Elvira: Mistress of the Dark

Elvira: Mistress of the Dark is a horror adventure with RPG elements from the British studio Horrorsoft, a subsidiary brand of Adventure Soft, which on the Atari ST combines exploration of a sprawling haunted mansion with a combat system and inventory-based puzzles. The player, in the role of a young hero, moves through a mansion full of traps, monsters, and mysteries, advised by the titular hostess Elvira, a character taken from an American horror television phenomenon, whose sarcastic comments and dark humor gave the game a distinctive personality unlike the then-common serious fantasy adventures and brought a refreshing, self-ironic perspective to the genre.

The gameplay combines an adventure icon-based interface for interacting with the environment, turn-based or semi-real-time combat, and gradual character building by collecting items, weapons, and spells that must be correctly combined for the player to survive encounters with increasingly dangerous opponents. On the Atari ST, the game offered detailed, darkly themed locations and atmospheric sound complemented by music underscoring the gothic, horror mood; the pace of the game is slower and places emphasis on careful exploration, gathering clues, and experimenting with items, which was a source of frustration for many players due to occasionally unclear puzzles and easy character death. The game takes place in real time, so the player must also cope with the time pressure of certain events and plan their progress through the mansion with regard to what is happening elsewhere at that moment.

Elvira was praised at the time of release chiefly for its bold combination of horror theme with the adventure genre and for its distinctive marketing face, which set it apart from competitors built on traditional fantasy. It influenced Horrorsoft's later output, including a direct sequel and other horror titles from the studio, and to this day is remembered as one of the more notable horror titles of the 16-bit era, though its difficulty and archaic adventure conventions may deter rather than entice today's players to finish it.

Why play it: For horror genre fans looking for one of the more notable titles of the 16-bit era — though the archaic adventure conventions and high difficulty will more likely deter today's players from finishing it.