Super AiG Screenshots of the Year: 2025

This year on Super Adventures, I almost forgot to do the Screenshots of the Year article! I've been so focused on getting through these Dungeons & Dragons games at a reasonable pace that I wasn't even thinking about other things I should be writing about.

I struggled a bit last year with my 2024 article as I'd only played 11 games and half of them were racing games, but this year I was determined to do better. Unfortunately I got distracted with writing about Doctor Who for my sci-fi site and ended up only covering... about 11 games. But they weren't racing games this time! Not that there's anything wrong with the genre, I just don't think anyone wants to see 30 pictures of the back end of a car.

Plus I did take a quick look at some '80s RPGs in preparation for the D&D games, so that boosts the number a fair bit. I'm sure I must have something here worth showing off.

Dungeons & Dragons Games Vol. 7: Hillsfar (MS-DOS)

Developer:

Westwood Associates

|

Release Date:

1989

|

Systems:

DOS, Amiga, C64, Atari ST, PC-88, PC-98, NES

---

This week on Super Adventures, my Dungeons & Dragons quest has reached the year 1989 and I'm playing... whatever this is. It's not a Gold Box game, I know that much, but it is an official Advanced Dungeons & Dragons licenced product and it is linked to Pool of Radiance, so we're back in the Forgotten Realms again for this one.

The game's called Hillsfar and it's by Westwood Associates, the guys who would later go on to make real-time strategy legends like Dune II and Command & Conquer, along with adventure games like Legend of Kyrandia and Blade Runner. I'm considering this to be a good sign. Though at this point Westwood were mostly in the business of porting games to other systems, typically 8-bit titles to 16-bit machines like the Amiga and Atari ST, and they were apparently quite good at it.

Hillsfar itself was ported across to a fair number of computers, though it was released on fewer systems than Pool of Radiance (9) and Heroes of the Lance (13). This means that we've already said goodbye to the Master System, MSX and Sharp X1, which never got another D&D game, and the PC-88 is dropping out here as well. The Apple II and Mac aren't out yet but they both skipped Hillsfar, so their owners missed out on its big selling point: it can import characters from Pool of Radiance and export them into the next game in the saga, Curse of the Azure Bonds. 

All the major Western computer RPG franchises of the time let you import saves, it was nothing exclusive to the Gold Box games. In fact The Bard's Tale lets you import from Wizardry and Ultima III, and then you can import from that game into Deathlord or Centauri Alliance. But what makes Hillsfar different is... actually I have no idea, I haven't played it yet.

Dungeons & Dragons Games Vol. 6: Silver Box - Heroes of the Lance (MS-DOS)

Developer:

U.S. Gold

|

Release Date:

1988

|

Systems:

Atari ST, Amiga, DOS, C64, ZX Spectrum, CPC, MSX, PC-88, PC-98, Sharp X1, FM Towns, Master System, NES

---

This week on Super Adventures, I'm still in 1988 playing Dungeons & Dragons video games. In fact I've barely moved, as this apparently came out almost simultaneously with the first Gold Box game, Pool of Radiance. This time though I'm playing the first of the Silver Box line... it's Heroes of the Lance, by British developer U.S. Gold!

I didn't even know that U.S. Gold had made any games themselves, I only know them as a publisher. It turns out that they released hundreds of titles (not all of them gold from the US), but only ever developed eight of them themselves, including this and its two Silver Box sequels. Hang on, I need to turn the volume down, as its beepy PC Speaker music just scared the crap out of me. It sounds better on the Atari ST, which was apparently the lead system this time. In fact it sounds better on a lot of computers, as I believe this had the most ports of any of the D&D games.

Heroes of the Lance was released on 13 systems over 4 years, beating Pool of Radiance and Dragons of Flame, which each only made it onto 9 of them. It didn't matter if you were a European with a Speccy or Amiga, a Japanese gamer with a PC-88, or if you preferred Sega or Nintendo consoles instead, there was a version of Heroes of the Lance for you. Except for Americans with Apple IIs who were somehow left out! The system was getting on in years, but it had been the lead RPG platform throughout the '80s, so I don't know what publisher SSI were thinking there.

