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"You should have followed the instructions more closely. You have fallen in the moat and drowned." Thus ended my first attempt at discovering the secrets of Horror Castle. Subsequent attempts met similar fates.

Adventure games fall clearly into two groups, those with graphics and those with only text. This game is one of the latter. It accepts commands consisting of two words, a verb and a noun. It insists on two words, except when receiving directions, which the instructions tell you are limited to the four cardinal points: up, down, in and out. With only wight options at each location, the variations are limited.

The game matrix is fairly small with only 61 locations, but movement between these still holds some surprises. The locations are static, but there are some random variables which change from game to game.

The object of the game is to rescue the princess from the castle tower and take her to a secret clearing outside the castle grounds. As usual in these games, a number of objects are distributed around the locations, and can be used to help you in your quest. Objects are used fairly conventionally, and there are no logical inconsistencies.

The goal of the game is not too difficult to obtain. The main handicap to progress is the need to restart from scratch each time you die, as there is no facility for saving a situation on tape. Use of a map is important as much for a time saver for getting back to a known location as for anything.

With the number of adventure games currently on the market, to be successful a new entry must offer something that has not gone before. Unfortunately, Horror Castle does not.