Druid (video game)


Druid is a hack and slash dungeon crawl developed by Electralyte Software and published by Firebird in 1986 for the Atari 8-bit family and Commodore 64, also ported to Amstrad CPC and ZX Spectrum. The game was ported by Nippon Dexter for the MSX in Japan-only in 1988. Another Japanese port of Druid entitled Druid: Kyōfu no Tobira was made for the Famicom Disk System by Jaleco in 1988. The game was followed by ' and '.

Gameplay

Inspired by the arcade game Gauntlet, Druid is a fantasy-themed dungeon crawl where the player plays the part of Hasrinaxx, a druid who is trying to rid the world of the dark mage Acamantor and his army of demons. To do this, Hasrinaxx must travel through several levels.
The first level is a normal landscape, and the ones after that are underground, each one deeper than the previous. Each level is infested with various enemies such as ghosts, giant insects, witches, and the four demon princes. Hasrinaxx can shoot these enemies with three different weapons: water, fire, and electricity, but they all come in a finite supply and are not equally effective on all enemies. Using a Chaos spell will destroy all enemies in the player's vicinity as well as replenishing energy. The four demon princes can only be defeated with a Chaos spell, common weapons are ineffective against them.
Hasrinaxx can also summon a golem to help him, or turn invisible for a brief period. In both Atari 8-bit and Commodore 64 versions, a second player can take control of the golem using joystick port 2.