A lot of big name publishers had competed to win the Dungeons & Dragons licence, but it was Strategic Simulations, Inc. that had been victorious, thanks in part to their ambitious plans. They had three product lines in mind: role-playing games based on AD&D rules (Gold Box), action-adventure titles (Silver Box), and software to help a Dungeon Master run a tabletop D&D game. That last idea didn't catch on, but there are 10 Gold Box RPGs and this Silver Box Classics bundle I just picked up on Steam has a decent number of games in it too, so two out of three isn't bad.

Dungeons & Dragons Games Vol. 5: Gold Box - Pool of Radiance (MS-DOS) - Part 2

This week on Super Adventures, I was supposed to be writing about Hillsfar or Heroes of the Lance or something, but I'm not ready to move on from Pool of Radiance yet. It seems that I'm going to be stuck playing these Dungeons & Dragons games for longer than I anticipated, but that's fine... I think.

I just realised that I haven't talked about this title screen yet. 1988 wasn't a great year for video game title screens in general, but I was still surprised by how artless it looks. The pool isn't even radiant! The good news is that there are eight other versions with their own title screens, the bad news is that none of the others I've seen are particularly great either. 

Though I suppose the original Commodore 64 screen did alright by keeping it simple. Plus it sparkles! When it comes to theme music however, I think the Amiga port wins this round (YouTube Link). Especially as the DOS version eventually had its theme patched out.

Alright, if you want to go back to part one, CLICK HERE,
If you want to see the list of Dungeons & Dragons games I've covered so far CLICK HERE.

Otherwise, keep reading, but beware of SPOILERS.

Dungeons & Dragons Games Vol. 4: Gold Box - Pool of Radiance (MS-DOS) - Part 1

Developer:

SSI

|

Release Date:

1988

|

Systems:

DOS, C64, Apple II, Mac, PC-88, PC-98, Amiga, Sharp X1, NES

---

This week on Super Adventures, I'm back with another Advanced Dungeons & Dragons game. In fact I've finally reached the first of Strategic Simulations, Inc.'s legendary Gold Box RPGs: Pool of Radiance!
 
Or to give it it's full name, POOL OF RADIANCE: A FORGOTTEN REALMS Fantasy Role-Playing Epic, Vol. I.

I'm still learning about Dungeons & Dragons, but one thing I already know is that it features a multiverse of campaign settings made by different creators, like the Forgotten Realms and Planescape, and... other ones. For AD&D's first decade the default setting had kind of been Gary Gygax's Greyhawk, seeing as he co-developed D&D and co-founded its publisher TSR, but he'd just been forced out of his own company so using that would've been awkward for all kinds of reasons. So Pool of Radiance takes place in the newly introduced Tolkienesque medieval fantasy world of Forgotten Realms, a place I actually know pretty well from games like Baldur's Gate and Neverwinter Nights. That's about as far as my nostalgia goes though I'm afraid. I never played the D&D Gold Box games, I've got no fond childhood memories of them, and I haven't acquired a tolerance for their ancient interface.

I did play a bunch of classic '80s CRPGs recently though, which you can read about in my previous article. Basically what usually happened was that I spent a bunch of time doing the research and putting together a decent six-character party, and then they all got wiped out on the first floor of the dungeon. Or they died on their way to the weapon shop. One time they were killed on the front step of the adventurers' guild you start off in. One time they were attacked inside the building. '80s CRPGs really hated their players.

But I'm sure Pool of Radiance will be different. This will be the one I actually make some progress in!

Dungeons & Dragons Games Vol. 3: 1984-1987 - Britannia Gnomes and the Tower of Doom - Part 2

This week on Super Adventures, I've been going through the first ten years of Dungeons & Dragons games, and so far 1984 and 1985 have been real disappointments as I couldn't find any.

I found plenty of legendary RPGs inspired by Dungeons & Dragons, like Ultima IV: Quest of the Avatar and The Bard's Tale, but not one of them proudly displayed the official logo of the 'Advanced Dungeons & Dragons' tabletop game:

Not one of them proudly displayed the official logo of the 'Dungeons & Dragons' tabletop game either, which was apparently a different game with different rules and campaign settings:

Personally, I don't mind which one a video game is based on, I just want to play some D&D already.

