Game:

Repton 3 (1986)

Duration: 5:57

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1

I move on to the set "Agony" from the Repton 3 public domain screens (again, for more background on these, see the first video of this series). This set is similar in style to "Pain" but considerably harder. Screen A is a fairly gentle start, the screen consisting of just one large puzzle (in the shape of the letters "RH" -- the designer's initials?) Four spirits inside the "H" must be freed and then diverted to their cages.

This seems a good place to note that, if this set is loaded into Repton Around the World, The Life of Repton or Repton Thru Time, because these games use an updated version of the game engine with different rules about how spirits decide which direction to start moving, one of these spirits will circle the chain of diamonds inside the "H" and can never be freed. The updated rules were designed to prevent spirits starting off dazed so that they can be placed on any square initially, but they do have the unfortunate consequence that a spirit in a horizontal corridor will start moving east, rather than west as one would expect. (For another illustration of this, see my video of Now Level 7.) It is very rarely that a level is rendered impossible by this change and thus the set *has* to be played on the original Repton 3; in the Agony set, although all levels but one are affected in some way, some being made harder and some easier, Screen A is the only one that becomes impossible.

Screen B is a fantastic leap in difficulty, considering it is only the second level. The first room presents us with a Repton shuffle puzzle to reach the key and a spirit section inspired by Prelude Screen D (and, like that level, this one has a very taxing time limit!) Then comes a very tricky rock puzzle, a fungus room, and finally, four monsters to be killed one by one (which is why I take the time capsule in the fungus room; skipping it is possible but risky).

Screen C contains some more demanding rock puzzles in the lower-left, and then two spirit sections that do not appear that demanding, except for a fact that is not clear in the video -- there is only just enough time to complete this level, a theme that continues throughout the Agony set.

The music for this video is "First We Take Manhattan" by Leonard Cohen.

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