Veil of Darkness - SSI RRP œ35.99
                      (RPG for PC)

                   Reviewed by Joan Dunn

Do ghosts and ghoulies chill your blood and the thought of huge
vampire bats enveloping you with their wings make you shiver? Do
you enjoy a challenge when you can be attacked at any moment by
wolves, werewolves and zombies? If the answer to these is yes
then read on ... The Veil Of Darkness is just the game for you.

You start this adventure just watching a story developing on the
screen. You see your character looking at a map, watched by a dark
figure at a window. The figure turns into a large bat and flying
towards your character covers him with his gigantic wings until
all is dark. Scary isn't it? But this is a horror story and not
for the easily frightened.

The scene changes to you at the controls of an aeroplane as you
fly over the Carpathian mountains. Clouds are darkening and the
sky is a sickly hue. You are being watched by an evil looking
figure...I must say here that these pictures that occur during the
game are the best I think I have seen. A cold chill envelopes you
and suddenly all the gauges spin out of control. You manage to
pull the plane out of a dive, but the evil lord will not let you
escape and he sends his bat minions to deal with you. The bats
shatter the windscreen and the plane goes into a dive and crashes.
You stagger from the wreckage and collapse unconscious on the
ground. Unknown hands lift you and carry you away from the site
and down to the village as the fog closes in.

You awake to look into the clear blue eyes of the most beautiful
girl you have ever seen. You are in a well-furnished bedroom. The
girl tells you her name is Deirdre and that her Father wishes to
see you. He is waiting in his study on a lower floor and she tells
you how to find him.

At this stage in the game, you must decide whether to play in
Full, Simplified or Easy combat. I chickened out and decided on
Easy combat.

A 3D overhead map displays the play area, upon which all the action
takes place. The remainder of the screen shows all the icons and
information, i.e. a message bar, your character portrait and your
character body. To use an object it must be placed on the
character figure. Your body is inside a coffin and as you take
hits during combat the body gradually turns into a skeleton. You
have 20 inventory slots, but you can carry many more items as you
pick up various containers. The book with the game is very clear
and gives you all the information you need to play this adventure.
There is a very useful valley map and to go from one location to
another you click on the name of the place you wish to visit. New
locations appear on the map as they are mentioned by characters in
the game.

There are several mazes and when you enter one, the valley map is
replaced by an auto map of the maze. You have to fight many
creatures and will find several weapons for this purpose. The game
manual gives a list of these creatures.

The game play revolves around two main things.

1. Keywords. These are words said in conversation by the people
you meet.  They are usually, but not always, underlined in red.
You select the keyword and use it in a question to the character,
and question the character, basing the question on the keyword you
have chosen.

2. The Prophecy. This is given to you as a scroll during the early
part of the game. You can read it at any time, and it lists all
the things you must do to win the game.

I was very confused to begin with, because I couldn't get to the
locations I wished to visit, so thought I had missed a keyword.
Actually, I had failed to perform a certain action and this was
holding me up. Some problems you must do in a certain order to
progress. Once that was sorted out I moved along much quicker. I
must admit however, that Sue got me a book of clues ... and this
was really great. I don't know whether I would have finished the
game without it.  It was certainly a game I couldn't leave and I
was quite hooked on it. There is a good story running through it
and it holds together well. I did find my character a trifle slow
moving and not always going in the right direction ... a nuisance
when you are fighting a monster and need to face it. Most of the
creatures were easy to kill except the zombies. They came at you
in a bunch and I took quite a few hits that needed healing before
I turned into a skeleton.  There are two ways of healing wounds,
either drink a potion, this is alright with slight damage, or
visit Carmen at the gypsy camp and she will cure you.

There is so much in this game that I could carry on writing, but
the manual gives plenty of information and it's good fun finding
things out as you go along.

Although I was often frustrated, looking back it really is an
excellent game and I'm glad I didn't miss it. It is interesting
and challenging so get it and have a chilling time!


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