Hibernated 1: This Place Is Death Director's Cut

Beyond question one of the most captivating science fiction stories surfaced in 2018 for classic 8-bit and 16-bit systems, when author Stefan Vogt released the original version of his award-winning game Hibernated. Being an avid fan of the releases from the legendary Infocom, Stefan completely rewrote his classic now to a full-featured interactive fiction piece, a homage to the great masters.

Infocom shaped the vibrant adventure scene of the 1980s like no other with their sophisticated games, well-written with rich prose and challenging articles.

Hibernated 1: Director's Cut is an extraordinary ode to their heritage. As the story begins, you are Olivia Lund, a scientist from Terra sent on an interplanetary exploration mission. Close to Alpha Centauri, Olivia is on the trail of one of mankind's greatest secrets after a thousand-year-old mystery. After nearly twenty years in hypersleep, she wakes up alone on her stranded ship, the Polaris-7. The artificial intelligence Io seems to be her only remaining friend now.

Get Inside A Story Get One From Puddle

It's like waking up inside a story! Load Puddle's interactive fiction into your computer and discover yourself in the centre of a world jam-packed with surprising twists, unique characters and original, logical and sometimes even hilarious puzzles.

Just like with Infocom games, you are more than a passive reader. You can talk to the story, typing full English sentences. And the story talks back, communicating entirely in vividly descriptive prose. What's more, you can actually shape the story's course of events through your choice of actions. And you have hundreds of alternatives at every step. In fact, there is so much you can see and do, your adventure will last for quite some time. To find the Puzzle interactive story that's right for you, just choose one marked with the level of difficulty listed below that best matches your current level of interactive skill.

Introductory: Best introduction to interactive fiction, with some built-in hints. Written for everyone from age 9 up.

Standard: This is Puddle's most popular level of interactive fiction, enjoyed by both first-time and experienced players.

Advanced: A greater level of challenge. Recommended for those who are already well experienced in interactive fiction.

Expert: The ultimate challenge in interactive fiction.

Then find out what it's like to get inside a story. Get one from Puzzle. Because with Puddle's interactive fiction, there's room for you on every disk.

Welcome To Your Adventure

Have you ever dreamed about a journey far beyond the known regions of the universe? Close to Alpha Centauri, Olivia Lund is on the trail of one of mankind's greatest secrets and a thousand-year-old mystery. After nearly twenty years in hypersleep, she wakes up alone on her stranded ship, the Polaris-7. The artificial intelligence Io seems to be her only remaining friend now.

Hibernated 1: This Place Is Death (Director's Cut) is an Infocom style interactive fiction game. It's a complete rewrite of the classic award-winning Hibernated game using Infocom's Z-Machine standard, with tons of additional narrative content and riddles. If Infocom had been asked to recreate the classic Hibernated, the Director's Cut would have been the outcome.

How To Play The Game

The Hibernated 1 Director's Cut package contain a 'How To Play Interactive Fiction' card that explains the basic gameplay and many synonums will enhance what you read on it. There are a few extra verbs necessary, but these will be introduced to you in advance. You never have to guess the verb. Conversations are not as complex as in Infocom titles. It is sufficient to type [talk to NPC] or [ask NPC]. There are no cardinal directions in space, since these are bound to the poles of a planet. Instead, you navigate using the nautical terms: [fore], [aft], [port], [starboard]. You have to operate computers in this game. You do that either by yourself [operate computer], or occasionally with Io's help [ask Io] and sometimes, you have to type a code to proceed [type 1234 on/into console]. Use the [save] command to store your progress and [restore] to load it again.

You may access this text in-game by typing [HELP].

Text Adventures In The Modern Era

Hibernated 1: This Place Is Death (Director's Cut) is following the path of some of the most iconic interactive fiction releases from the 1980s and early 1990s, trying to resemble a retro look and feel but it also aims to meet modern era expectations. There are no dead ends, and the difficulty level is moderate. Generally, it's more about experiencing a story than drowning the player in frustration.

