Dungeons of Daggorath – Ready Player One Replay

Dungeons of Daggorath is one of the most important games in Ready Player One (Amazon). Located in one of 256 recreations of James Halliday’s hometown (and childhood home/bedroom) on the planet Middletown, TSR-80 version of the game provided to be the gateway to one of the keys associated with dead programmer’s Easter Egg hunt.

Quote

“Daggorath” (with two “g”s) could refer only to one thing: an incredibly obscure computer game called Dungeons of Daggorath released in 1982. The game had been made for just one platform, the TRS-80 Color Computer. — Ready Player One p. 85

Game Play

Dungeons of Daggorath is a straightforward dungeon crawl in which you, from a first-person perspective, navigate a basic, dotted-line-drawn 3D interface. Armed with a wooden sword, shield, and torch, you face off against spiders, humanoid monsters, and other threats as you try to descend to the lowest level of the dungeon. The entire time your digital heart beats in the middle of the interface, its sound speeding up as you exert yourself.

An empty, dotted-line-based rendering of corridor in Dungeons of Daggaroth
Torch? Check. Sword? Check. Sense of Impending Doom? Check.

Impressions

Damn, this game is old. And damn, is it hard. Thankfully, there’s a quick demo that shows how to light a torch, equip a sword, and move through the dungeon. It took me a little bit to get the hang of it, but once I did, I ventured forth.

I moved down a corridor, turned a corner, and ran into a spider.

Which killed me.

So I tried again. And died again.

And again.

And again.

If I knew there were a few billion dollars on the line (as is the case in Ready Player One), I’d delve deeper. I’ve played a ton of games like this, though admittedly, none as hard as this. It’s a fun bit of 1980s trivia, and folks who played it back then will undoubtedly enjoy trying it again, but for me … I’m ok with moving on to the next game in the Replay.

A menacing humanoid figure and a line-drawn spider threaten the hero. Doors can be seen at the far end and right of the corridor; a side corridor branches off to the left in this Dungeons of Daggaroth scene
Death waits on the first level of the dungeon. I didn’t make it to the second one.

The Ready Player One Replay is an ongoing exploration of the games that inspired the novel Ready Player One by Ernest Cline. Love it or hate it, there’s value in revisiting our geeky roots.

High Scores

  • My High Score: I died. Early and often.

Dungeons of Daggorath Resources

Where to Play

Commentary

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