Zork Nemesis: The Forbidden Lands is a graphic adventure game, developed by Zombie LLC, published by Activision, and released in 1996 for Windows 95, MS-DOS, and Macintosh. It is the eleventh game in the Zork series, and is the first title not to be marketed under the Infocom label. It is the second Zork game by Activision after Return to Zork (1993).

The story, which is darker and less comical than previous Zork games, focuses on players investigating the sudden disappearance of four prominent figures and their children at the hands of a mysterious being known as the "Nemesis", uncovering a sinister plot during their investigations that they must thwart. The game's live-action cast included Lauren Koslow, W. Morgan Sheppard, Allan Kolman, Stephen Macht, Paul Anthony Stewart, Merle Kennedy, and Bruce Nozick.

The game received favorable reviews, despite some criticism of the puzzles and lack of relevance to the Zork setting, and won the 1996 Spotlight Award for "Best Prerendered Art".

  • Doctor Erasmus Sartorius (portrayed by Allan Kolman) - Head of the Grey Mountains Asylum, conducting alchemical research to complete his father's work into finding the fifth alchemical element. The planned third act of the game, taking place in multiple extensive locations beneath the temple explored in the first act, including a dramatic boat journey on a black subterranean lake, was cut almost entirely, leaving three simple puzzles and two additional rooms.

Like other adventure games of its time, Zork Nemesis made use of live actors. The game features a significant amount of screen-time for the actors, thanks to its use of flashbacks at key locations (or objects) and the use of monologues in which characters address the player explaining and justifying their actions.

The game's plot was written by Cecilia Barajas, Nick Sagan and Adam Simon and is a departure from the series usual comedic treatment in its games, by featuring a much darker and less humorous story than previous games. The live-action scenes contributed to this cost, which ultimately rose to around USD$3.5 million. The game was heavily marketed, with an estimated $1 million spent on this aspect.

| AdvGamers = 4/5

| CGSP = 4/5

| CGW = 3/5

| GameRev = B+

| GSpot = 7.9/10

| GameZone = (positive)

| NGen = 3/5

| PCGUS = 89%

| PCZone = 65%

| rev1 = Entertainment Weekly

| rev1Score = B+

| rev2 = PC Magazine

| rev2Score = 4/4

| rev3 = PC Games

| rev3Score = A

| award1Pub = PC Games

| award1 = Game of the Month

The game received "favorable" reviews according to the review aggregation website GameRankings. It secured positions 12 and 11 the following two months, respectively. By November 1996, Zork Nemesis had sold above 100,000 units. According to Activision, strong sales of the game during the 1996 holiday shopping season contributed to high revenues in the company's third quarter, which increased 78% over the third quarter of 1995.

Zork Nemesis won the 1996 Spotlight Award for "Best Prerendered Art" from the Game Developers Conference. It was also nominated for the 1996 "Adventure Game of the Year" awards of Computer Games Strategy Plus, PC Gamer, CNET Gamecenter and Computer Game Entertainment, but these went variously to The Neverhood, The Beast Within: A Gabriel Knight Mystery and The Pandora Directive. PC Gamer highlighted Nemesiss "charm and vitality", and called it "graphically gorgeous".

In 2011, Adventure Gamers named Zork Nemesis the 51st-best adventure game ever released.

See also

  • The Space Bar

References

  • Zork Nemesis review at Adventure Classic Gaming