Akalabeth: World of Doom

Akalabeth: World of Doom is a role-playing game created by Richard Garriott. It is famous for being one of the first computer RPGs ever created and being the precursor to the famous Ultima series.

Development
Akalabeth was made by Richard Garriott and was made on his Apple II computer. The game was programmed in BASIC. While developing the game, Garriott would invite friends from his D&D group as playtesters for the game. The game was sold by Garriott in small plastic bags, with the copies being sent to computer stores around the country, included with photocopied instructions and small cover art.

Good Qualities

 * 1) To acknowledge the elephant in the room, this game was one of the first computer role-playing games ever made. Without it, along with other games like Dungeon and Rogue, we may not have had to role-playing genre in video games as a whole.
 * 2) You had two character classes to chose from that played similarly, but have different perks to vary the playstyles enough.
 * 3) *The Fighter can use any weapon, but can't control the Magic Amulet.
 * 4) *The Mage can only use weapons up to an Axe, but can control the Magic Amulet.
 * 5) While it is limited, you do have an advantage and disadvantage for everything, which is pretty complex for the time the game was created. For example, you can't use a shield while using a bow.
 * 6) The Magic Amulet is a very unique item that can be used. It is uncontrollable if you are a Fighter, but when using it as a Mage, you can use it to create ladders to travel up or down the dungeon, shoot a magic missile, or use the mysterious "?" effect, which will mostly do a good thing, but if you are lucky, you will turn into a lizardman, which triples all your stats.
 * 7) Ten different types of enemies to battle, which is a lot for the time. Each is somewhat unique, and each having a different amount of power to them.
 * 8) Satisfying and fun gameplay hook. You talk to Lord British to be told what monster he wants you to kill, enter dungeons to complete the task, and repeat until you kill a Balrog. Every time you exit a dungeon, you will also gain hit points depending on how many monsters you kill. It helps that the controls are simple to understand.
 * 9) The game is randomly generated, meaning every time you start a new game, the map layout will be different, giving the game a lot more replay value.
 * 10) Large dungeons to explore, which are also randomly generated. They are infinitely deep and have more powerful monsters the lower you go. Along the way of exploring the dungeon, you may find chests with gold to buy more equipment or ladders to traverse up or down the labyrinth.

Bad Qualities

 * 1) The graphics have aged horribly. The main character is literally a cross icon and everything is either simplistic or wireframe.
 * 2) Mapping out the dungeons yourself is kind of a waste of time, as when you exit a dungeon and re-enter it, the map will have a completely different layout than the first time you entered.
 * 3) The "?" option on the Magic Amulet is very risky to use, especially when playing as a Fighter. A bad effect will happen nine times out of ten, like turning into a toad. While it is fair so you can't exploit the game to turn into a lizardman, it makes trying to become one worthless.
 * 4) The Apple II version has a game braking bug. Sometimes, if you kill the monster you where told to kill and return to Lord British, he will keep telling you to kill the monster, no matter how much you return to him.
 * 5) There is no save feature in the original version of the game.
 * 6) Most combat encounters can be completed by hitting the attack button over and over again.

Legacy
Akalabeth is credited as the one of the first role-playing games ever created for a computer and one that would lead to the genre becoming mainstream along with Wizardry: Proving Grounds of the Mad Overlord and Ultima. The series would also go on to inspire Garriott's later game series, Ultima.

Trivia

 * The cover art for the game was drawn by Richard Garriott's mother.
 * The game is named after Tolkien's Akallabêth, which was a part of the book The Silmarillion.