Play Talisman - Challenging the Sands of Time Online

Talisman: Challenging the Sands of Time came out in 1990 as part of the MS-DOS Classic Games series, developed by Magnetic Scrolls. It was one of those early PC titles that leaned into text-heavy adventure and strategy, fitting right in with the era's appetite for thoughtful, keyboard-driven experiences rather than fast action.

You control a lone adventurer racing against a relentless hourglass to retrieve a magical talisman from a pyramid deep in the desert. Movement is turn based and grid based, with each new screen presenting unpredictable events: you might discover an oasis, be ambushed by bandits, or lose provisions to a sudden sandstorm. Combat uses simple dice rolls for resolution, and managing resources like water and gold becomes a constant, tense calculation. The game moves deliberately, almost methodically, but the threat of time running out keeps every decision urgent. It feels like a high stakes board game unfolding slowly on the screen, where luck and caution must constantly be balanced.

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