If you missed the first part covering 1984 and 1985 you can click here: VOL. 2. Or you can go back even further to the two AD&D Intellivision carts from 1982 and 1983: VOL. 1. Otherwise keep reading to see if I do any better with 1986 and 1987. There's got to be a D&D game in this pile of RPGs somewhere.

Dungeons & Dragons Games Vol. 2: 1984-1987 - Britannia Gnomes and the Tower of Doom - Part 1

This week on Super Adventures, my tour of the first ten years of Dungeons & Dragons games has reached its third year: 1984. But I'd like to keep this moving at a decent pace, so I'm also going to write about every D&D game released in 1985, 1986 and 1987.

Though it occurs to me that I don't really have the context for these Golden Age CRPGs. I'm not old enough or American enough to have ever loaded one of them up on an Apple II, so I have no nostalgia and zero fond memories. I did play a few Amiga and DOS RPGs, but it usually only took me 10 minutes to realise that they were not meant for me. The 2000s are when I got into the genre, with games like Final Fantasy IX, Deus Ex, Dungeon Siege and Knights of the Old Republic. That's the era I'm nostalgic for.

So okay, what I'm going to do is research some of the other influential RPGs of the mid-'80s and I'm going to play them as well. I don't promise that I'm going to stick with them very long, I'm not the CRPG Addict, I'm just some millennial writing a retro blog, but I'm smart enough to know that I need a history lesson.

I'm going to play... 16 games I think. About 4 per year. That seems like a normal reasonable amount. I'll even put a number next to each title so it's like one of those 'top 20' internet lists.

Dungeons & Dragons Games Vol. 1: Cloudy Mountain, Treasure of Tarmin (Intellivision)

Not actually a real cover, though the illustrations are real

The week on Super Adventures, I had the idea of playing every Dungeons & Dragons game ever released! Or at least the first decade or so. I don't own Baldur's Gate III, so that's not where this is going.

It's not that crazy an idea, I already wrote about the first 10 years of Castlevania and Need for Speed, and I covered 20 years of James Bond games, so a couple of decades of D&D shouldn't be so bad. Unless they're all really long and complicated RPGs with a ton of stuff to study and memorise. That would really slow me down.

I have to admit, all my knowledge of D&D comes from Baldur's Gate, Neverwinter Nights and the Chris Pine movie. I've never played the tabletop RPG or watched a stream of other people playing it. I haven't even seen Stranger Things to be honest, or that Community episode. I'm sure that the game involves dice and possibly graph paper though, so I can kind of visualise it being played.

What I do know about is video games, as I've been writing about them for long enough that I'm a bit of an expert. Well, except for classic '80s-'90s CRPGs, I know bugger all about them as I've never had the patience to get anywhere in them. The '80s in general is a bit of a blind spot for me when it comes to games (outside of what I've seen in AVGN or Chrontendo videos), so I've only the vaguest idea of what the RPGs of the era were typically like.
 
Anyway, my plan is to play the Dungeons & Dragons titles in mostly chronological order, beginning with Cloudy Mountain and Treasure of Tarmin on the Intellivision. I'm skipping the Dungeons & Dragons Computer Fantasy Game LCD game, along with all the unlicenced PLATO games that were inspired by D&D. If I start adding games inspired by D&D to my list, I'll end up playing every RPG that's ever existed, and that'll make this take even longer.

WarCraft: Orcs & Humans (MS-DOS)

Developer:

Blizzard Entertainment

|

Release Date:

1994

|

Systems:

MS-DOS, Mac OS

---

This week on Super Adventures, I'm finally playing Blizzard's hit Warhammer-flavoured real-time strategy WarCraft: Orcs & Humans! 

I'm sorry, I know I promised this at the end of April and now it's October, but I suddenly had a new season of Doctor Who to review for my other site and I got sidetracked. Don't worry, I don't think I'll be having that problem next year... or the year after that. (Edit: hours after I published this the BBC announced they're making more Doctor Who, presumably just to troll me).

Blizzard apparently tried to make a deal with Games Workshop to make this an actual Warhammer licenced product for the brand recognition, though it didn't work out. I always assumed that Games Workshop went around to developers and forced the licence into their hands, considering how many Warhammer games there are, but I guess not! Going with a new IP worked out pretty well for Blizzard in the end, considering that the game got a franchise, a legendary MMO and a slightly less legendary movie adaption.

