Wrath of the Demon

Wrath of the Demon is a fantasy hack-and-slash action game developed by Abstrax and published by ReadySoft in 1991. The evil wizard Anthrax summons a Demon who unleashes a horde of monsters to destroy the kingdom . A brave stranger answers the king's call and begins his quest. Gameplay is divided into distinct styles: a horseback riding level with parallax scrolling where you jump obstacles, punch flying enemies, and collect potions; side-scrolling platforming on foot where you fight with a blade; and arena battles against multiple enemies . The music is composed by David Whittaker .

Atari ST

Released in early 1991, this version requires 1MB RAM to achieve its technical performance – the extra memory allows pre-shifted graphics, enabling smooth pixel-scrolling that the ST hardware cannot do natively . ST Format praised the "superbly animated" graphics, fantastic opening sequence with gloomy sampled audio, large colourful sprites, and effective parallax scrolling . However, the gameplay was criticised as "non-existent" – combat is indistinctive, enemies are difficult to kill, and the detailed backdrops become repetitive . The game spans four double-sided disks with annoying load delays, and save game access is restricted to between-level screens only . While considered a step closer to marrying fantastic graphics with worthwhile gameplay, it "doesn't quite make it" – good, but not great . A reader noted that playing feels "uncomfortable" due to the horseback section moving too fast with strict punch timing, and the goblin arena battles featuring raid-boss health pools and problematic crouching/jumping mechanics .