While I often think of the home computer gaming era beginning with the Commodore 64, that’s really not true. While the Commodore 64 was arguably the best of the 8-bit computers, it was also one of the latest. Platforms like the Apple II, Atari 400/800 and even other Commodore computers such as the PET and VIC-20 were around years before the Commodore 64. Dragon’s Eye is from a time just before the Commodore 64 was released and was available for the Atari 400/800, Apple II, and Commodore PET.
Dragon’s Eye is an early fantasy role-playing game. It features a quest in which you must retrieve the Dragon’s Eye amulet before its evil power corrupts the land…or something like that. From a map of the lands (the “Seven Provinces”) you can select the area in which you wish to explore. From there the game transitions to a side view. From this view exploration will be done, battles will be fought (combat is turn-based as combat in any RPG should be), items will be found and other typical FRPG things. The game is largely open ended and you can explore wherever you want. However, there is a time limit…you must find the amulet before it is too late.
Dragon’s Eye was released by Epyx (one of the great early publishers of computer games) in 1981. There are no re-releases I am aware of so you you will have to hunt down an original or resort to emulation for this one. It will look best on the Apple II or Atari 8-bit as you will be dealing with monochrome graphics on the PET. Not that graphics are all that important in this game.
Screen shots above are from the Atari 8-bit version of the game.