The game also got a shiny new Remastered version in 2024 with high resolution graphics... and Blizzard decided to take the original version off GOG so it wasn't competing with it! I wasn't about to miss out on DRM-free WarCraft, so I grabbed it right before it was delisted and now I want to get my money's worth out of it. So I'll be sticking with the GOG version of the game, which is the MS-DOS CD release v1.22h... not that there's many other versions to check out. The game was heavily inspired by Dune II (which makes sense as it's the foundation of the entire genre), but they decided not to follow its lead and make ports for the Amiga and Mega Drive/Genesis. In fact the RTS genre basically just took off and left those systems behind here.

Okay, this is going to be the same deal as always. I'll play the game for a couple of hours, quit while I'm ahead, and then write a bit about it afterwards.

Star Trek: Voyager - Across the Unknown (PC) (Demo)

Developer:

GameXcite

|

Release Date:

2025

|

Systems:

PC, PS5, Series X|S

---

This week on Super Adventures, I'm writing about Star Trek: Voyager - Across the Unknown! Okay, to be accurate I'm writing about the demo, but I only play games for an hour or two anyway so this is basically business as usual. It's just going to be a little more... unfinished than usual.

Oh, before I start, here's an interesting fact: I promised I was going to write about WarCraft and then disappeared for six months. Then I wrote about this instead of WarCraft. What happened was I got completely focused on writing about Doctor Who over on Sci-Fi Adventures and then afterwards I found it really hard to get back to any of the work-in-progress I'd put on hold for so long.

So I'm writing about something brand new instead. In fact this demo is only days old, part of the latest Next Fest on Steam.

The developer's pretty new as well, as gameXcite released their first game, Asterix & Friends: Remastered, in 2021. They followed it up with Idle Asterix on Android in 2022, and then Asterix & Obelix: Heroes in 2023. That's not a track record that fills me with confidence, but it got them a shot at the Star Trek licence and now they get to show off what they can do with it.

They've already got me sold on the premise: revisiting Voyager episodes and choosing a different outcome. I rewatched Voyager recently and I thought that it was just as entertaining as Star Trek: The Next Generation... as long as you know in advance that it's going to waste its potential and hit the reset button on any storyline that's going somewhere interesting. It seems like Across the Unknown is going to confiscate the reset button and I'm interesting in seeing how that even works.

SPOILERS I'm going to show off all the demo including the consequences of the big choice at the end. This is also going to spoil the first episode of the Star Trek: Voyager series. There'll still be 167 episodes that don't get spoiled though.

Return to Monkey Island (PC) - Part 2

This week on Super Adventures, I'm writing a little more about Return to Monkey Island, which is an island I'm not 100% hyped about returning to. Don't get me wrong, I've got a lot of affection toward the Monkey Island games, but Monkey Island itself has never been the highlight of any of them. Plus I doubt I'd find any friendly faces there. I can't remember Guybrush antagonising anyone in particular, but I know what he's like.

I got started with Part I back in Part 1, so now in Part 2 I'm going to see if I can reach Part II. That's as far as I'll be going, I won't be playing through the second chapter. But I feel like I need to at least finish the first chapter to have a proper understanding of how the game is going to play.

That means there will be SPOILERS here for the whole of Part I... which could be a third of the entire game. I won't be giving away anything that happens beyond that point however, especially not the controversial ending, as I have no idea what it is.

Return to Monkey Island (PC) - Part 1

Developer:

Terrible Toybox

|

Release Date:

2022

|

Systems:

Win, macOS, Linux, PS5, Series X|S, Switch, iOS, Android

---

Hey they've returned to the original logo again, without the swirly 'O' and fancy 'A'. I kind of liked the new logo to be honest, but this is good too.

This week on Super Adventures, it's a Monkey Island game I've never played! I haven't even seen it being played and I've managed to dodge all the spoilers too. I get the impression that people who have played it generally like it... most of it, but even that I'm not sure about.

One thing I do know is that it's the sixth game in a critically-acclaimed, beloved and long-running adventure game series, following on from The Secret of..., LeChuck's Revenge, Curse of..., Escape from... and Tales of Monkey Island (they didn't quite have the naming scheme nailed down until the third game). I wrote about the other MI games in 2013, 2015, 2017 and 2019, so really I should've had this published in 2021 to keep the pattern going. In my defence, the game was still a year from being finished at the time. This is practically brand new!

