Play Elfland Online

Game Overview

Elfland is one of those old-school MS-DOS platformers that feels like stumbling into a weird little fairy tale. You play as either Elfie or Elfita (boy or girl elf—doesn’t change much, honestly) trying to save your homeland from trolls. The first volume has you sneaking into Gorgimer the Alchemist’s castle, which is about as welcoming as you’d expect—dude does not like visitors. Good luck sweet-talking him into helping.

Gameplay’s mostly jumping across trees and clouds while dodging trolls, though you can chuck flash berries to stun them if they get too close. Watch out for water, though—elves sink like rocks, so you’ll need to hitch rides on turtles. The townsfolk actually have useful stuff to say, which is rare for these kinds of games, so talk to everyone before you wander off. There are hidden items tucked in weird places (look up—seriously), and the second volume ramps things up with a troll chieftain boss fight. It’s got that janky-but-charming DOS feel, complete with a save system so you don’t lose progress. First part’s free, so no harm in giving it a shot.

Each game uses different controls, most DOS games use the keyboard arrows. Some will use the mouse , "Alt" ,"Enter" and "Space bar".