The Prophecy Review

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The Prophecy

Review by JenApril 2004

Some old games are forgotten through no fault of their own. Perhaps there no longer exists a working platform to play them on; maybe not one single person who purchased a copy was a preservationist; who knows? Other old games, though, have fallen into oblivion for good reason. The Prophecy falls into the latter category. 

Released in 1993, packed on a whopping five, count ’em, five floppy disks, and accompanied by a coupon for “30 FREE hours on The Sierra Network” (a $29.95 value!), The Prophecy is nothing if not a blast from the past.

How times have changed. I was barely even a computer gamer back in 1993, and maybe just maybe I had a Super Nintendo by then (I don’t remember when I got that li’l bad boy). The Nintendo games, at least in my experience, were worlds ahead of anything on the PC as far as interactivity and animation frames per second. I knew that when I started The Prophecy; heck, I even knew that back when I acquired The Prophecy some years ago.

What prompted me to give The Prophecy a whirl was my recent success in getting my old floppy drive to work in my ultra-modern gaming PC—that, in combination with a recent download of DOSBox that I wanted to take out for a test drive.

So … the DOSBox is a beautiful thing. The Prophecy, on the other hand … well, if nothing else, it served to remind me that pixel-hunting is nothing new.

Where the PC games had it all over the console in 1993 was in depth of gameplay. Not so here.

Basically what you get are a series of static, or nearly so, puzzle rooms. Each screen contains several items. You must find and use the items, alone or in combination with other items, to move out of one room and into the next. Wherein you start the process all over again. There are a few core items that stay with you throughout the game, but most of them are used once and never seen again.

You play as Ween; your job is to foil the evil plans of the evil wizard Kraal by acquiring three magic grains of sand and returning them to the Revuss, some kind of enchanted hourglass. You have companions (whom you rarely see onscreen): a blowhard named Petroy, twin monk-looking dudes on happy sauce who carry your stuff for you, and a fruit bat. The twins only show up for cutscenes, but you can use Petroy and the bat strategically, like ordinary inventory items.

The whole game plays out like somebody’s acid high. Really. You employ talking worms to eat magic mushrooms, you cook up batches of magic potions in a magic cauldron that change the character of things or creatures, things jump up out of nowhere and freak you out—everything’s there but the rainbow trails and that certain chemical-induced sense of well-being.

There is no speech, but guess what? There is quite a bit of big-pixeled FMV! Woo hoo! Right? But … The beautiful princess is played by somebody’s middle-aged mom; Kraal looks like a drunken day laborer hauled in from the street corner for the easiest work of his hard life; the twins … eek! The twins! The twins are played by those pedophiles who live around the corner, you know, those guys that official notice from the sheriff warned you about?  All of the actors are creepy. For that matter, the whole game is creepy. And weird. And kind of uncomfortable, like when you wish you would come down off your bad trip already and you begin to nurse the fear that this, finally, is the one you will never return from, the one your parents always warned you about.

Anyway, the first half of the game went pretty well for me. It made some sense. It had some fun moments. As I progressed, though, solving the screens not only ramped up in difficulty but in aggravation level as well. The pixel hunting got out of hand (some items literally had only one pixel; 320×200=64,000 pixels to examine), there was too much task repetition and too many arbitrary puzzle solutions, and the whole thing rose well above the danger level on the WTF meter. By the end, I had to force myself back to it, and my play sessions became increasingly shorter as my tolerance level decreased until finally I limped across the finish line.

So considering the fact that I play games for fun and not only was The Prophecy not very fun, it was slightly disturbing on some subconscious, almost limbic, level, I’m going to have to recommend against it in the strongest possible terms: The cornpoop. The End

The Verdict

The Lowdown

Developer: Coktel Vision Publisher: Sierra On-Line Release Date: 1993

Available for: DOS

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System Requirements

286 10MHz or better 640K VGA Hard disk Mouse Supports: Thunderboard, Pro Audio, Spectrum Sound Blaster, Adlib

Where to Find It

Prices/links current as of 04/23/04Links provided for informational purposes only.  FFC makes no warranty with regard to any transaction entered into by any party(ies).

      Copyright © Electric Eye Productions.  All rights reserved.  No reproduction in whole or in part without express written permission.