Okay, I should warn you that there will be SPOILERS here for the earlier Monkey Island games and the first hour or two of this one. And this a game all about puzzles and conversations, so I'll be ruining the story and the gameplay for you this time. I don't want to sound like I'm trying to talk you out of reading, just be aware of what you're getting into.

Diablo IV (PC) - Part 2

This week on Super Adventures, I'm writing a little bit more about Diablo IV.

I'm using the game's original red logo colour for part 2 as the updated green logo makes it look the official video game of Monster energy drink. Though I miss the old logo from the first two games, with its beautiful animated flames. This one's not terrible, but it doesn't have any fire at all and it looks like something heavy landed on top of the letters and did some damage.

It was probably due for a redesign to be fair, seeing as Diablo 4 came out 11 years after Diablo 3, which came out 12 years after Diablo 2. Oh, plus there was also the free-to-play MMO Diablo Immortal in 2022, for fans who had phones and $200,000 lying around to afford to max out their character. I don't have any immediate plans to play that one.

Alright, there are three things you should know before you read any further:

1. This is part two, and you can find part one HERE.
2. There will be SPOILERS for stuff that happens in the first few hours.
3. I actually played this in January so a lot of things could've changed in updates since then.

Diablo IV (PC) - Part 1

Developer:

Blizzard

|

Release Date:

2023

|

Systems:

Win, Xbone, Series X|S, PS4, PS5

---

This week on Super Adventures, I'm taking a look at a game I said I would never buy due to its unnecessary always-online DRM: it's Blizzard's action RPG sequel Diablo IV!

So what made me change my mind in the end? Nothing, I didn't buy it, it was included with Xbox Game Pass so I thought I'd give it a try. Oh, I should mention that I played it way back in January, so this is going to be hilariously out of date. These regularly updated modern games are a bad match for my 'Eh, I'll finish the final draft later' work ethic. They're not a great fit for my 'Hey, here are some screenshots of retro games!' site ethic either, but I've found procrastination can actually solve that problem as long as I keep my articles on the back burner for a decade or so.

I had somehow managed to avoid learning anything about Diablo 4 before playing it, so if I seem entirely clueless, that's because I was. I'm still clueless actually. I'm assuming that there's something people don't like about it, some kind of controversy (because: Blizzard), but I haven't looked into what it is. Plus I did my best to ignore all the multiplayer stuff, all the microtransactions, and all the... whatever else it has. I don't even know what it has, I ignored it.

Though I did pay attention to the story, so there'll be SPOILERS for the first few hours of the game. Or at least what the game was like a few months ago.

Super Adventures in Rat-Infested RPG Cellars

Anyone who's played a few RPGs knows that one of the first things a level 1 newbie hero has to do is go sort out someone's rodent problem. There are rats in the cellar, rats in the basement, rats in the storeroom and rats in the larder, and clearing them out is a job for the least experienced of adventurers.

At least, that's the cliché, and it's as infamous as having to go see the village elder, or collect 10 wolf pelts. But how common is this trope in reality? When did games start treating it like a joke? Where did it even come from?

Today I'm going through RPGs I've played from the newest to the oldest on a quest to see how deep this rat cellar goes. It's not going to be an exhaustive list, I haven't played that many RPGs, but if rat quests are really as ubiquitous as advertised then by the end I'm going to be exhausted.

This will include SPOILERS for any games that do something interesting enough with their rat quest for it to be worth spoiling.

Palworld (PC) - Part 2

This week on Super Adventures, I'm writing a bit more about the Game Preview of Palworld.

In part 1 I managed to sort out my food, clothing and shelter so now I'm ready to head out into the world and discover what it is you actually do in this game. Aside from catching Pokémon I mean. I'm aware of that bit.

It didn't take long for Nintendo to became aware of the Pokémon as well, and I'm not surprised that they sent their lawyers after the game. I get the impression the actual Pokémon games haven't had to work too hard to sell copies lately because there's been nothing to challenge them. The last thing they need is serious competition from something ambitious that hits all the modern trends and gives Pikachu a Gatling gun.

