l'Abbaye des Morts
- A game by
- Locomalito
- Music by
- Gryzor87
- Illustrations by
- Gryzor87
- Release
- September 10th, 2010
- Genre
- Adventure platformer
An obsolete video game for a dark passage of history
In the 13th century, the Cathars, clerics who preached about life without material aspirations, were persecuted by the Catholic Church and expelled out of the Languedoc region in France. One of them, named Jean Raymond, found an old church in which to hide from crusaders, not knowing that beneath its ruins lay buried a greater danger.
An exploration platformer in the spirit of a ZX Spectrum computer game
Faith is your only weapon. Recover twelve Cathar crosses lost in an abandoned abbey and discover its dark secret while avoiding its many dangers. Black backgrounds, single color sprites and monophonic sounds are a proper fit for this unsettling story where things are left to the imagination.
Key features
- Style: Look and feel of a ZX Spectrum game
- Structure: Non-linear. 23 screens to explore
- Rewards: Riddles, hints, crosses and extra lives
- Players: Single player
- Length: Around 30 minutes once fully mastered
- Graphics: 256x192 pixels base resolution + 16 color palette
- Sound: Programmable sound generator (PSG)
Random facts
- It was inspired by the tragic history of the Cathars and ZX Spectrum games like Manic Miner, Jet Set Willy or Dynamite Dan.
- It was an improvised project, created at nights during a trip to the Languedoc region (France).
- Gryzor87 painted the cover with brushes and oils.
- Its code was rewritten and open sourced by MoonWatcher. Since then it has been ported to many systems, including some I never heard about before.
- DaRkHoRaCe and Jerri created a version for actual ZX Spectrum computers that was produced by RetroWorks in cassette format.
- Some people consider it a cult game. Don't ask me why.
