Deathtrap Dungeon (video game)
Ian Livingstone's Deathtrap Dungeon is an action-adventure video game developed by Asylum Studios and published by Eidos Interactive for PlayStation and Microsoft Windows in 1998. It is based on the adventure gamebook of the same name (the sixth in the Fighting Fantasy series) written by Ian Livingstone, and published by Puffin Books in 1984.
Deathtrap Dungeon | |
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Developer(s) | Asylum Studios |
Publisher(s) | Eidos Interactive |
Director(s) | Paul Sheppard |
Producer(s) | Frank Hom |
Designer(s) | Richard Halliwell Andrew Wensley |
Programmer(s) | Matt Curran |
Artist(s) | Matthew Bagshaw |
Composer(s) | Mike Ash Steve Monk |
Series | Fighting Fantasy |
Platform(s) | PlayStation, Windows |
Release | PlayStationMicrosoft Windows |
Genre(s) | Action-adventure |
Mode(s) | Single-player |
Gameplay
The game is a third-person action-adventure, with the player taking the role of an adventurer (either the Amazon "Red Lotus" or the Barbarian "Chaindog"), who at the invitation of a wizard explores a series of dungeons and must overcome both monsters and traps to find riches.
Development
Ian Livingstone was heavily involved in determining the game's level design and art style.[2] The aesthetics and atmosphere are manifestly inspired by Italian artist Giovanni Battista Piranesi, whose ruins drawings fascinated Ian Livingstone.
Though the game's 3D engine is very similar to that of Tomb Raider, another Eidos-published game with a development cycle which overlapped that of Deathtrap Dungeon, the two games were developed in isolation.[2]
Reception
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Deathtrap Dungeon received "mixed or average", according to review aggregator GameRankings.[8][9]
Next Generation reviewed the PlayStation version of the game, rating it one star out of five, and stated that "The flaws in the game continually distracted us from the fun parts. Overall, there are only three words for this game - bad, bad, bad."[7]
References
- "New Releases". GameSpot. 30 June 1998. Archived from the original on 9 June 2000. Retrieved 6 December 2019.
- "NG Alphas: Deathtrap Dungeon". Next Generation. No. 28. Imagine Media. April 1997. pp. 94–95.
- Poole, Stephen (4 September 1998). "Deathtrap Dungeon Review". GameSpot. Retrieved 2 May 2019.
- Fielder, Joe (28 April 2000). "Deathtrap Dungeon Review". GameSpot. Retrieved 2 May 2019.
- Staff, IGN (13 August 1998). "Deathtrap Dungeon". IGN. Retrieved 2 May 2019.
- Staff, IGN (3 April 1998). "Deathtrap Dungeon". IGN. Retrieved 2 May 2019.
- "Finals". Next Generation. No. 42. Imagine Media. June 1998. p. 135.
- "Deathtrap Dungeon for PC". GameRankings. Archived from the original on 9 December 2019. Retrieved 2 May 2019.
- "Deathtrap Dungeon for PlayStation". GameRankings. Archived from the original on 9 December 2019. Retrieved 2 May 2019.