DESCRIPTION

In Infocom's original text adventure, you find yourself near an abandoned house in a seemingly idyllic setting, but inside the house lies the entrance to an underground maze loaded with deadly grues, puzzles aplenty, and many a dead end. Handy items are peppered throughout the maze, and by going to the right places, using the right items, and making sure you never step into a dark room, you may reach the end of the game — and a cliffhanger leading into the next game. The game is played entirely by entering simple commands in English, or abbreviations of those commands. Zork didn't invent the text adventure genre, but it was the first such title to appeal to the masses, guaranteeing the success of developer Infocom (at least for the next five years), and making all-text adventure games a staple of the early personal computer gaming scene (for roughly the same length of time). Zork also brought an innovation which is still resonating throughout the gaming industry — it made hint/strategy guides a must. Infocom's "Invisiclues" booklets — sold separately by direct mail order — included a special pen that would reveal clues and hints printed in a special ink which would otherwise be invisible. Though it may be regarded as the height of simplicity today, Zork I's legacy is still very much alive and well in the flood of strategy books on the shelves. ~ Earl Green, All Game Guide