Merlin's Teaser - Electron User

[fuzzel]

In the January 1985 issue of Electron User, Merlin mentioned a new game with a maze which he provided the solution to. Does anyone know which game this was:

Merlin1.jpg (45.06 KiB) Viewed 3329 times

merlin2.jpg (50.78 KiB) Viewed 3329 times

[joachim]

Merlin does imply later in the column that it's an adventure for a machine other than the Electron. Admittedly could be the BBC, but could also be something completely different. What were common adventure platforms in 1984?

merlin.jpg (22.62 KiB) Viewed 3268 times

[fuzzel]

I think we're looking at a 1985 release (Merlin states in the January 1985 issue that it will be released shortly). At the time it would most likely be for the Sinclair Spectrum, Commodore 64, Amstrad CPC64 or Acorn BBC micro. Lesser-spotted devices would be the Dragon 32 and the Oric Atmos.
I guess a trawl through the pages of the 1985 issues of Your Computer etc might work?

[lurkio]

This may well be an obvious or an irrelevant observation, but the screenshots look like double-height Teletext (MODE7) characters.

[iamaran]

It's The Haunted Abbey, published by A&F.

[fuzzel]

Never played that one, although Alice seemed to like it (The Micro User, Feb-85, p69). I was just about to start Myorem (not played since bitd) but I think I'll have a go at The Haunted Abbey instead.

[fuzzel]

A word of warning to anyone playing Haunted Abbey. Although it's a very good game, you need to think very carefully about how to acquire a source of light before entering the Abbey. I fell for this one hook, line and sinker and after a couple of days of progress I've had to start again.