Demon Stalkers

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Demon Stalkers
Developer(s)	Micro Forte
Publisher(s)	Electronic Arts
Platform(s)	Commodore 64, DOS
Release date	1987, 1988
Genre(s)	Action, RPG
Mode(s)	Single player, 2 player
Rating(s)	n/a

Demon Stalkers is a top-down action game released in 1987 on the Commodore 64, similar in style to Gauntlet. In this game the player controls one of 2 characters:

the boy, who throws daggers from an infinite supply, or
the girl, who fires a never-ending supply of crossbow bolts.

There is also a two-player option where both characters explore the dungeon simultaneously.

The dungeon consists of many interconnected maze-like levels which you must navigate all the way down to level 100, where the final boss, Calvrak dwells. Most of the levels entail some sort of puzzle solving, involving clues in the form of scrolls that you pick up along the way. These scrolls also tell the story of an unsuccessful group of adventurers who journeyed through the dungeon before the player(s). The previous party included members named Arthur, Bloodaxe, Grindlewald, Furrowfoot, and Imelda, as well as Mellack, a mage who the adventurers met along the way and who eventually betrayed them. If you pay attention to these scrolls and successfully answer some questions, you are rewarded with bonus health points after every three levels of the dungeon.

Level 100 is unique in the game, as its geography includes large, irregularly shaped caves, rather than straight or diagonal walls as in the other levels. Level 100 also only features one enemy, the demon Calvrak.

The game also features several multi-level mazes, where the player must ascend and descend between levels several times before finding the correct path.

Enemies in the game, aside from Calvrak himself, include rats, ghosts who can walk through walls, dervishes who can steal a player's possessions, snappers who remain dormant until one is shot, and mad mages, who shoot fireballs. These monsters emerge from items called vortexes, which can be destroyed by the player with several shots, except for rats, who emerge from sewers. Sewers cannot be destroyed, but players can walk over them.

Demon Stalkers was one of the first computer games to come with its own level-editor, allowing you to create your own game.^{[citation needed]} All levels except 100 can be edited.