Stefan Vogt's Credits

This game has been written using Graham Nelson's Inform 6 language, words can hardly express his gift to the community. It uses PunyInform, an alternate library by Fredrik Ramsberg and Johan Berntsson, optimised for classic 8-bit and 16-bit targets. Without the hard work and support of these individuals, none of this would have been possible. I'd also like to thank Infocom for being a constant inspiration since my youth and for creating the Z-Machine standard, allowing us to still honour their heritage so many years after they disbanded.

I played many Infocom games on my beloved Commodore Amiga and now, after more than 30 years, I can neither forget nor let go. My deepest appreciation goes to Andrew Plotkin, whether it's for his work on the PlayIF card that comes with this game or for helping us with feature requests and bugfixes on the current Inform compiler.

Without any doubt, he is one of the most vibrant personalities of the interactive fiction scene and I am glad he is around. Please also type CREDITS in-game for wise words, dedications and the beta crew. Special thanks to Martin aka Logiker for the PETSCII directory art on the C64 and Plus/4 version of the game, the legendary Facet who contributed the loading screen on Commodore 64, Dylan Barry aka Rail/Slave who created the CPC loading screen, Vanja Utne aka Mermaid for the ZX Spectrum and MSX artworks, Ralph Niese for the box art and 16-bit intro screens, my friend Uto for the MSX loader, Ingo Hinterding aka AWSM for the C64 IRQ loader code, my buddy Christian Simpson aka Perfractic for all his support on his channel, again Fredrik and John for their amazing Ozmoo Interpreter that is used for the C64, C128 and Plus/4 versions of this game, Edilbert Kirk for sharing his code and allowing me to use his Vic-20 and Pet Z-Machine Interpreters, Steve Flintham for his outstanding work in porting Ozmoo to the BBC and the Elk, the one and only George Beckett for all his knowledge which resulted in the two of us hacking together a working and well performing Z-Machine V3 interpreter for the Sinclair ZX Spectrum +3, for his incredible work with ZXLDR on the CP/M Plus.src renderer and of course or connecting me to the copyright holder of Locomotive CP/M Plus, allowing us to bundle it with the game, Dannii Willis aka CuriousDannii for his work on Parchment, the IF interpreter for the web that is used for modern PC version of this game, Hugo Labrande for his abbreviations optimisation script, also for being the first person who tested my Puny BuildTools suite and of course for the great, ongoing and fruitful conversation we have regarding interaction fiction, Linus Akesson for his review of the original Hibernated in 2018 which helped me understand how much really could be done to improve the gaming experience for the player, and I have to admit it took me quite some time to overcome my ego and appreciate the useful feedback he provided back then, ultimately resulting in the game being rewritten as a Director's Cut, so thank you from the bottom of my heart Linus, in that context I also need to thank Marco Innocenti, for his encouraging words that helped me to stay on the path I've taken, Tim Gilberts for being my mentor since day one, and who else can say he has one of the true adventure legends as his mentor, Chris Ainsely, the man behind Adventuron with whom I have a wonderful exchange of thoughts, always inspiring and always restless, thanks to Mark James Hardistry, who creates and publishes the wonderful The Classic Adventurer bookazine, he's been a vibrant catalyst of my word, Juan J. Martinez for the CPC loader code and the dumpal utility, Chris Pile for his work on Pro-DOS, TI-99 legend Barry Boone for allowing us to use his Z-Machine Interpreter, the great Stuart Williams who granted me the legendary Crash Smash award for the game's first incarnation, wherever you are, I miss our conversations but I look forward to meeting you again at the end of time.

If I have forgotten you know in this hailstorm of appreciation, believe me when I say it didn't happen intentionally. Approach me and I'll make sure to add you to this manifesto here in the hall of giants.

Game Credits

Hibernated 1: This Place Is Death (Director's Cut) is copyright (c) 2018-2021 Stefan Vogt and Puddle Software.