The Amazon Trail

The Amazon Trail is an educational adventure that sends you down the Amazon River with considerably less certainty about what you are doing than the title might suggest. Released in 1993, it mixes exploration, geography, resource management, and survival into a journey through one of the world's most famous river systems. You choose routes, deal with unpredictable events, hunt for food, and learn about the people, animals, and environments encountered along the way. The educational material is woven into the adventure rather than simply dumped on the player like a textbook with pictures. There is a genuine sense of discovery, although the Amazon has a nasty habit of reminding inexperienced explorers that nature does not care about your carefully planned itinerary. The Amazon Trail is an enjoyable snapshot of early educational gaming, where learning geography could involve getting lost in a jungle and wondering why your supplies have mysteriously disappeared.