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14 Responses to Fear Factor

  • Fear Factor | Tap-Repeatedly.com | Reality Topics Blog

    […] nobody@flickr.com (graftedno1) wrote a very interesting post today.   Here’s a quick excerpt:My greatest fear is to be trapped alone in a confined space with a blind human, in total darkness. They have a heightened sense of smell and hearing, and. […]

  • Matt "Steerpike" Sakey

    Lewis, you made me think of the scariest moments I’ve experienced in gaming, and we’re very similar people.

    Bioshock had two moments – the dentist and the flooded room filled with mannequins.

    Thief had Return to the Cathedral, which was terrifying to me. Thief 3 had Shalebridge Cradle, which is so scary it ought to be fined.

    System Shock 2 kept me on the edge of my seat, but it was more lonely panic than true fear.

    Korsakovia was so scary that I uninstalled it.

    And STALKER. Oh, god, the haunted labs in STALKER. The latter two games don’t have scares like that. Few games do.

    It’s especially rare for a game to have more than mere “moments” – for a game to be scary from beginning to end, that’s a triumph.

    Wonderful article. As if Gregg’s review wasn’t enough to convince me that Penumbra is not something I have the courage to play!

  • DPenn

    I’m with you Lewis … I’m a bit of a puss. I just have a hard time wrapping my head around the idea of dread as entertainment.

    Still, I’m drawn to dark stories when they have something interesting to say, whether it’s a game like Thief or a film like, say, Gaspar Noe’s Irreversible. So I’ll push through, sometimes peering through my fingers.

    The trouble with games, though, is that if you look through your fingers, you’re probably just going to have to play through the scenario again. :~)

  • Mike "Scout" Gust

    I wanted to play this game. I downloaded the demo but the controls were just too wonky for me to get my head around. I liked the atmospheric vibe a lot. I think I’m a bit desensitized from an overdose of horror movies in my youth so I don’t so much get the dread thing from these games as a nice creepy vibration. If only the controls were better…

  • Lewis B

    @ Mike, what’s wrong with the controls bud? As someone who despises poor control schemes, Penumbra’s is just like any other FPS, except to examine things you right click on them.  To use things you left click.  I’m not sure that can be considered difficult 🙂

  • Gregg B

    @Steerpike: Yeah my greatest shit-scared moments were with those games too. A few spoilers below people, so beware.

    Bioshock – Haha, I remember the dentist. I didn’t really find the game that scary overall but the bit where you go into the wine cellar and notice a mannequin facing the wall and after upgrading your weapon it’s stood directly behind you motionless and quiet just for a moment before attacking you. I shat a brick. I also missed that bit originally until Lew told me about it.

    System Shock 2 – same as you really, more unremitting tension all the way through rather than specific terrifying moments. Oh actually, theres a bit where you call a lift and it breaks then you realise a service droid is coming to fix it… I do remember having sleep issues after my first encounter with the cyborg ninjas though.

    Thief: The Dark Project – The Sword and Return to the Cathedral and Down in the Bonehoard and well, loads of them. The Sword made me break out into goosebumps though because there was a bit where you could hear this creepy giggling which seemed like it was following me about then it suddenly changed to this horrible throaty noise. What made matters worse was that the EAX (bless you Creative) made my foot steps sound like somebody else was there with me. That level was incredible, a bit too incredible as it seems I missed great chunks of it because I was so eager to leave.

    Thief II: The Metal Age – Trail of Blood where you end up in that opening with those damn tree beasts. God the first time I saw one of those hurtling towards me I actually died shortly afterward. Do you remember that Mechanist child walking around on one of the levels? That was a little creepy.

    Then there’s Penumbra: Overture – quite a few bits but I’m not mentioning them here.

    Oh and S.T.A.L.K.E.R. – The brain scorcher lab just because it was so damn quiet. My imagination seriously got the better of me there. Those stuffed animals and heads I’d seen in various buildings led me to believe that those creatures were lurking somewhere in the Zone, specifically that lab.

    @Mike: My control setup was perfect after some tweaking (as well as the simple weapon swing fix). If you ever fancy giving it another go, give me a shout and I’ll let you know my setup.

  • Lewis B

    I’m not sure why guys, but one of my starting paragraphs had gone missing, even though I copied it straight from the original source, and It was fine earlier. 

