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Well, knock me down with a heavy sledgehammer (Trust me, I know what I'm doing!), it's another of them role-playing doobries. You create and control five characters whose mission is to search the large world of Ymros for the spells needed to see off a particularly evil demon, Malifon. He's currently trapped in a volcano, but this hasn't prevented him from casting a whopper of a spell to change the world climate (I blame it on the depletion of the ozone layer myself). Now it's permanently winter and the seas have turned into blood (the water's not quite up to European safety standards, but good enough for Britain!).

Creating a character is achieved by first choosing its race (Human, Elf, Dwarf, Dark Elf or Troll), each type having positive and negative modifiers for some of the nine character traits. Non-human races also get a bonus skill, e.g. dwarves can see in the dark. Five character traits (Speed, Strength, Intellect, Endurance, Skill) are determined by simulated dice rolls - you get two chances to re-roll any low values. The other four traits are Hit Points, Spell Points, Level, and Experience, the last two increasing as progress is made in the game. Finally, the character's class must be chosen from ten: Ranger, Paladin, Barbarian, Monk, Cleric, Thief, Wizard, Sorcerer, Visionary, and Scholar. After choosing one, you are presented with a list of possible skills (relevant to the chosen class) from which you can be selected.

When you have a party of five it's time to go adventuring. The extensive world of Ymros is shown from overhead with your entire party represented by a single, simply animated character. A list of adventuring commands appears to the right of the graphics window with another window below for text messages. On the Amiga, movement is achieved by pointing the mouse in the desired direction; commands are also selected using the mouse. C64 owners use keys for commands (selected by initial letters) and can also use a joystick to control all movement. General commands include Look For Traps (one of the party must have the Detect Traps skill), Take/Drop items, and Inspect surroundings for items.

While exploring the lands, dungeons and seas (by buying a boat), enemies are often encountered. Combat takes place as soon as you are spotted by hostile creatures. The display switches to that of the combat 'arena' with the characters this time portrayed separately. For each combat round, every character gets a certain number of action points (equal to his speed) to use for movement and attack. To attack an enemy the character must be adjacent to it - there are no missile-firing weapons. Characters may also Dodge enemy attacks, making themselves harder to hit. Wizards may cast a variety of useful spells during combat although powerful mass destruction spells (such as Fire Storm which covers a 5x5 block area) cannot be used in the first round of combat. If your party is outnumbered you can always make a quick escape by running to the edge of the arena, although all characters must leave at the same point. Alternatively, if you successfully kill all enemies you are rewarded with their possessions and money (even rats carry gold pieces!)

Scattered around the landscape are lots of towns. It's a good idea to enter one of these at the start of your quest to buy weapons and provisions from merchants - a bit of shrewd haggling can get you a lower price. However, merely buying a powerful weapon does not entitle a character to use it; he must have the relevant skill and enough strength. For some reason characters must also Equip themselves with weapons and armour before they can be used. This option is only accessible when in Camp: fortunately, the party can Camp at any time, bringing another set of options into pay including Hunt for food, Sleep (this restores lost hit and spell points) and Worship.

The latter involves a character with Priest or Shaman skills praying to his deity - there are ten different gods who can each come to your aid (if they hear you) in combat or camp. each one can only help in one way such as resurrecting a character, lifting your party out of danger, and killing your foes. However, each character may only worship one deity, and becoming a priest costs valuable intellect points. Gods also need to be kept happy by praying to them and making donations when you find a relevant temple (each town has a single temple devoted to one of the gods).

As you'll already have gathered, Demon's Winter is an RPG that owes much to Dungeons and Dragons in both scenario and game mechanics, although the gameplay is nowhere near as deep as in the superior official D&D game Curse Of The Azure Bonds. Still, the world of Ymros is massive (32 times larger than SSI's Shard Of Spring) and will take weeks if not months of play to fully explore. The game is easy enough to get into with its easy-to-use command system and simple combat routines, although the latter are not as satisfying as in Curse. The game's main flaw is undoubtably its dull appearance, especially on the Amiga); the graphics are very simple and largely unanimated even in combat, and sound is virtually non-existent. Actual gameplay is reasonable, but not as interesting as Curse.

Atmosphere 60%
Playability 72%
Lastability 75%
Overall 70%

Atmosphere 52%
Playability 68%
Lastability 71%
Overall 64%