A Journey into Xanth

Maker:
Neil Sorenson
Year:
1993
System:
PC (DOS)
Genre:
Adventure
Tags:
Based on Other Media / Misc. Fantasy / Text-based
Language:
English
Median Rating:
4.5/5

Thoughts by Elwood (26 Feb 2005) – PC (DOS)

This is a must for every Xanth-Fan! I always loved the great books of Piers Anthony and searched hard for any computer-games based on it. Long before I was able to get my hands on the graphical adventure I found this game (and lost it when my harddisk crashed).

While Companions of Xanth (a commercial point & click Adventure by Legend Entertainment made in 1994) surely looks nicer, this is obviously the work of a fan. This gives it a good deal more of the charm the books possess than the other game has. The characters are more outlined, the story is intense, the atmosphere almost as good as it is in the books. I really enjoyed playing this one, though it might be hard for everyone not familiar with the books.

To give a short description of the land Xanth, let me tell you that Xanth is a magical land, a land where all plants and animals are magical. Every person possesses a unique magical talent, like creating illusions, healing plants or just some not very useful talents as letting colored spots appear on the wall. Every talent only appears once – there are no 2 people with the same talent.

You play the role of Mim, whose talent it is to speak to every person near or far through a magic mirror that he can summon at his will. This makes him a pretty important person in his town as he is responsible for making contact to Trent, the wise King of Xanth and a great magician. This is where the story begins. While making your weekly report to the King, he asks you to send the local gardener Lief, whose talent is to heal plants, to the castle Roogna – the royal residence – to heal some “Sen-Trees”.

I don’t want to tell you much at this point, but a nice journey through Xanth will be the result and center of the game. Have fun and let yourself be charmed by the magical atmosphere of a game set in magic Xanth.

P.S. The maps need special characters which aren’t available outside the MS-DOS editor, so open them in that program.

Play

Files

Screenshots

PC (DOS)

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TGOD button #1 TGOD button #2