Play Bard's Tale, The - Tales of the Unknown Online

I first played The Bard's Tale on the Nintendo Entertainment System back in the late 80s, a port of the computer game from Interplay. It was a time when console RPGs were just starting to find their footing, offering a different kind of challenge from the action games that dominated the platform. This one demanded patience and a lot of graph paper.

You control a custom party of up to six characters, choosing from classes like fighters, mages, and the titular bard, navigating the city of Skara Brae and its many subterranean levels one square at a time. The main goal is to defeat the evil wizard Mangar, which involves extensive dungeon delving, solving environmental puzzles, and engaging in frequent, turn-based combat against monsters that appear without warning. You need to carefully manage your spell points, gold for better gear, and even the bard's unique songs that provide various buffs in battle. The pacing is slow and methodical, the difficulty is punishing, and every foray into the dark feels like a genuine risk. It feels like a grueling, rewarding test of your strategic planning and endurance.