Games That Weren't^®

1992 Linel

Platform: Commodore Amiga

Our next entry into the archives is a 2D strategy game for the Commodore Amiga that was due for release back in 1992 by Linel. The game was set in a medieval scenario, where you can loot, pillage and hoard treasure and try and prevent your opponent from doing the same thing.

According to a review by Amiga Games magazine, the game featured three sections, one where political decisions can be made in every castle that you own – such as repairing walls, build up armies and defence troops. A second section had a relief map, where you can give orders to your armies and observe the progress of the game as a whole. Commands are limited to only specifying the direction.

When two armies meet, a third section is shown with a game board – where you must take turns with your opponent to move pieces across hexagonal fields. As you do this, there are short animated sequences.

The game looked pretty good, though the magazine was not particularly impressed overall and gave it an average score of 58%. However, it was never seen again after that and has been at large for the past 30 years.

Not much else is known about the game at this stage, but it is hoped that something can be recovered of what seems to be a complete game. If you know anything more, then please do get in touch.

An interesting thing to note, thanks to contributor Dan Warren, is that the C64 game Die Prüfung has the same character on the title screen. Have the artists used the same source material, or are these games linked in any way?  The C64 game was released about a year later by Kingsoft, and is a very different type of game.

With thanks to Karl Kuras for highlighting, Hall of Light for the magazine scan, Dan Warren for the interesting C64 link, and archive.org for the additional scan.

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