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Akalabeth: World of Doom (DOS, 1996)

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Title Screen

Akalabeth: World of Doom

Also known as: Ultima 0: Akalabeth
Developer: Finire Dragon
Platform: DOS


CodeIcon.png This game has unused code.
TextIcon.png This game has unused text.


Akalabeth: World of Doom is the precursor to the Ultima series. Originally released for the Apple II Basic, the game remained mostly unknown until this unofficial port, which was compiled in Microsoft QBasic (an official PC port was released in 1998 as an enhanced remake and is included in the Ultima Collection).

This unofficial port would later be distributed on GOG.com, with the official port placed as an extra download.

Unfortunately...

Unused Text

...The game is unwinnable.

In this port, Lord British doesn't recognize any quest progress, which also keeps you from being able to receive a +1 boost to all stats whenever you kill your quarry (marginal compared to becoming a Lizard Man) or obtaining the Lord title when killing the final opponent.

(Source: GOG Forums)

As the GOG.com release includes the basic source code, one can spot the affected lines directly:

7500  IF ta > 0 THEN PRINT : PRINT : PRINT pn$; " WHY HAST THOU RETURNED?": PRINT "THOU MUST KILL A(N) "; m$(ta)
      PRINT "GO NOW AND COMPLETE THY QUEST!": PRINT : PRINT "         PRESS -SPACE- TO CONT."; : DO: q$ = INKEY$: LOOP WHILE q$ = "": CLS : GOTO 1090

7510  PRINT : PRINT : PRINT : PRINT "AAHH!!....."; pn$: PRINT : PRINT "THOU HAST ACOMPLISHED THY QUEST!": IF ABS(ta) = 10 THEN 7900

7520  PRINT "UNFORTUNATELY, THIS IS NOT ENOUGH TO": PRINT "BECOME A KNIGHT.": ta = ABS(ta) + 1: PRINT : PRINT "NOW THOU MUST KILL A(N) "; m$(ta)

7530  GOTO 7060

7900  SCREEN 1: VIEW PRINT: CLS : PRINT : PRINT : PRINT : pn$ = "LORD " + pn$: PRINT " "; pn$; ","

7910  PRINT "       THOU HAST PROVED THYSELF WORTHY": PRINT "OF KNIGHTHOOD, CONTINUE PLAY IF THOU": PRINT "DOTH WISH, BUT THOU HAST ACOMPLISHED": PRINT "THE MAIN OBJECTIVE OF THIS GAME..."

7920  IF lp = 10 THEN 7950

7930  PRINT : PRINT "   NOW MAYBE THOU ART FOOLHEARTY": PRINT "ENOUGH TOTRY DIFFICULTY LEVEL "; lp + 1

7940  GOTO 7070

7950  PRINT : PRINT "...CALL CALIFORNIA PACIFIC COMPUTER": PRINT "AT (415)-569-9126 TO REPORT THIS": PRINT "AMAZING FEAT!"

7990  GOTO 7070

The cause is code line 7500 - there's a hard return at the end of the first line, causing the following indented line to be treated as a separate line of code rather than being part of the previous "if-then" statement.