Interplay Productions

Tales of the Unknown: Volume I - The Bard's Tale

Tales of the Unknown: Volume I, better known as "The Bard's Tale", is an RPG developed by Interplay Productions in 1985 originally for the Apple II. It was quickly ported to numerous other platforms and became widely successful. This was partly because it incorporated unprecedented 3D graphic design, featuring partly animated character portraits and engaging gameplay. It also helped that the game was available on the Commodore 64-the most successful game console at the time, whereas the main competitor-the Ultima series, was not.

Released: 1 September 1985
Developer: Interplay Productions
Publisher: Electronic Arts
Perspective: First person
Age rating: ESRB T
Platforms: Commodore C64/128/MAX · Apple II
Genres: Role-playing (RPG) · Adventure
Also known as: The Bard's Tale

84
Player rating: 19
Ratings counted

Quick answers

Crossplay

Tales of the Unknown: Volume I - The Bard's Tale

The story

The Bard's Tale is a typical dungeon crawl styled game, where the objective is to gain experience and progress each character's skill level through combat and monsters. This is done by working through a number of labyrinths, solving puzzles, and upgrading equipment. In this particular dungeon crawl, the story is centred around the evil wizard Mangar, who must be defeated by a small band of unproven young Warriors, Magic Users, a couple of Bards, and a few Rogues, led by the player. Mangar has brought evil creatures into the town of Skara Brae and cast a spell of Eternal Winter, isolating Skara Brae from outside help.

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