Solstice

Happy midsummer solstice everyone!

Appropriately enough this weeks game is the NES game "Solstice".

Cover

"Solstice: The Quest for the Staff of Demnos" is a puzzle game developed by Software Creations and released in 1990 in Japan and the U.S. and in 1991 in Europe,

Incidentally this was the very last game I bought for the NES back in the day, which is probably why I never actually finished it.

Title Screen

Actually the game takes place during the winter solstice.
The plot is really nothing special; the antagonist Morbius the Malevolent kidnaps Eleanor, princess of Arkadia, with the intent to sacrifice her in a ritual to become the Evil Baron of Darkness.
After witnessing the kidnapping of Eleanor, the protagonist, the wizard Shadax sets out to rescue Eleanor.
He has learned of a magical staff (the titular Staff of Demnos) that is able to defeat Morbius. It has been made invisible and broken into six pieces and hidden in the fortress Kâstleröck.
However once every hundred years on the winter solstice the pieces become visible.

Intro sequence

The maze of Kâstleröck consists of 252 rooms in an isometric view and the puzzles include traversing platforms, using potions, set of bombs etc. in order to collect items in order to progress.
The game is non-linear and in order to reach items in rooms you often have to find another entrance.

With the games scale and the fact that it lacks any kind of save or password function it does take quite some time to complete, although you will progressively go through the game quicker as you figure out the solutions to the puzzles.
It is however possible to complete the game without finding every single item in every single room, which is why, upon ending the game you get a score based on how many items you've found and how many rooms you visited.
Each of the 252 rooms is worth 1 point, and each of the 52 items is worth 5 points, giving a maximum possible score of 512.

Room with a key

Apparently "Solstice" was inspired by the ZX Spectrum games "Knight Lore" and "Pentagram", although I must admit I am completely unfamiliar with those titles.

The game is worth about €9-20 in used condition, depending on quality.
For a brand new copy, expect to pay about €60.