Phantasie

Phantasie was among the popular CRPGs on the Atari 800 in the mid-1980s thanks to its combination of relatively accessible character creation, an open map to explore, and turn-based battles that played out on a tactical grid with visible unit placement. The player assembles a party of adventurers of various classes and races, travels through terrain divided into individual locations such as forests, mountains, and towns, completes quests, draws opponents into random encounters, and gradually pushes into several extensive dungeons guarded by final bosses, who require careful party preparation, the right choice of equipment, and a division of roles among fighters, wizards, priests, and other classes, each of which has its firm place in the resulting tactics.

On the Atari version, the game offered a colorful, clear world map and simple but functional combat graphics, which at the time made it seem like a more accessible alternative to slightly starker competitors like Wizardry. An automapping system for dungeons made underground navigation easier, a welcome convenience at the time compared to games that required drawing the map entirely by hand on paper, and the game also offered minor side features such as buying ships for travel by water or hiring temporary mercenaries for a thinned-out party.

Phantasie received several sequels and belonged to a series that helped expand CRPGs beyond the narrow circle of hardcore fans thanks to its relative accessibility and clarity of systems, without giving up an honest tactical challenge in battles against progressively stronger opponents. On the Atari 800 today, the game feels like a solid, if typically slower-paced, representative of its era's genre; what stands out is the clarity of both the map and the battles, and the honest sense of the party's gradual growth from modest beginnings to conquering the final dungeons.

Why play it: For players looking for an accessible yet honestly tactical CRPG with a clear map and battles – a solid, if typically slower-paced, representative of the genre that fans of gradual party growth will appreciate.