The Crack of Doom

The Crack of Doom is an old-school adventure with a title that sounds considerably more dramatic than the average Tuesday afternoon, and the game does its best to live up to it. Exploration and puzzle solving form the heart of the experience, with the player moving through a fantasy-flavored world, collecting useful objects, examining surroundings, and attempting to understand what the game wants next. As with many adventures of its era, progress can involve experimentation and occasionally some delightfully obscure reasoning. The minimalist presentation leaves plenty of room for imagination, which is often exactly what these early games needed. It may feel unforgiving by modern standards, but that is part of its vintage personality. If you enjoy adventures where every room might contain a clue and every harmless-looking object could somehow be essential, The Crack of Doom provides a pleasantly archaic challenge.