Valhalla

Valhalla was in 1983 one of the first large-scale graphic adventures for the ZX Spectrum, and it takes place in the world of Norse mythology, where the player, through their character, seeks out gods such as Odin, Thor, or Loki in order to prevent the end of the world in the form of Ragnarök. The game combined adventure elements with simple arcade sequences and offered an open map made up of many interconnected locations through which the player moved, collecting items needed to progress the story and conversing with gods and other beings of Norse legend, whose help or favor often had to be earned first.

The graphics were unusually detailed for their time, the characters were animated, and the scenes were even supplemented with digitized speech, a rarity on an eight-bit machine, which set the game apart from rival titles that settled for plain text. The controls combined keyboard commands with on-screen movement; the player could talk to characters, and choices made in dialogue affected the further course of the story, much like choosing the right items for particular situations. The atmosphere was rounded out by music and sound effects that were among the best the Spectrum had to offer at the time, and together with the graphics they gave the game an unusually cinematic feel.

Valhalla became a commercial success and represented a breakthrough title for publisher Legend Software, which later led to another game in the same universe. In the press of the day it was praised precisely for its ambitious production and the scale of its world, which felt unusually generous on an eight-bit computer and placed the game among the technically most demanding productions of its time. Today Valhalla is interesting mainly as evidence of how far an adventure game on the Spectrum could be taken as early as 1983, that is, even before the rise of the isometric engines that made rival studios famous, though the slower pace and period controls will more likely test today's player's patience.

Why play it: Thanks to its generously conceived world, which felt unusually ambitious on an eight-bit computer as early as 1983, Valhalla is worth the attention of collectors, even though its slower pace will test their patience.