Daymare for DOS

I found today’s game whilst playing random shareware I found on my F19 CD. Daymare is a dungeon crawler made by Jim Todd, originally it was made for the Atari ST, but was later ported to DOS in 1992. It was released as shareware with a sequel eventually being made.

The graphics are in VGA and are reasonable for the most part. It’s not as pretty as a more professionally made game such as Eye of the Beholder, but the dungeon is rendered quite well and the other artwork works well enough. There wasn’t any sound to speak of.

At first when I started playing the game I didn’t have much idea about how to play. It’s controlled entirely by the mouse so it wasn’t too difficult to figure stuff out, even though much of what you need to know isn’t in the instructions. There is a cluster of controls arranged in a grid of 8 buttons, and a section for storing and equipping items. Basic movement and attacking were easy to figure out.

Using items was a bit trickier, but I did figure out how to do it. For food items you pick them up with your mouse and click the item on the mouth. Most food items disappear, but the vials of water leave an empty vial after consumption. You can fill these empty vials at a well such as the one found in the starting area. Other items, such as the scrolls and the bag of holding need to be in the right hand slot of your inventory, clicking the diamond (with out starting a spell) uses the item.

Spells are cast by clicking the symbols around the diamond in the correct sequence for the spell, then clicking the diamond. The spells are revealed by hints left throughout the level, such as a readable item that tells you the softens spell. Signs and other text around the levels will provide other hints.

The game starts you out in a little courtyard with a few items around on the ground. You’ll find some water vials, some treasure, healing scrolls and a weapon. The treasure seemed pointless at first, but I found out that you gain experience (and levels) by putting it in the well. The water vials are quite useful as they restore some health in addition to thirst. Since they can be reused they are one of the easiest ways of restoring health. You’ll still need to find food to fill your hunger.

The first enemies I encountered were some worms and attack dogs that were tougher than they looked. It really helps to use the softens spell, as it increases your resistance to physical damage. You’re quite vulnerable at level 1, so I died a few times before I leveled up, but after that I only died if I had bad luck or went somewhere I wasn’t ready for yet.

I’ve played for a few hours so far and feel like I’ve only really scratched the surface. So far I’ve explored most of the first level and managed to find the bag of holding in a hidden section. There is a locked door I haven’t found any keys for yet and a section that kills me quickly, so I’m guessing there are some parts I’ll have to come back to when I’ve leveled up and found some keys.

I quite enjoyed playing Daymare once I got over the initial hurdles. There are a few quality of life issues, such as only having one save slot, not having an auto map and being forced to quit the game every time you die. However I still think it’s worth a download and play. I found the sequel on the authors website, however this version wasn’t available there, if you want to give it a try you can find it on dosgames.com.