Castle of the Winds 2: Lifthransir’s Bane

The second part of the role-playing adventure dilogy "Castle of the Winds". Unlike the first series, “A Question of Vengeance”, published in the form of Shareware, the second was delivered exclusively in a commercial way - sent on a diskette to those conscious users who transferred the game publisher $ 25. However, in 1994, even a separate boxed edition was released - well, in the year 2003, the author, the American programmer Rick Saada, provided both parts of the game for the free use of everyone.

With the interface, that the gameplay of Lifthransir’s Bane remained almost unchanged compared with the first series, and therefore pay attention to only a few innovations. At the beginning of the game we are given the opportunity to load the preservation made in the final of “A Question of Vengeance”. You can start the adventure and create a new character, immediately the seventh level - but this is not the best solution, and not only because the level of our beloved hero can be higher by this time, but also because of such a memorable and collected by such efforts of equipment, recruitment spells and other good, mined in the area of ​​Bjarnarhaven.

However, we still have to replace the equipment, and more than once: in the second game, the Castle of Winds itself is waiting for us, almost twice as large as the first dungeons of the first series combined: twenty-five floors full of old and new sights. In the local city, there are as many as ten standard outlets alone, not counting the temple, the bank, the sage's hut and the junk shop.

True, the city, like the castle, is only one here - compared to the two varieties of each in "A Question of Vengeance". But now it is inhabited by non-player characters with whom you can talk - and even take from them some distant similarity of tasks. For example, the guard at the entrance to the fortified dwelling of a local jarl takes us for another impostor and does not want to pass to his master, demanding to prove his noble origin. And the inanimate proof of this last, our native grandfather and the late King Liftranzir, finally reveals to his long-awaited grandson the essence of everything that is happening - and sends to fight for a just cause with unheard-of types of monsters. Among the latter now are not only the most varied jotun giants, but over two dozen varieties of dragons alone (including, of course, fire-breathing ones: prepare to stock up spells and amulets on fire resistance!), Not to mention demons or elementals. The more familiar categories of the bestiary have added to their ranks: for example, the undead are now strong in vampires who are able to permanently lower our indicator of health points ...

Of course, no less the addition touched the range of weapons, armor, potions and spells that are sure to help you cope even with the most powerful and insidious rivals. So if you like Rogue-like role-playing games, albeit with the simplest graphics and without any sound, but with a user-friendly interface, a stylish Scandinavian setting and great opportunities for randomly generated and populated locations, - do not pass by the remarkable dilogy of "Castle of the Winds"!