Look, I'll be forthcoming about this. The long-form epic is one of my favorite ZZT genres. Exploring diverse and memorable environments, conversing with townspeople, experiencing novel worldbuilding, seeing my character grow in both the numerical, algorithmic fashion and in their personality. A medieval theme is give-or-take for me, as it's been done to death across media, however you can't deny its universal appeal and suitability for an epic adventure.
Even before the title roll, the game opens with an introductory cinematic. A group of wizards standing at the base of a tower get murdered by a rogue sorceror, they try to stand their ground but fail. This intro sets up some backstory which will become much more relevant the further you get into the game. Already, the game feels verbose and (by the context of the era) well-written.
This brings us to the main hero, Rhygar (no relation to the classic arcade-era hero with the Diskarmor, that's "Rygar" without the "h"). He has recently come off a long, 5 year journey, all set to return to his hometown. But when he gets back, very little has changed. Its that small-town inertia, where people get stuck in their lives, doing the same-old thing day in and day out. Our hero, however, does not find this a fulfilling life and prefers the call to adventure. He steps into a gypsy's hut wher he sees a powerful premonition, of a tower (undoubtedly from the intro), a magical sword, and foul beasts at play. After meeting with your father, the king, you learn that the brother you're estranged from has passed, and that you're the rightful heir to the throne of a kingdom going to shit (we've got orc attacks, an evil lumberjack, gangs of bandits, assassin cults, and some guy named General Algar). This is where the "settle down vs. sow your oats", fulfilling society's expectations or abidcating responsibility to pursue self-fulfillment comes into play, fortunately for the context of an adventure game, Rhygar chooses the latter.
With the aid of his best friend, he'll sneak out at night and the adventure truly begins. Along the way, he'll find out the truth about his brother's death (but he still won't feel sad about it, a possible reference to the thin characterization lots of games of this vintage had, character deaths as nothing more than a plot vehicle), meet the woman of his dreams, venture to the tower shown in the intro where a rogue ambassador seeks to unseal a powerful force buried in its basement, and read the journal of a necromancer slowly losing his grip on sanity whilst trying to harness said power.
Now, for the bread and butter of the game. The most immediate thing one notices about Rhygar is the impressive amount of worldbuilding. You'll find informational tomes on your enemies and the geological history of the world. Characters have backstories and are most often not what they seem. Foreshadowing and faint hints of places that you don't visit now (but possibly will in later entries... I haven't played them yet!). The graphics are simple and boxy/angular but there are some color selections that keep things looking interesting and distinct. There are a few songs that play throughout the game, but they're generally quite bad and will have you pressing B to "Be Quiet" faster than you can say Jack Robinson. At least there's music, I guess. The basic combat uses a bump mechanic a la Ned the Knight; enemies have "attacking frames" where they can't be hit but you take damage. It works pretty well for this type of game, though due to the limited speed and generous vulnerability frames on the enemies, it all becomes a bit easy.
All the trappings of a classic RPG are here, though due to the limitations of ZZT, none of them feel very developed and feel like they were put in just to check off a checkbox. There's a world map that gives an illusion of exploration, but the only areas off the beaten path you can access are a shop and a bridge that's out. There's a dungeon hack side quest, where you can collect some extra gems, but only 2 (out of a presumed 10) floors are available. You can purchase spells to supposedly use in the game's 2 RPG battles, but I found they were inaccessible in them. The RPG battles have limited commands you can use and feel more random than anything requiring any sort of strategy. We'll also get some basic puzzles, especially in the tower, that never reach their potential due to general glitchiness. There's an economy where you can "donate blood" (give up some health) for gems, and items like beef jerky you can buy, however there's an easy to find secret that utterly breaks the economy. Still, the fact we get this variety instead of a compromised adventure tailored to ZZT's limitations, keeps things somewhat interesting.
THE GOOD: Interesting worldbuilding and writing, attempts to bring classic RPG trappings (world map, turn-based combat, an economy with spell and attack upgrades) to the limited ZZT format.
THE BAD: Ear-piercing music, some glitches and soft-locks in the more puzzle-oriented sections of the game, could have done more with exploring the themes of returning back to your home and seeing what's changed and what hasn't.
OVERALL: Even with the cliche "medieval" setting, some glitches and a broken economy, it was able to keep me engaged enough to want to play the follow-ups (naturally, this first chapter ends on a bit of a twist).
(This is for all three of them)
Rhygar is a little rough around the edges, lacking an ending, and it uses a lot of exclamation marks and ellipses, not to mention every door is "locked tight." But while some aspects haven't aged well, the majority of it comes out shining. It's the best attempt I've seen at a really long epic game implemented in ZZT -- whereas most attempts fluster out after the first hurdle or two, Rhygar goes much further. It's not too hard and the RPG fights are admittedly lackluster near the beginning, but this helps make the adventure itself the focus of the player's attention. The writing and storyline are involved and interesting. It's a shame it was never finished. Despite this, it's way, way longer than a lot of similar efforts; anything less than a full score would neglect this fact. Rhygar is a gem.
