Jewels of Darkness

Level 9

Industry	Video game development
Headquarters	United Kingdom
Products	Jewels of Darkness (interactive fiction trilogy)
Parent	Telecomsoft (label for release)

Jewels of Darkness comprises a trilogy of interactive fiction titles crafted by Level 9 and released under the Telecomsoft label in 1986. Initially launched as separate games in 1982, the series was originally titled the Middle-Earth Trilogy and drew heavily from the works of J. R. R. Tolkien. The 1986 edition compiled these games with enhancements and alterations, notably removing explicit references to Middle Earth due to legal considerations. The trilogy incorporates basic static visuals and was made available across various systems such as Amiga, Atari ST, Commodore 64, MS-DOS, and ZX Spectrum.

Colossal Adventure

Serving as an expanded iteration of the original Adventure created by Will Crowther and Don Woods, this entry forms the cornerstone of the trilogy.

Adventure Quest

Following a similar format, this game tasks players with overcoming the Dark Lord Agaliarept.

Dungeon Adventure

Building on Adventure Quest, players delve into Agaliarept’s dungeon in pursuit of valuable treasure.

Reception

Critical response to the compilation was varied. Zzap! rated it 92%, praising its captivating storylines despite modest graphical quality: "[The graphics are] colourful but they're not great works of art. And the location descriptions and scenarios have always struck me as being good enough on their own." Additionally, it received a Megagame award from Your Sinclair. Conversely, Computer Gaming World expressed skepticism about the extent of the claimed revisions, criticizing the puzzles as illogical and the graphics as inferior compared to other Firebird text adventures.