Project Info and Downloads

I'm assuming keyboard controls since I find the shortcuts far more convenient than going through the menus, and the DOS version controls since that's the only version I've played. Some details of the functionality may also be specific to the DOS version.

Starting out and general gameplay tips

You begin your quest in the village of Tambry as Julian, the best fighter of the three brothers. Use the arrow keys or numpad to move around. Search the houses for some supplies (use '?' to find hidden items, usually in fireplaces, and 'T' to take things).

Your character gets hungry and tired over time. Warning messages for hunger will appear in the narration window, so if you see one, make a point of stopping by a tavern. Once there, press 'O' near the NPC to buy (for 3 coins) and immediately eat some food. Repeat as needed until "feeling quite full". Either you don't get messages for fatigue consistently or I keep missing them, so every now and then, look for some bedding (found in most forms of housing) and stand on it for a few seconds. Your character will doze off if sleepy, or you'll be informed that he's not tired otherwise.

If your character gets hungry enough, he'll start losing health over time instead of slowly healing, and if he's starving for long enough, he'll start moving in an awkward and very slow stagger. If your character gets too tired, he may fall asleep out in the open, where he's easy pickings for monsters. On the other hand, hunger and fatigue reset after being revived, and health is fully restored, so if you have the Luck to spare, taking a death might not be such a bad idea if things get too out of hand.

Press 'P' followed by a letter from A to H to save to one of eight slots, and 'L' followed by the corresponding letter to load a previously saved game. Use Shift+'Q' to quit (you may need to press that twice depending on the active menu). The spacebar pauses and unpauses the game. 'I' will display your inventory in graphical form. You can also toggle the music with 'M' or the sound effects with 'F'.

Use 'A' for Ask or 'S' for Say (the two appear to be interchangeable in all cases) to interact with NPCs. Many will give hints, and some will do more than that. You can also use 'Y' to Yell, but every NPC seems to respond to that with a "No need to shout, son!"

After you leave Tambry, monsters attack at random in groups of 1 to 5, with the music changing when enemies are nearby as a warning. It's a good idea to hang around the area for a while and do some fighting to build up your Bravery. Search dead foes (use 'T' again for this) to find additional supplies, including their weapons, which may be better than yours. No new enemies will appear until the bodies despawn, which (except for wraiths) won't happen as long as you stay in the immediate vicinity.

Be wary of wraiths, which are more dangerous than most enemies and can pass through solid obstacles, and especially of bowmen, which remain a threat no matter how strong you become. The wrong set of enemies can wipe the floor with you when you're injured or just starting out, so save early and save often, and be prepared to load if things go bad. Also note that, other than a few unremarkable location-specific creatures (bog snakes and cave spiders), the same enemies appear all across Holm, so once you can handle the monsters near town, you can handle the monsters anywhere, with endurance as your only limitation.

To fight enemies, press Insert or '0' on the numpad to toggle attacking. Combat is directional, so make sure you're facing your attackers. Easier said than done in some cases, since it can be difficult to distinguish sideways from diagonal, and enemies will sometimes back away a few steps and come at you again from a different angle. Try to get lined up before engaging.

The graveyard down the road southeast of Tambry is a good place to fight early on. Position the fence between yourself and the attackers, and they tend to just walk up against it and stand there (except for wraiths, which can pass through it). When they do, you can usually attack them through the fence, but they can't attack back. It may not be playing fair, but it's far safer than fighting in the open.

Once you have more weapons, press '1' for dagger, '2' for mace, '3' for sword, '4' for bow, or '5' for magic wand. When you pick up a "better" (higher-numbered) weapon than the one you're currently using, you'll switch to it automatically (which gets annoying when looting bows). The sword is your best general-purpose weapon, and there's no real reason to use the dagger or mace ever again once you have one. Also, there's no variety within types. A sword is a sword is a sword, and you either have one or you don't.

