Deathkeep

Once upon a time (according to the three-armed Oracle of the Citadel, several millennia before the start of the game), there was a gnome kingdom lost among the ice. But now, a certain Necromancer appeared in him, summoning icy winds to the peaceful edges. Even “all the royal cavalry, all the royal army” could not cope with him. However, with the help of three artifacts, he was finally stopped and, although not killed, was enclosed in a glacier, which he himself sent to peaceful lands, and the magical Citadel that he turned to evil was destroyed. After the battle, the surviving remnants of the population left the ruins of their homeland, from which, in other matters, there was only one sanctuary that once served in the battle with the evil magician, and even several buildings. Years and years later, a meteorite fell on a vast ice field, freeing a dangerous captive. With him, at the call of the Oracle, the player’s character must fight. Another important task is to find the treasured spheres that will later help to defeat the powerful caster. ^[one]

DeathKeep is a first-person dungeon where a player can choose a dwarf warrior, an elven mage, or a half-elf fighter mage. ^[2]

The game is a continuation of Advanced Dungeons & Dragons: Slayer . It was released for the 3DO console, and then published on PC. ^[one]

After analyzing the 3DO version, a critic from Next Generation praised the graphic textures, but said that the game is very complicated, inaccurate controls are especially criticized when the character stops, and you need to go through several objects several times before the game registers the connection. Nevertheless, he concluded: "Although these are not small problems, the dungeons are designed with great care, the game is huge, and overall it is interesting enough to guarantee viewing, despite the annoyance." GamePro's The Game Elf gave it an enthusiastic review, applauding a huge amount of content, available settings, "smooth" control, visualized graphics with fully 3D points of view, detailed visual effects and "frustrating" sound effects. He concluded: "With a solid plot and great animation, Death Keep must die." ^[3]

Andy Butcher reviewed the PC version of Deathkeep for Arcane magazine. He noted that "the initial version for the 3DO console was less inspiring, and this poor-quality conversion to PCs got even worse." Butcher concluded: “Unfortunately, Deathkeep suffers from terrible graphics, poor sound quality and boring gameplay, all of which together create one of the worst games released on the PC in a long time. But don’t try, there’s just nothing to find to recommend it "If you want a fast-paced fantasy game that is heavy in the fight and in the light of the rules, Hexen is infinitely better than that." ^[1] According to GameSpy, DeathKeep was "the last Dungeons & Dragons game for SSI, and it was a pretty shameful end for a very outstanding race." ^[2]