    Incase you missed it due to some technical issue you might want to re-read just after “Well no she wouldn’t in truth, but in Penumbra: Overture you don’t want to move anyway.” at the very start for those who’ve already read the article. Apologies 🙂

  • Mike "Scout" Gust

    Lewis, it was the weapon swing. It had this terrible, unresponsive feel to it, like trying to hit through molasses. I couldn’t stand using it. I tried the .ini fix as mentioned in the review but it didn’t seem to help. Of course this was the demo…but that shouldn’t have made any difference. I might try the second game instead as I guess they did away with the weapons thing.

    I’m see your first paragraph just fine. It’s the dialogue, right?

  • jdeuel

    I like the argument that weapons can remove fear, but even loaded to the teeth with ammo in AVP’99 the Marine missions were frightful because the enemy was anywhere at any time.

    As for Penumbra Overture, if the controls are anything like the original Penumbra they need to hack in some Wii-Remote 3d controls. I did not like using my mouse for 3d movements.

  • Gregg B

    @Mike: I’ve read that many people avoided conflict altogether in Overture which incidentally is something forced upon you in Black Plague. As somebody who has been renovating a house over the last 6 months with no DIY experience I can safely say that swinging a hammer is significantly easier in real life than it is in Overture without the fix. The fix balanced that for me.

    I’d highly recommend completing the first Penumbra because it’s one big build up to Black Plague which spoils the ending to Overture in the intro. And it’s a great ending too. Just so you know!

  • Lewis B

    @ Steerpike, those moments you mention are all my worst too!!  Do you remember the Robot labs in SS2? Absolutely terrifying, waiting for robots to burst out on you! 🙁 oh and have you ever player Condemned?

    @ Mike, The use of weapons in Penumbra is different to say HL2, where the player is physically holding the weapon, as in Penumbra it floats slightly infront of you.  However, if you change the control method to normal weapon swing, it’s no different!  Speak to Greggi and he’ll tell you what to do 🙂

    @ jdeuel, AVP the original and its sequal were scary however what type of fear do you think it is? I don’t think it’s anything more than sheer tension.  Having a Smart Gun makes you feel incredibly powerful.  I can honestly say in Penumbra the fear is sheer unrivalled terror, where you actually have to force yourself to play on.  It genuinly is that scary! 🙂

  • Jason Dobry

    It’s so true, an arsenal of weapons and ammo rapidly deflates any sense of horror or uneasiness in any game for reasons you already mentioned. Sakey, I thought Bioshock was more “lonely panic,” while I was pretty much always terrified in System Shock 2. I really, really, REALLY did not want to enter The Many’s nursery, and my weapons were so unreliable and ammo so scarce that I never felt safe.

    Silent Hill was terrifying for the same reasons. Ammo was rare and I frequently had to rely on my pipe for self-defense.  Even when I had ammo, the game mechanics prevented my character from being anything other than marginal with any firearm.

    Fear had one moment for me: I was climbing up a ladder, and as I reached the upper platform, my guy briefly looked down as he climbed off. As my perspective looked up again, that Ring-esque little girl was RIGHT THERE, reaching for me. I screamed and she was gone.

    What else…the original Aliens vs. Predator sent me into a locker room and I could only hear the facehuggers scurrying about somewhere within. I had to go in there. I advanced about three steps before the damn thing screamed and filled up my screen with its repulsive underside as it implanted me with its spawn. My roommate made fun of me for weeks for screaming like a girl child.

    Korsakovia–meh.  I was too annoyed and frustrated by the box rearrangement/jumping puzzles to be scared. I uninstalled it after an hour of play, I think. Maybe the scary parts were later, but I doubt it.

    As for Penumbra, I did play through about half of it before other games distracted me. I remember unease and creepiness, but no sweaty fear. I think I’m to blame here, or, more precisely, my daughter, who was still an infant at the time and generally allowed me only to play during the day for 45 minutes at a time. I was denied total immersion and the fear effect suffered. Maybe I should give it another go after I finish Call of Pripyat since she sleeps through the night now. With any luck, Penumbra will keep me from doing the same.

  • Gregg B

    I played the demo of F.E.A.R. but that ladder scare is the only bit I remember. Christ, that made me jump. I’m not too good with cat scares.

    Also I felt exactly the same about Korsakovia. It was creepy at first but then it began to irritate me far too much and it just soured the experience. I stopped playing as a result. Not to mention, when I realised I could bash those smoke-things with my crowbar they didn’t bother me nearly as much.

  • Online Up

    Great article. I look forward to reading more in the future.

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