Abandoned Places: A Time for Heroes
| Industry | Video game development |
|---|---|
| Founded | 1989 |
| Founder | István Fábián, Ferenc Staengler |
| Headquarters | Hungary |
Key people | György Dragon (composer) |
| Products | Abandoned Places: A Time for Heroes, Abandoned Places 2 |
Abandoned Places: A Time for Heroes is a Hungarian role-playing video game with dungeon crawler elements, developed by ArtGame and released in 1992 for Amiga and DOS platforms through International Computer Entertainment. Its follow-up, Abandoned Places 2, was launched in 1993 exclusively for Amiga.
Plot and gameplay
The narrative centers on a group of four adventurers from Kalynthia who embark on a mission to rescue their homeland from the malevolent arch mage Bronagh.
When exploring dungeons, the game transitions into a three-dimensional perspective, reminiscent of the style used in Dungeon Master.
Development
ArtGame's founders, István Fábián and Ferenc Staengler, developed Abandoned Places, with György Dragon joining as the composer in 1989. Drawing inspiration from titles like Advanced Dungeons & Dragons and Dungeon Master, the team began pitching the project in early 1990, including an attempt to collaborate with Electronic Arts, which declined due to a competing project. By January 1992, the game was finalized and underwent testing shortly before its release. Despite its publication, the creators received little financial reward and were not invited to the official Hungarian launch event.
Reception
The Amiga edition received an 80% score from Amiga Power, which commended the game's vast environment and the well-executed balance between surface exploration and dungeon crawling. The review acknowledged the game's demanding difficulty level but pointed out shortcomings in its "subpar" visual quality and "uninspired" animation, noting that combat graphics resembled nearly '8-bit' visuals despite strong overall design efforts.
External links
- Abandoned Places: A Time For Heroes at Hall of Light Amiga database
- Abandoned Places 2 at Hall of Light Amiga database