 |
| Written by Rose Estes - Illustrated by Jim Holloway |
Sound familiar? Yeah, its almost a diluted version of The Warlock of Firetop Mountain, not entirely sure whos was first but I can tell you this one is nowhere near as good.
This endless quest book more like a Choose-Your-Own-Adventure title which strikes me as a bit strange as this is coming from the same publishers as most early D&D stuff, Endless Quest is even part of the D&D series. It's strange that there are no combat encounters like you would find in a Fighting Fantasy gamebook. No number crunching or dice mechanics, just plain old text. Now it's not an issue, it's just a bit odd.
Many of the numbered passages span over multiple pages meaning that there are not a whole lot of choices to be made in the story, it's actually rather linear. While taking different paths lead to different combat encounters, they all very quickly lead to the same place.
Combat felt a bit lackluster, as no matter what options I chose, I always seemed to come out on top no matter the odds. Sure you can still occasionally perish in the dungeon but it felt incredibly rare.
It still seemed rather well written, the banter between your character and his halfling companion is enjoyable and the way in which some of the events unfold are described in really epic ways.
The illustrations are nice if a bit childish but my guess would be that these books were intended for a younger audience back in the day.
Overall Dungeon of Dread was a nice easy gamebook to sink a half-hour into. It's a bit linear but still a good read, just don't expect a solo Dungeons & Dragons experience here
It's certainly on the lighter side of the gamebook spectrum but it's still pretty fun in small doses. It's a shame they didn't look to incorporate some of the D&D combat rules or saving throws into the book as it would have spiced things up a bit, but for the most part, it's an enjoyable little piece of interactive fantasy.
Reviewed by Harrison Marchant
No comments:
Post a Comment