The bow and wand can attack from a distance, and fire missiles when you press the attack button, rather than having a toggled attacking state. If you pick one up while already attacking with a melee weapon, you may get stuck in place thanks to attack mode not turning off properly. If this happens, just switch back to a melee weapon and stop attacking as usual.

If Julian dies, a faery will come along and revive him, but he'll lose 5 Luck. If his Luck runs out, he'll stay dead, and you'll basically start over from Tambry as Phillip, the luckiest brother. Try not to let this happen too far out of the way after getting important items, because Phillip will need to find Julian's body to retrieve them. Other than that, Phillip plays just like Julian. Should his generous amount of Luck run out, you'll similarly start over back in Tambry again as Kevin, the kindest but otherwise least capable of the brothers, with another body to find, and if his Luck runs out, there aren't any more brothers left so that's game over.

Some magic items can help with combat. Glass vials (F6) recover some health, and you can buy more in taverns for 15 coins with the 'V' key. Gold rings (F9) temporarily freeze monsters; they're harmless when frozen, and though you can't kill them until the ring wears off, you can take their items and disarm most kinds. Jade skulls (F10) will instantly kill all common enemies in the area.

Jade skulls (and white keys) only drop from wraiths, which are the trickiest monsters to loot as well as being the most dangerous non-archers. Dead wraiths collapse into piles of cloth that you'll often fail to find anything in even when there's still an item there, and will disappear altogether after a random amount of time. Keep tapping 'T' repeatedly when you kill one until you find something.

There are also other types of consumable magic items. Green jewels (F5) temporarily improve visibility at night with a false color effect. Crystal orbs (F7) temporarily reveal concealed doorways. Bird totems (F8) display an aerial view of your surroundings outdoors, and are the only common items that enemies never drop, but you can buy more in taverns for 20 coins with the 'E' key.

Finally, blue stones (Z) work only when standing inside one of the eleven stone rings scattered across Holm, and will teleport you to a different ring, chosen based on which ring you teleport from and which direction you're facing when you use the blue stone. I won't map out the entire network, but here are some useful connections from the stone circle east of Tambry: Teleport when facing west to reach the Isle of Sorcery; return by teleporting from there when facing northeast. Teleport when facing south to reach the circle west of Grimwood; return by teleporting from there when facing southeast. Teleport when facing northeast to reach the circle near the Shrine of the People Who Came Before; return by teleporting from there when facing west. (I would also include the circle near the dragon's cave, except that it doesn't have a direct connection with either of the rings closest to Tambry.) Also note that if your character is staggering from extreme hunger, he moves fairly erratically and may not be facing the direction you're trying to move in. (The later Sega Genesis port does away with all this and instead lets you pick your destination from a list of all ten other stone rings, regardless of which one you start from. It also lets you buy blue stones from taverns for 20 coins, and even calls them "travel stones" in the shop menu to remind you of their purpose.)

In addition to coins, weapons, and magic items, enemies will often drop keys. These come in six colors, and each locked door responds only to a single key type. When next to a locked door, press 'K' and then a number from 1 to 6 to try a gold, green, blue, red, grey, or white key, respectively. Keys are consumed when used, and doors relock upon changing maps. The DOS port also gives each key a distinct shape in the inventory to compensate for the CGA version's inability to display more than four colors at once.

Anyway, Bravery (Bv) is your combat skill and goes up with each kill, Luck (Lk) is used for revival as noted above, Kindness (Kd) can be raised by giving money to beggars (press '$') but rarely matters unless it's so low that NPCs refuse to help you, Vitality (Vt) is your health and has a maximum that gradually increases as Bravery does, and Wealth (Wl) is how much money you have.

How to beat the game

Once you can hold your own in combat, head north to Turtle Point or east to the watchtower to get a seashell, which you can use (by pressing '7') when near water to summon a giant turtle that effectively acts as a boat.

Take the turtle, or use stone rings to teleport, to the Isle of Sorcery in the north, where you can use a blue key to enter the Crystal Palace and meet a sorceress who gives you one of the five golden statues you'll need. Talk to her repeatedly for Luck bonuses.

