dedicated to the genre of adventure games. It publishes reviews and previews of adventure games, as well as opinion articles and interviews with game des ...
'' named ''Zork Nemesis'' the 51st-best adventure game ever released.
See also
*''The Space Bar
''The Space Bar'' is a 1997 graphic adventure game developed by Boffo Games and published by Rocket Science Games and SegaSoft. A comic science fiction story, it follows detective Alias Node as he searches for a shapeshifting killer inside The ...
''
References
External links
*
''Zork Nemesis'' review
at Adventure Classic Gaming
{{Zombie games
1996 video games
Activision games
Classic Mac OS games
First-person adventure games
Games commercially released with DOSBox
Point-and-click adventure games
ScummVM-supported games
Video games scored by Mark Morgan
Windows games
Zombie Studios games
Zork
Video games developed in the United States