Game 184: Wraith: The Devil's Demise (1990)

All of Nite Owl's games came with an "Amnesty" option that would auto-generate an apologetic letter sent by someone who'd pirated the game or received a pirated copy, allowing the player to return to good graces by sending in various amounts of money. I have to wonder if the company ever received a single letter.

Wraith: The Devil's Demise

United States

John D. Carmack (developer); Nite Owl Productions (publisher)

Released 1990 for the Apple IIGS.
Date Started: 5 April 2015

Date Ended: 6 April 2015

Total Hours: 8

Reload Count: 5

Difficulty: Moderate (3/5)
Final Rating: 24

Ranking at Time of Posting: 65/182 (36%)

Raking at Game #431: 185/431 (43%)

Wraith is a clear upgrade from Shadowforge (which we just looked at) while still using the same engine and graphics. It offers nearly identical gameplay to John Carmack's first game but adds more territory (instead of one city and one dungeon, we get three cities, four castles, and four dungeons), treasure chests, a few extra items, and a basic magic system. Unfortunately, many of the limitations of Shadowforge are still here: no character creation beyond the name, no attributes, no dialogue with NPCs, and the only result of leveling is a few extra hit points.

Part of the in-game backstory.

The land, an island, is called Arathia, and the player is a humble guard at the Temple of Metiria in the city of Tarot. An unknown power has recently emerged, stirring up monsters and conquering the castles of the lords of the realm. Metiria has come to the player in a vision, commanding him to find his way to Castle Strafire (on a small island off the coast) and there find an interplanar gate to Hell, where he can destroy the undead menace.

The pre-game documentation also has a map.

          
As with Shadowforge (and a billion other games), the player starts with limited gold and equipment and must slowly improve the character, including amassing a large stock of healing potions. Although the dungeons and castles are scattered about the land, the in-game manual offers a suggested order for exploration. Enemies only partially respawn in the dungeons, meaning you can kind of "half-clear" dungeon levels. Treasure chests never respawn.

Wraith is quite a bit harder than Shadowforge, mostly because the magic system also allows enemies to cast spells. They're much harder and often attack in packs, leaving you with nothing to do for round after round of combat other than keep quaffing your dwindling supply of potions.

The dungeon levels and towns are much larger here than the previous game. Towns are no longer violence-free, and in fact you're often attacked by monsters when straying from the main path. NPCs still offer no interaction, but you can kill them for experience and gold. You can kill merchants, too, meaning that you can never use that store, so it's a bad idea.

Accepting their offer results in them robbing you for all your money.

          
The game takes a step back from Shadowforge in its shops. Each armorer, weapon shop, and bowyer in this game sells only one item, so upgrading is a matter of visiting the town that sells the best version. Each spell is also only sold in certain towns, so restocking after a dungeon expedition means making a long circuit around the island to visit each set of shops.

Restocking on spells.

The spells consist of "Magic Missile," "Scare," "Lightning Bolt," "Fireball," and "Recall." "Magic Missile" performs about as well as a missile attack and "Scare" is a waste of time. "Lightning Bolt" (hits every enemy in a line) and "Fireball" (hits every enemy in an area) are indispensable. Later in the game, in a dungeon, you find a guy selling "Ice Storm," which acts much like "Fireball." "Recall" automatically teleports you back to one of the towns, so it's best to have at least one of these. Spells work in the early Ultima style, where you purchase multiple copies.

Confronting a big pack of enemies in a "ceremonial chamber." Three chests await me.

A big part of the game is finding secret areas in the dungeons, where you somewhat nonsensically find standard merchant counters and can buy special items. A "Detection Amulet" flashes when you're within 5 steps of a secret door (which is almost always, rendering the amulet a bit useless; I found it easier just to study the wall patterns). A "Stainless Ring" prevents your armor from being destroyed by rust monsters. A "Life Ring" protects you from paralysis and some other magical attacks. A "Demon Cleaver" is a powerful melee weapon. [Later edit: As an anonymous commenter noted below, I missed a few, including one that would have made some of the later battles a lot easier.]

As with Shadowforge, Carmack tries to give his dungeon rooms fun names and layouts, titled with text embedded in the dungeon walls (I think in real life, the character would have trouble reading these labels). Towards the end of the game, you start to see messages in the walls: "I WILL KILL YOU"; "ARE YOU READY TO FACE ME."

As he explores the castles and dungeons, the player eventually finds a key needed to access a secret enemy fortress, hidden in the mountains south of the starting town. This dungeon eventually leads to the small island where Castle Strafire is located. You have to explore the top level of the castle to find a scepter, and then explore the bottom level to find a portal to Hell.

There are a couple more dungeons and one wilderness area until you finally reach the Wraith's castle.

Where do evil megalomaniacs find contractors that build faces into the castle edifice?

 
The enemies get progressively harder, and before long you're wandering into packs that, if the die rolls go bad, can wipe you out in a single round with multiple spells and attacks. You have to use navigation tactics, like hiding just outside a door (enemies can't shoot through doors) or tricking them to arrange themselves in a line so that "Lightning Bolt" can hit all of them. Health potions disappear fast.

Towards the end of the game, choosing the wrong stairway takes you to an area of instant death. There's a fortune-teller's clue at the beginning that keeps you out of here.

Since you can only carry 99 health potions at a time, and 99 of each spell, you find yourself casting "Recall" to warp yourself back to the main island when you need to restock. This means you end up exploring this series of dungeons several times--for me, I think it was six--before you finally reach the Wraith.

Confronting the Wraith and his guards.

The Wraith is guarded by a couple of "grim reapers." It took me a lot of "Fireballs" and "Lightning Bolts" to kill them. Once the Wraith fell, I got the following endgame text:

As the remains of the Wraith dissolve before your eyes, you hear the voice of Metiria applaud your victory. "Well done, my son! One last time I return you to your home."

After the Wraith fell to you, his minions gave up their evil and surrendered to the mercy of Metiria. The temples returned to their former glory and peace spread through Arathia.

Huzza for CHESTER, savior of our nation!

Wraith isn't a very good game for 1990, but it's at least a competent one. Tightly plotted and programmed, it offers about 8 hours of classic RPG gameplay at around the Ultima II level of complexity. It earns a 24 in the GIMLET, compared to Shadowforge's 20.

In some ways, it's a little late in the genre's development for a game quite this simple--especially one with a commercial release--but it's interesting to see Carmack's growing competence as a game designer. Dark Designs is a clear next step in his evolution; we'll have the third installment on the 1991 list.

Finally, it's time for Worlds of Ultima: The Savage Empire!