From here, you can sail north to wrap around to the south edge of the world and go up the river toward the Shrine of the People Who Came Before in the mountains south of Marheim, or use the stone rings to teleport to the same area. Outfight the Knight of Dreams who guards the shrine (or use a gold ring or jade skull) to enter and claim the sunstone.

With the sunstone, you can slay the witch in Grimwood. It's a long trek to get there, but follow the map above to find your way to her castle. Inside, use the sunstone (press '8') to make her vulnerable, then attack and win for a magic golden lasso.

With the lasso, you can tame the golden beast. Sail the turtle to Swan Isle in the southwest to find a giant golden swan. Walk onto its back to climb on and fly over all terrain at high speed. The swan moves constantly when in flight, but can change direction instantly. You can land on most types of open ground by pressing the attack button. (The EGA version makes the swan always fly full speed straight ahead, and so lets you land regardless of speed. In many other versions, which oddly includes even the CGA DOS version, the swan has varying flight speeds, and you need to slow down to land. Trying to move in the opposite direction can reduce your speed these versions, and at least in the CGA version, so can re-pressing the same direction you're already going.) The swan will stay where you left it until you get back on, so remember where you parked!

Flying makes everything more convenient (except teleporting, since the swan stays behind, but flight makes that largely obsolete anyway), so this is a good time to head to the Seahold in the far southeast for a second golden statue, and to a small clearing just northwest of the keep in southern Grimwood for a third (see maps above). Enter the keep with a green key for piles of bird totems, too, while you're there.

Flying is also the only way to enter the Forbidden Keep, surrounded by mountains south of Marheim. Land on the roof and go inside to rescue the kidnapped princess. After a brief cutscene of sorts, the game automatically takes you to the throne room of the castle in Marheim, where the king gives you a writ. Leave the castle (you're locked inside, bizarrely, and can potentially be stuck if you don't have two gold keys to use!) to find the golden swan waiting for you in the town square, thankfully. Before flying off again, though, show the writ to the priest in the building directly east of the castle entrance (you'll need a grey key to get inside) for a fourth golden statue. (The priest also fully heals you when spoken to, which may be worth keeping in mind, especially earlier in the game.)

Additionally, there are two houses (grey keys needed) in southern Marheim that contain not even a dozen apples total. These are the only known form of portable food in the game. Unfortunately, you have no control over when to use them; if your character gets peckish and has any, he'll eat one automatically, even if you're just a few steps from a tavern. And once they're gone, they're gone! (The later Sega Genesis port lets you buy apples as travel rations from taverns for 8 coins, more than twice the cost of standard food but well worth it when exploring.)

There's just one more golden statue left, and it's in the same general location as another item you'll need. Follow the roads southwest of Tambry to reach Hemsath's tomb, then use the map above to navigate through the door maze to the final golden statue and the bone of an ancient king. The optimal legitimate path (there may be places where you can clip through the walls or doors in unintended ways, especially when attacking enemies) uses four gold and four red keys. The gold doors stand out visually, whereas the doors that take red keys are invisible when closed. Using a crystal orb (F7) will temporarily reveal them as dotted outlines, but that's entirely optional; you'll still get an "it's locked" message if you brush against one when it's invisible, and can unlock it without issue.

With all five golden statues collected, the hidden city of Azal will appear in the Burning Waste. It seems to have been abandoned, but search the eastern building to find a rose, which (somehow) lets you walk across lava as though it were ordinary solid ground.

With the bone from Hemsath's Tomb, head to the graveyard southwest of Tambry and enter the crypt at midnight. A spectre appears here at this time, and if you give him the bone as he asks you to (press 'N'), he rewards you with a crystal shard. This will let you pass through the barrier blocking the way inside the entrance to the necromancer's citadel.