Alright, like I said last time, I played the game back in January so this is a slightly ancient build and for all I know they've reworked game mechanics and redesigned the interface since then. I played it for about 9 hours in total and it apparently takes 39 hours to beat, but don't expect to see a whole lot of progress here.

Palworld (PC) - Part 1

Developer:

Pocketpair

|

Release Date:

Preview 2024

|

Systems:

Win, Xbone, Series X|S, PS5, macOS

---

This week on Super Adventures, I'm playing quirky Pokémon-inspired survival sim Palworld!

Actually there's no point in me pretending that this is something I've been playing this week, as you can see the version number on the title screen and I'm sure it's had a few updates since then. I wrote the "first draft" of this article back in January and I'm putting quotes around that because what I really mean is 'I wrote notes underneath screenshots and then left my future self to sort it out later'. Because that always works out great!

In my defence, it says "Game Preview" down on the other side of the screenshot, so technically the game isn't even out yet. I'm giving you an early sneak preview of a game in development... that everyone has already seen. Last I checked it was something like the second-highest played game on Steam.

A lot of people were a bit wary of this when it was announced, with its trailer full of Pokémon and assault rifles, and I can understand why they'd suspect it was going to be a bit of a janky mess. But I've actually played a bit of Pocketpair's previous game, Craftopia, so I went into this knowing that it was going to be a janky mess. I really liked Craftopia though; it was full of so much stuff and so many ideas, and it was weirdly endearing how none of it quite worked right.

Oh, before I start I need to mention that the desktop icon just says 'Pal' and that's adorable. Though I assume the original Japanese version would be labelled 'NTSC'.

Double Dragon (Arcade)

It's Super Adventures' 14th anniversary today, which means I really should've made a new logo for you. I've been too busy though, too busy to do it properly at least. But I've come up with a new logo every previous year since the site began, including the year that I quit and didn't write anything, so enjoy that one up there while it lasts because I don't expect it'll last much longer.

Also, enjoy this article I wrote about an old arcade game where you walk down the street and punch people.

Developer:

Technōs Japan

|

Release Date:

1987

|

Systems:

Arcade, NES, Master System + everything else

---

This week on Super Adventures, I'm checking out another classic game for the very first time. Well, alright, I've probably played a bit of one of the ports, and I got Battletoads & Double Dragon - The Ultimate Team with my second-hand NES. But I assure you, when it comes to classic coin-op brawler Double Dragon, I am getting all my facts from Wikipedia and not my brain.

The game was released for arcades in 1987 and started appearing on home systems a year later (or three years if you were a NES owner in Europe). At first the Wikipedia infobox had me thinking that it was only ported to the NES and Master System and I wouldn't have 10,000 other versions to investigate, but nope the site was hiding the rest of the list in an attempt to protect me from the truth.

It even got released on TV, with a 1993 cartoon that influenced a 1994 movie that was adapted into a 1995 video game. Oh, and the cartoon got a game too. And then developer Technōs went bankrupt in 1996, so I'm assuming they weren't huge hits.

Though to call the original game a huge hit would be an understatement. It was the highest grossing arcade machine in the US for three years running, until Final Fight and Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles took its spot by basically doing the same thing. And when the console and computer ports came out they went and topped charts as well. People really loved Double Dragon.

Alright, I admit this isn't really my genre but I'm giving it an hour to win me over. It's an arcade game, so you could probably make it to the end in that time, but it's from the '80s, so I probably won't.

Super Adventures: Game Awards 20X4

This week on Super Adventures, I'd like to take a moment to look back at 2024 and give some well-earned kudos to the AAA megahits and the indie instant classics that brought me the most joy over the last year.

But I can't! I think the only 2024 game I got around to was probably Core Keeper and that's been playable in Early Access for ages. So instead, I'm looking back at three other years ending in '4' to see if I can come up with some games that have been worthy of awards in the past. Here's how this is going to work:

• I'll be giving out 6 awards for each year, so that's 18 awards in total.
• I'll be using each game's earliest release date anywhere in the world.
• I won't be limiting myself to games I've written about for Super Adventures.
• If any worthy games are missing, that's because I'm leaving them for you to mention in the comments.

In fact, I'll even throw in a bonus award: Best Game I've Played From 2024. And the winner is... Core Keeper! Nice job Pugstorm, thanks for giving me hours of co-op fun in a cave.