''Labyrinth'' is an

action-adventure game The action-adventure genre is a video game hybrid genre that combines core elements from both the action game and adventure game genres. Typically, pure adventure games have situational problems for the player to solve to complete a story ...

published in 1984 by

Acornsoft Acornsoft was the software arm of Acorn Computers, and a major publisher of software for the BBC Micro and Acorn Electron. As well as games, it also produced a large number of educational titles, extra computer languages and business and util ...

for the BBC Micro. Its author, Michael Mathison, describes it as:

Gameplay

Labyrinth consists of a complex labyrinth made up of multiple

levels Level or levels may refer to: Engineering *Level (instrument), a device used to measure true horizontal or relative heights *Spirit level, an instrument designed to indicate whether a surface is horizontal or vertical *Canal pound or level *Regr ...

. Each level is made up of a number of rooms, with the player only able to see a single room at any one time. Doorways are provided allowing the player to move between rooms. Each level contains two special rooms: the "Gate Room," and the "Key Room". The Gate Room contains the doorway to the next level which is barred by a deadly forcefield. The Key Room contains a magical crystal which will remove the forcefield, and is generally the most well-guarded and dangerous room in the level. Rooms are populated with a variety of

monster 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 ...

s which become more dangerous as the player progresses through the game as they move more quickly, shoot at the player, or lay poisonous mushrooms. The player can choose to avoid the various monsters (though they may well follow the player through the labyrinth), or try to kill them by shooting at them (though some monsters are invulnerable in this way and reflect the shots back), or squash them with a "boulder" that the player is able to push around with them as they travel (trickier and more risky than shooting and therefore scores more points). Colliding with a monster will kill it but causes the player to lose health, often leading to the player's death. Different types of fruit are scattered throughout the labyrinth, which will increase the player's health when eaten. The player slowly loses health at all times while in the Labyrinth, and will eventually die if they don't progress through the game.

Legacy

In 1987 the game was reissued on Superior Software's ''Acornsoft Hits'' compilation.

References

External links

BBC Micro Games Archive

* tp://8bitfiles.net/bbc8bits/Extras/manuals/Scans/Labyrinth Instruction leaflet and posteraccompanying the game
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produced by Acornsoft 1984 video games Action-adventure games BBC Micro and Acorn Electron games BBC Micro and Acorn Electron-only games Acornsoft games Video games developed in the United Kingdom Single-player video games {{8bitcomputer-game-stub