Game:

Archon: The Light and the Dark (1983)

Category:

Let's Play

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Archon: The Light and the Dark is a video game developed by Free Fall Associates and distributed by Electronic Arts. It was originally developed for Atari 8-bit computers in 1983, but was later ported to several other systems of the day, including many gaming system like the Apple II, the Commodore 64, the Amstrad CPC, the ZX Spectrum, Amiga, IBM PC, Apple Macintosh, PC-88,the Nintendo.

It was designed by Paul Reiche III (also created the graphics for the game) and Jon Freeman, and programmed by Anne Westfall.On the surface, Archon appears similar to chess, but there are a number of significant changes.While the board is similar to a chessboard, and the various pieces are similarly designed to have various offsetting abilities, when one piece attempts to take another, the removal of the targeted piece is not automatic.

Instead, the two pieces are placed into a full-screen 'combat arena' and must battle (action-style, with the players running the pieces) to determine who takes the square.Generally (but not always) in combat, a stronger piece will defeat a weaker piece in either defending or capturing a square. It is also possible for the fight to result in a double-kill, in which both pieces are eliminated.

This uncertainty adds a level of complexity, since it is not always possible to predict if taking a square will be successful. Different pieces have different abilities in the combat phase. These include movement, lifespan, and weapon damage and attributes. The weapons vary by range, speed, rate-of-fire, and power. For example, the pawn (represented by knights on the 'light' side and goblins on the 'dark' side) attacks quickly, but has very little strength.

Its weapon, a sword or club, has limited reach and power. A dragon is considerably stronger and can attack from a distance, while a golem moves slowly and fires a slow but powerful boulder.Some pieces have special abilities. The Phoenix can turn into a ball of fire, both damaging the enemy and shielding itself from enemy attacks. The shapeshifter (only for the dark side) assumes the shape and abilities of whatever piece it is up against.

MikroBitti magazine once noted that the Phoenix and the shapeshifter facing each other usually end up as the most boring battle in the entire game - as both combatants' capabilities are simultaneously offensive and defensive, they tend to use it whenever they meet each other, and thus both rarely get damaged.Each side also has a spellcaster, who are the leaders.

The Sorceress for the dark side, the Wizard for the light side. The Sorceress and the Wizard can cast seven different spells. Each spell may be used only once per game by each spellcaster.The game is usually won when either one side destroys all the opposing pieces or one of the sides is able to occupy all of the five power points.More rarely, a side may also win by imprisoning its opponent's last remaining piece with the spell casters.