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The land of Midnight is beset by a terrible affliction and it's muggins' job to get rid of it. The curse in question is an evil character called Doomdark who, with the power of his Ice Crown, is out to plunge the land into eternal winter - not a happy prospect. You must control many characters in order to defeat Doomdark, either in battle or by destroying the Ice Crown.

You begin the quest in control of four characters including Morkin, who is the only one who can destroy the Crown, and Luxor who must lead the armies in battle. All four characters start at the Tower of the Moon where there are eight possible compass views. Each view is of the landscape surrounding you and there are a total of 32,000 (4,000 locations) in the game.

You can move through the landscape and all the different features that appear including mountains, citadels, forests, towers, keeps and lakes. These are related to each other in an entirely logical way - as you move in any one direction scenery at first visible in the distance grows larger. At certain locations you may find recruits to your cause, new characters to control, advice or just rest from your weary task. Also on the screen will be shown the enemies that lie ahead of you.

You can move during the day and once all your characters have done everything they can you can make night fall which is when Doomdark's forces move, and the results of battles between armies are calculated. During the day the characters have a range of options whereby they can move, think, choose or look.

This allows them to perform various functions like investigating their surroundings and moving about them. When you move the terrain will affect how much can be done in a day and the condition of your forces.

Morkin is the only character who can venture into the northern areas of the map with any safety since the Ice Fear will grip the other characters. However, he is vulnerable and if you should lose both Luxor and Morkin then Doomdark will be victorious.

The combination of war-game and adventure means you can play one or other or both depending on which you prefer - but either will take a long while to complete. The graphics are exceptionally good and with so many detailed locations, mapping is strongly recommended.