Baron Baldric: A Grave Adventure and Mystic Towers

Baron Baldric: A Grave Adventure is an oft overlooked game developed by Animation F/X in 1992 Amiga and PC.  Overlooked, perhaps, because it was sold only in Australia, but the game’s primary character became more widely known owing to a much more prominent sequel published by Apogee in 1994.

Possessing a decided whimsical quality that sets it apart from other titles, you do not play as a muscle-bound hero or a scantly-clad amazon, but rather a peculiar, somewhat uncouth but very humorous old man with a walking stick.  Baron Baldric is hardly the stuff gaming mascots are made out of, but he’s so amusing that he makes for an entertaining experience all on his own.  He has a variety of odd mannerisms that he displays during gameplay that make him more than just an old-looking avatar and give him a very distinct personality.

A Grave Adventure is a side-scrolling arcade/puzzle style adventure game.  The storyline has Baldric facing one of his ancestries, the evil Baron Lazarus, whose lust for wealth and power let him to experiment with dark magic, ultimately transforming himself into a werewolf.  After kidnapping a village milkmaid named Rosie, however, people had enough and did him in.  Now his werewolf spirit haunts his castle, protecting his wealth and entrapping the soul of poor lil’ Rosie.

Enter Baron Baldric.  You take off through the maze-like castle levels, seeking riches and  avoiding the spirit of Lazarus who roams them as well.  Rosie’s spirit also flits about the levels as a stark-naked angel, perhaps providing Baldric with some extra incentive to defeat Lazarus and set her free.

Ultimately it’s a charming, humorous game, but it is the sequel where Baron Baldric really shines.  Providing much more spit and polish, the second game, Mystic Towers, was published by Apogee in 1994.  The game features beautiful VGA graphics that still hold up today, and an atmospheric soundtrack.  The gameplay went off in a radically different direction.  The game begins like an old Disney movie, with a shot of an old storybook opening up to reveal the plot.  Spread across Baldric’s land are several old towers associated with Baron’s ancestor Lazarus, and these are cursed and crawling with monsters.  The locals plead with our good baron to use his magic to neutralize them.  Baldric, not a man to shun adventure, takes up his staff and sets out to clean house.

The game takes place in an isometric perspective.  The various towers have multiple levels filled with traps, magic and monsters.  Genre-wise the game could be classified as an action-adventure, but exploring the towers often has more of an RPG feel.  The goal in each tower is to destroy all monsters living within it, along with a “monster generator”, a stone alter that will cause them to re-spawn until it has been destroyed.  The Baron has multiple spells at his disposal, attack spells for slaying monsters and more practical spells for surviving traps and solving puzzles.  The game has a slower, more deliberate pace and is both challenging and filled with adventure.

It really is a shame that more people aren’t aware of Baron Baldric, but for those interested in taking a look, I would highly recommend Mystic Towers.  The title stands on its own feet without a prior knowledge of A Grave Adventure and the gameplay is as compelling today as it was when it was first released.