Game

So I recently played Return to Zork, and talked a bit about the later Zork series, but I cannot stress enough how big Zork really was. Like, it was HUGE. One of the first big smash video games. Originally released in 1977 for mainframe computers, it had to be split into three parts with later home computer releases cause they couldn’t even handle it. Only one of these actually has achievements so far, so I’m just playing Zork 1 for now.

Zork is not the first text adventure. It was inspired by Colossal Cave Adventure, which also wasn’t the first, but was probably the first well known one. Well, well known among nerds. The creators of Zork all worked at MIT and were huge nerds. Zork itself is based on a Huge Nerd terminology. It was slang around the office. The word “Zork” was just the file name MIT nerds in the 70s used for programs they hadn’t named yet, and then it stuck and they didn’t want to change it to anything else.

Game

Zork is weird and irreverent. It’s built on fantasy games like D&D and whatnot, but it’s also got a lot of American energy to it. The way I always describe it is, Zork is Midwest America’s Discworld. A lot of that is still here in the first one, but to a lesser degree. The lore of Flatheads is kinda here, we have the Dam here, you can visit it.

Zork is really just a giant maze, with some smaller mazes thrown in, and a lot of really weird “puzzles” that usually involve bringing an item from one far off room to another. Once you break it down into its constituent parts, it really isn’t that complex and doesn’t take a long time. Fuck, you can turn the entire winning playthrough into a song. Here you go: https://debsanderrol.bandcamp.com/track/walkthrough

Is Zork GOOD to play these days? Eh. It’s more interesting than anything, and I have a deep love for it, but like, there are much better text adventures to play, even. Just play Zork Zero.