Adventures Unlimited has been around since 1998 and is based on the popular ROM 2.4 codebase. According to the website it looks like it offers typical hack and slash gameplay along with some role play features, such as a character description and introduction system, and a clan based player killing system.
It doesn’t seem like the type of game I would ordinarily play if I’m honest, but I’m happy to give it a shot at least to give my first impressions.
Character Creation
The race selection has giants, haflings, pixies and other assorted fantasy race types, including the ubiquitous drow, so nothing particularly original or exciting there. These are presented in a table cross referenced with allowed classes which makes it easy to plan ahead if you have a particular class in mind.
The classes on offer here are nothing unusual with the standard mage, cleric, warrior and thief joined by other favourites such as paladin and monk. When selecting a class the main skills and spell groups are presented in an easy to read format before you confirm your choice with an option to select individual skills or packages if you prefer.
One problem I ran into however was if you don’t select a weapon skill you can’t get past the “Please pick a weapon…” prompt, oops! A nice touch however is the ability to customise your character’s appearance, and while the available options are not as extensive as you might expect in a more role-playing oriented MUD, it’s a welcome addition. You even get to specify height in “hafling heads”, though perhaps “hobbits feet” would be more appropriate!
There’s a couple of screens of rules and information to read through, and then it’s into the game. Right away I’m welcomed by a staff member on the newbie channel, which is always nice to see. You start the game in the foyer of Jarrel Whitefire’s Survival Training, or MUD school to you ROM veterans.
MUD School
Now, I hate MUD schools. Not because they are tedious and repetitive (they are), but because they do absolutely nothing to draw me into the game world. The endless procession of signs and helpful NPCs feels fake, forced and immediately kills any sense of interest I might have had in a game.
I suppose it’s excusable if your game doesn’t make any attempt at a consistent world setting with established history and lore, but if that’s the case why bother making a MUD? As a player I want to be drawn into the setting from the moment I enter the game and any kind of newbie tutorial should help to do that.
I work my way through the MUD school, including the practice and training rooms, and at the end there’s a small cavern area with goblins to slaughter. As expected none of the mobs present a challenge and all die within a couple of rounds. Each one is worth around 5% of the XP needed to level, which feels a little slow to me.
I think it’s a bad sign for a hack and slash game when levelling from killing mobs feels slow at level 1, although with only 60 levels in total perhaps it’s deliberately slow paced. The combat itself is fairly typical of ROM with damage and status reports for each round of combat and enemy health percentage remaining added to your prompt. I kill a few more goblins and ding level 2.
Unfortunately I’ve only been playing a short time and I’m already seeing “You are hungry” messages every tick. I’ve never seen any purpose in hunger/thirst mechanics other than to annoy players and I usually refuse to play any games that include them.
Leaving MUD school it’s into the arena for a bit more hacking and slashing. I ding level 3 and decide to head out into the game world proper.
Interface
There’s plenty of colour used to distinguish different elements, but nothing too garish and no rainbow coloured “unicorn puke”. The tactical map in each room description is a handy feature and with only four compass points supported navigation is simple enough. The prompt is stock ROM and can be customised to your taste.
I was a little disappointed with NPC interaction as there is no delay between actions so it feels a little rushed and spammy at times. I’m aware this is how it’s commonly done, but I personally prefer scripted delays when NPCs are talking or carrying out actions as it feels more natural. Either that or have them speak all their text in one paragraph rather than individual lines one after the other.
Conclusions
Adventures Unlimited is a polished game, as you would expect from something that’s been online for over 10 years. I’m not an expert on ROM by any means, but it definitely had a familiar feel to me so if you’re a ROM fan then you should be at home here.
While the areas I saw seemed well put together I didn’t feel that there was a strong or consistent theme to really draw me into the fantasy world.
The website has lots of information about the game and there is also a facebook page and a twitter feed, so it’s good to see the staff looking at new ways to reach out to players.
bcdev.design.blog 