As a gaming platform, MS-DOS arguably punched above it s weight. But, as the golden age of adventure gaming made way for the golden age of PC gaming, many of the platform’s greatest gems slipped between the cracks

Words by Hareth Al Bustani

THE DAGGER OF AMON RA

■ The sequel to 1989’s mystery title The Colonel’s Bequest, The Dagger Of Amon Ra is a lesser known point-and-click thriller developed by Sierra On-Line during the genre’s golden age. Set in 1926, the game stars former journalism student Laura Bow, who has not only graduated but, much to everyone’s shock, been employed by the New York Daily Register News Tribune. For her first assignment, she is tasked with investigating the theft of the ancient Egyptian Dagger Of Amon Ra from the Leyendecker Museum. Things escalate, however, when Laura begins snooping around at one of the museum’s socialite soirees - a charity fundraiser, where she unearths a string of murders. From severed heads to bodies impaled on porcupines, things continue to escalate, until Laura is able to identify the culprit.

In many respects, Amon Ra can be seen as a spiritual successor to Ken and Roberta Williams’ groundbreaking 1980 title, Mystery House, which pioneered the graphic adventure genre as a whole. However, for Amon Ra, Roberta handed the creative reigns to Bruce Balfour, who previously worked on the cyberpunk thriller Neuromancer and Brian Fargo’s legendary Wasteland. Building on The Colonel’s Bequest’s interface, the game replaces its predecessor’s text-based command system with simple point-and-click mechanics. Typically, asking questions is crucial to solving puzzles, and genre veterans may find it frustrating having to navigate through Laura’s diary to begin each conversation. However, Sierra was still experimenting with interfaces, and the diary is a novel concept.

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