This review is one for the fans of the Discworld novels and Terry Pratchett! Which includes me of course. From somewhere in my teens I discovered Terry Pratchett's Discworld novels in the local library. The covers alone made me curious enough to start reading this delightful fantasy novel series!

And a few years later I discovered that they also made a pc game from my beloved series, this was somewhere around 1995.

A short introduction to the novels

If you are familiar with the books, I think you rather know what to expect. If you never read a book of Terry Pratchett... well... SHAME ON YOU!

Discworld is based on various characters that all live in a world that is really... a flat disc! Wow! You didn't see that one coming now, did you? Well, it's not just a disc, you see. The disc is balanced on the backs of four elephants which in turn stand on the back of a giant turtle, Great A'Tuin.

So, the novels common focus is the Discworld, since several books can have many different lead characters. So a side roll in one book might be a lead in an other. A few of the characters that you'll run into in-game and in the books are Rincewind, the wizard, the librarian and Death.

I introduce to you

Rincewind, the protagonist in this game's storyline. He is a rather big cowardly wizard that evens fails to achieve the basics of wizardry, even though he's been enrolled to the Unseen University for years now. The reason behind this is because there are eight ultimate spells and one has lodged itself in Rincewind's mind. So no other spell will stay in his head since they are all scared of this highly destructive spell.

Intro

Like I mentioned before the game starts with A'Tuin floating in space and then zooming into the darkest part of Ankh-Morpork. The leading city in many Discworld novels that is build around the river Ankh. Somewhere in that darkest part of the city a secret brotherhood is summoning a dragon from its native dimension. Their goal is of course to cause destruction and mayhem across the city of Ankh-Morpork.

Quickly after its arrival the dragon starts with its habitual people roasting and rampaging. The following day, rumours of the dragon's rampage across the city reaches Unseen University. The head of the university, the Arch-chancellor, summons Rincewind to solve the matter.

After a short speech he gives Rincewind his first assignment, collect a book from the library on learning what is needed to track the dragon to its lair.

You'll quickly notice that Rincewind has a rather unusual companion. Luggage! walking around on it's own with many many legs that follows him everywhere! And not to mention a very stubborn personality.

And so the adventure begins!

What to expect?

Discworld is a fun, fantasy driven adventure with satirical takes on various of famous stories and myths. Think wizards, dragons, trolls, witches and so on... they are all playing their part! Just like the Discworld novels, the creator of the game is of British origin. So expect some entertaining British humor!

I think to really enjoy the game and story you should at least be open to fantasy and mythical literature.

Since I already reviewed Simon The Sorcerer, this might remind you of those games. They both contain an antihero wizard-like person as protagonist, appear in a medieval setting and are surrounded by mythical creatures. Both games are British, contain parodies on other well known fantasy stories and myths and contain foul-mouth jokes every now and then. But still, both games are and feel very different! You'll just have to start playing to find that out yourself.

Give me a clue

The puzzles are sometimes a bit far fetched and difficult. Because sometimes you have learn something else first before you can pick up a certain item. But don't let that discourage you from playing this wonderful game!

Also a bit different than most point&click games, is that, items are stored in two places. Remember the luggage I told you about? He keeps most of the items that Rincewind will gather, but Rincewind himself can also store a few items.

Graphics

Discworld the game, really has that same feel as the Discworld novels. Which is an absolute plus! This game is a true pixel-art gem that can work inspiring to one's imagination. Even though it's an old game build out of pixel-art, it still contains a lot of details.

Oh, hint! There's also a nice surprise interaction in the game. Try to let Rincewind stand still for a bit to find out what it is.

Play it now!

Discworld originally came out on many platforms such as: PlayStation, Sega Saturn, DOS, MS-DOS, Mac OS... So how can you play it now? Get a copy somewhere and install an emulator. Or buy a second hand edition. Gog.com currently still does not offer it on their store, but there's a request topic on their community pages for it. So hopefully it will be available soon!

To end my review I have only one thing left to say:
Discworld certainly is a very worthy classic to the point&click game genre!