|
Successor of Commodore blockbuster The Pawn, Magnetic Scrolls' Guild of Thieves
improves upon its predecessor in almost every respect, although the charming
tongue-in-cheek humor of the first game is somewhat muted here by a much stronger
emphasis on puzzle solving than plot development. Which is not to say that the plot in
this is lacking - it is just average. The game casts you in a role of an apprentice
thief who must steal an array of valuables to prove that he is worthy of an entrance
into the guild of his profession. Tasks start out small - pilfering small objects
here and there - and culminate in the robbery of the Bank of Kerovnia. Anyone who
wished that The Pawn's were longer and more puzzle-intensive will have a field day
with Guild of Thieves. The game serves a plethora of many, many more diabolical
puzzles than The Pawn, many of which require both perfect timing and ingenuity to
solve. This is definitely not a game anyone can finish in a sitting (unless you can
survive days perched on a chair, eating food with one hand and typing with another).
The game also offers many enhanced features, most notably the advanced parser which
understands a lot more useful verbs. The "goto x" command, for example, will bring
you to a location you have been before automatically by taking the shortest possible
route. You do not need to draw maps anymore, unless the geometry of the landscape is
crucial for solving some puzzles. Of special mention is the gradual increase in
difficulty that, in a way, serves as a "tutorial" for beginners. The first treasures
can be found and removed easiliy, but the difficulty of the puzzles gradually
increases. Anyone who manages to rob the Bank of Kerovnia at the end can be proud
with good reason. Overall, this is a great game, especially if you like puzzle-intensive adventures without much attention to plot (similar to Zork). Anyone looking for a more plot-intensive game should play The Pawn and even Jinxter first and save this difficult
challenge for later. In 1991, Virgin Interactive released The Magnetic Scrolls Collection Vol 1, containing new versions of The Guild of Thieves, Corruption and Fish! that took advantage of the Magnetic Windows engine. In 2017, a Remastered version was released by Strand Games adapted for modern PCs and mobiles, with a vastly improved UI. Features include: Touch-Text Commands; Tap "links" in the text to perform commands without typing; Game specific word suggestion; Tap suggested words from the word bar during input to save time; Sidebar Inventory; All your things are conveniently listed in a sidebar - Drag and drop to use them or to apply them to things in the main text; Dynamic Map - No need to draw out the map, we do it for you. As you explore the game, the map page will expand. Tap any previous room on the map to "fast-goto" that location; Quickly navigate with a handy compass gadget. It shows the available exits at all times, simply tap to move. The new facilities make the original game fun and entertaining to play on modern devices. No more dead ends; the remaster has multi-level undo, save/load game and automatic undo from dying. There's also the original artwork, the animated artwork and new music from the original artist John Molloy. |