For a very long time I've googled for an MS-DOS game (or maybe Windows 3?) that I thought I remembered from childhood. Sometimes I wrote it off as a dream I had and mistook for a real thing, but I asked my dad recently and he remembers it too (though not very clearly.) This is a game we would have gotten from CompuServe or one of those shareware 2-in-1 diskettes from the dollar store. Here's what we remember about it:
The game was in 2D top-down perspective. The player and enemies were represented by very simple sprites (my dad calls them stick figures- i don't remember) that were solid primary colours (I think all the enemies were blue, the player was maybe red?) The terrain under the characters was also very simple- perhaps little more than a solid colour. Dad and I both remember a sandy beach or desert area, and he mentioned rivers to cross as well. I think I remember a large pirate ship docked in the side of one level, but that part might be what I dreamt.
What we both remember best was how the enemies behaved. As the player explored the map (it felt like an outdoor overworld more than any sort of indoor dungeon or something) and came within range of groups of these solid colour stick people enemies, they would begin to follow the player with some speed. While playing each level we remember whole masses of these little guys chasing us, and finding it remarkable because at the time, that many independently moving sprites/AIs seemed difficult if not impossible! Also, neither of us remember a way to attack or kill them- we think the game was more about evading them and accomplishing whatever the goals were in each stage (that we don't remember
)Other vague memories: my dad thinks there were flags the player had to find or collect, I'm not too sure. We both remember the enemies moving fairly quickly, a little chaotically, always trying to follow the player. I think I remember seeing enemies on the other side of walls or rivers, trying to path their way to me but being unable to. I think there were probably some kind of doors that had to be opened with keys (what game DIDN'T have some form of that?).. Not sure what else I can add right now. I'll comment if we remember more.
Thanks for reading and please comment if you remember anything like this during the '90s on DOS or Windows 3!
