Gladiator

The Devil's In The Details

Just on the gameplay alone, it's hard not to have a good time with Gladiator. The game gives you a place to go to in order to save the world, Edgar goes there, finds out it's not that simple, and then figures out the next place to go that might allow him to actually save the world.

The game moves at a steady pace barring the climb back down Mt. Dragon and subsequent second ascent, and is peppered with small encounters that effectively keep players engaged in more than just travel. You'll always know what you're supposed to be doing, and how much progress you're making on the quest to defeat Darque.

All of that makes Gladiator a compelling old-school ZZT adventure, hindered only by a bit of backtracking and some awkward passage errors that make things a little confusing, but through a stroke of good fortune never actually break the game.

Were this all there was to highlight with Gladiator, I'd easily recommend it to any fan of ZZT fantasy and enjoyer of games that focus on action over puzzle solving. It's a charming game worth your time to be sure.

But instead I want to emphasize that this isn't a solid adventure. It's an exquisite one, and the reason this game truly hooked me is thanks to the incredible effort of Hensley in the writers' room.

Now, the game's story isn't the most innovative. Even purposely glossing over the details of the story bits when covering the adventure, it's easy to follow the plot. Get talisman from guardian. Can't get talisman. Reclaim talisman from Darque. Can't get inside tower. Buy key to wasteland. Defeat marauders to gain key to tower. Get talisman.

The only real twist is Elandra's sudden change to the side of light. Yet Hensley manages to write these basic fantasy settings and peoples in a manner where every message window does its damnedest to paint pictures that ZZT's limited visuals cannot.

The first first object I touched in this game stood out to me. Hundreds of ZZT games have had NPCs say "Good luck hero". Yet so very few let players know how said hero reacts to those words in ways other than speaking back. A simple smile in an engine where everyone (well, every man in this game, all the women are represented by omegas) must smile at all times, communicates so much more than the usual silence of a protagonist not engaged in conversation.

The child who lacks the tact to not suggest that you are going to die on your quest would make for a funny joke in most games. So rarely do we get to hear of the pauses in dialog or the gestures made while speaking. The entire game is full of moments like these that let give your imagination so much more to work with.

At times, it can even make the game appear more complex than it really is. A chance encounter with the princess in the tower sees Edgar receiving a pendant from her as a good luck charm on his quest. This is the sort of thing in other games that might end up being the key to defeating the villain as we recently saw in Possessed. In another game it may have functioned as some do-nothing accessory that wastes a precious equipment slot only to be required to have equipped get the true ending.

In Gladiator, the only thing the pendant does is show you how much the people are counting on you to save the world. It will never come up again, can be skipped, and doesn't set a flag in the first place. Nothing in the game can tell if you have it or not. This token of her affection let us learn a bit about her, as well as a bit about Edgar's politeness and how he doesn't let the affections of a princess distract him from his vow as Gladiator.

How many times in ZZT have I touched a window and gotten the text back "A window"? Probably too many. Hensley lets us know what Edgar sees and how it makes him feel, turning even this most mundane actions, so mundane that I'd sooner expect no message at all when touching a window object, into an opportunity to sprinkle in some details about things that aren't even present on the board!

I think this is the most love for a window you'll find until QR Leon's YIEPIPIPI which does in its visuals what Hensley does in his writing. As someone who feels like they've never gotten a grasp on good ZZT graphics, I feel like there's a lot I can learn from Hensley. You don't need a picture to get players to see things, and because this kind of writing is still easily associated with the game's story, it feels like a natural inclusion. As opposed to (unspecified) other games where a sudden emphasis on unimportant details may leave you wondering why the author bothered.

The elder in the elven village gets quite a boost to his presence from the writing as well. Again, all this guy does is gives you some gems and torches, but the framing is so much more intricate. It's another ultra-minimal board that just by looking at it, reveals no information. Instead of waiting for the player to hand out treats like it was Halloween, the elder is going about their own tasks, studying who knows what. His expecting Edgar's arrival spins out into a whole backstory about being given a prophecy that the tower would fall during his lifetime and that he would be visited by the one wielding the Gladiator sword who would need help if he was to success on his mission. Four screens of text rather than a simple "Oh you have that cool sword. Have some torches. Sorry I can't offer you anything more."

I'd say it's the non-ZZT origins of this world, but surely if characters like this were important figures in past adventures, this guy would at least have a name.

Even when Gladiator is putting players in combat mode, there are still moments of incidental dialog. For once, the wild forests aren't home exclusively to the lions and bears. On one board rather than run into any enemies in the darkness, Edgar instead finds some elves who have been hunting for food. The object in question vanishes before Edgar can approach, making for another rare instance where not everything is meant for the player to get his hands on. It's a moment that passes immediately, a glimpse at those who have their own business to attend to, and bears no relevance to your quest, existing in this world regardless of the peril it's in.

This abundance of text continues again and again on your journey. You can learn all about the portal of light. You can get an early insight into Darque Ness's confidence and power outside the tower. The leader of desert marauders have rotten teeth. The dwarven brewery has a manual on how to mix tonics to create "Golden Cider", with a recipe intricate enough that I fully expected it to be meant as the key to a puzzle.

The list goes on. Of course, this includes the Graylomman section as well. Elandra freeing Edgar, as well as Darque's realization of her betrayal are both moments that will stick with those who see Gladiator to the end.

Elandra freeing Edgar from his cell gets lavish treatment, as it's one of the most important moments in the game. The unnatural way she changes sides is easy to move on from when it's dressed up like this. Tears, an embrace, Edgar (and Hensley) wisely not trying to make this into a romantic moment. Plus a hint that she'll be showing up again sometime? Can't wait.

Of course, she's also present for the ritual...

God I love Elandra. Boldly proclaiming she betrayed former ally, the ultimate evil, before tossing a glass of blood in his face is one of the most bad-ass acts of defiance I've seen in ZZT. Shame she gets turned into a "heap of charred meat" immediately afterwards. This lady gets no justice.

But it's only because of her that Edgar can even succeed. If she continued to side with darkness, Edgar would rot in that cell. Then for the final battle, Edgar does not find himself winning. His quick thinking relies on him having witnessed Elandra's blood-throwing. Edgar's victory over Darque Ness, light's victory over darkness, it's all Elandra's victory.

Final Thoughts

This is a top tier game for the 90s. It's a little bit Ezanya and a little bit Adventure, two games that both have their own flaws, that surpass them by doing so much to create some extensively detailed worlds that players can get lost in. Gladiator is another cornerstone of ZZT adventuring, and one that seems pretty overlooked.

Though not entirely. The company EleKtroSOFT was noticed by someone of note back in the day... none other than Bongo of Rhygar fame. The updated version of the first in the series (my kingdom for an upload of the true original) features an entire section in its text file about moving from her own company to Hensley's. This series seems to be the one that she was thinking of as she told her own story for her own epic incomplete RPG trilogy. She even claims to have done programming and graphics work on the unreleased third Gladiator game.

I really feel like this game should be considered a classic. It's certainly got it's share of faults with backtracking and passage errors, but that's pretty much par for the course with ZZT games. In an environment where the overlap between players and creators was practically a circle itself, it's easy to brush aside the issues when just beneath the surface is a game lovingly detailed to such a degree that you'll remember its locations just as well, if not even better than prettier games with more competent code that can't approach Hensley when it comes to presenting a story.

The sequel (which by the time I finally finished this far too lengthy article I have played) is only going to impress even more. Take the opportunity now to check out both entries of Gladiator before I get through the next article, I promise you will not regret it.