Sorcerer

Sorcerer is an interactive fiction game written by Steve Meretzky and released by Infocom in 1984 . It is the second game in the magic-themed "Enchanter trilogy", preceded by Enchanter and followed by Spellbreaker, and is Infocom's eleventh game overall . Following the defeat of the evil Krill in Enchanter, your character has progressed from Apprentice to earning a coveted seat in the Circle of Enchanters . Belboz the Necromancer, the leader of the Circle, has become not only a mentor but a close friend. Lately, though, Belboz has seemed different, distracted and talking to himself, until one day he suddenly disappears . You must uncover what has happened to him before his power is turned against the land . Sorcerer features 70 ways for the player to die, the most of any Infocom game as of early 1985 . Memorable puzzles include an invisible glass maze and a toxic coal mine requiring short-term time travel .

Commodore 64

The Commodore 64 version was released by Infocom on 5.25" floppy disk in 1984 . As with all Infocom titles, the game is entirely text-based with no graphics, relying on the Z-machine interpreter . The C64 port includes all 70 death messages, the full spell-casting system from Enchanter, and the potion mechanic introduced in this sequel . The game supports a complete vocabulary parser capable of understanding complex commands . Contemporary reviews praised the depth of the writing and the challenging puzzle design, noting that Sorcerer is significantly more difficult than its predecessor Enchanter . A worthy sequel that expands the magical universe of Zork with darker themes and deadlier traps .