Now, all you need is a way to kill the necromancer. Starting from the stone circle west of the Frosty Mountains in the northwest, go slightly south and proceed east to find the dragon's cave. Follow the map above to make your way to one of the two magic wands, conceptually the "best" weapon but generally inferior to a sword in practice. It's basically a bow that doesn't use up arrows.

Only one thing left to do, then. The ground around the necromancer's citadel is too hot for the swan, so land further north and cross the rest of the Plain of Grief on foot. Walk across the lava blocking the entrance (rose required), pass through the barrier inside (crystal shard required), and then step through the portal into the bizarre astral plane.

Inside the astral plane, geometric shapes attack every so often, but if you've made it this far, they should be no threat at all. The real problem is the color-coded flooring, most of which inflicts nuisance gimmicks—green floors are normal, but blue floors have ice physics, red floors speed you up, and the black floor around the necromancer himself at the end inverts directions (and stepping on to and off of it gets finicky). Falling off the walkways into the starry abyss kills you; it costs 2 Luck to revive nearby.

At the end of the path, in a red-floored arena surrounded by black floor, you'll find the necromancer himself. Pull out the magic wand and shoot him until he falls. He'll drop the amulet you've been looking for all this time. Pick it up to win.

Miscellaneous

There are a number of other locations in the game that seem like they ought to be important, but they're all either optional areas with clues or supplies, or have no discernable significance at all. Like the mysterious Pixle Grove, which apparently does nothing. I think I remember reading that the developer said it was the remnant of an idea that never made it into the game. In any case, there's a lot of world to explore, and even if you never need to visit most of it, that was a large part of the appeal of the game.

Speaking of which, just because something is locked or difficult to reach doesn't mean there will be anything worthwhile there. Some remote buildings are completely empty, and I don't think I've ever found anything at all by unlocking a cabinet.

Taverns also sell weapons and ammunition. A mace ('C') costs 30 coins, a sword ('D') costs 45 coins, a bow ('B') costs 75 coins, and arrows ('R') cost 10 coins for a pack of ten. Enemies drop them all the time, though, so you're better off saving your money for food, glass vials, and bird totems. And be warned that the game will still let you spend money on a weapon when you already have it!

During combat, your character will advance forward when inflicting damage and be pushed back when taking damage. You can sometimes take advantage of this to pass right through locked doors, but be careful not to get yourself stuck!

When your Bravery gets sufficiently high, not only do you become essentially immune to enemy attacks (except missiles), but you don't have to worry about facing them directly to attack, and can eventually even hit enemies behind you! My best guess is that the game grows your attacking radius and shrinks the enemy's as you get stronger, potentially to the point that you can hit anything that's anywhere near you but they can't hit you at all even if you just stand there... except with missile weapons.

I sometimes have trouble getting the seashell to work after receiving it from the turtle at Turtle Point, possibly because it's added directly to your inventory instead of you picking it up as is usual, or perhaps the turtle's state just isn't initialized properly. If this happens, sailing over to the watchtower and taking the one there always seems to fix things.

Many outcomes in the game, including the exact amount that glass vials heal and what you find in containers like treasure chests, are chosen randomly when the event occurs. If you're not averse to save scumming, you can manipulate the results for such things.

The solidity of certain types of walls is a bit glitchy. In particular, you can walk into the seemingly continuous west wall of a keep, just above where the main structure meets the wing below, then continue east to the doorway and go inside without unlocking it.

The rose isn't strictly necessary to beat the game (and so neither are the five golden statues, or most of the rest of the game, for that matter). Lava seems to functionally be an unusually deadly sort of water as far as the game is concerned, and an odd side effect of that is that you can usually get the turtle to appear in it by using the seashell when the far side of the lava pool is offscreen. This includes the lava blocking the citadel entrance, so if you move far enough south that the lava is almost out of sight, you can summon the turtle and ride it right up to the doorway. Oops?

Turns out you don't need the magic wand, either. At least in the DOS versions, arrows work just fine against the necromancer.