Conan

Logic games without action were rare even in the nineties. Conan promises you a story based on Robert E. Howard, but what you actually get is a set of puzzles that have almost nothing in common with Conan the Barbarian. That is no harm — it just means you have to accept the game for what it really is.

It is a combination of brain training and detective story. On the screen you see a network of places, characters and things that are linked by fixed logical rules. Your task is to work out how it all ties together and then arrange the characters, places and deeds correctly. The story unfolds gradually — the more you solve, the more you find out.

The controls are primitive but functional. You click on objects, read hints and try to find your bearings in the web of information. The game regularly steers you into a dead end — not because you are dumb, but because something essential is missing. Then you have to go back, reread everything and catch the details you forgot the first time. You can't speed up the pace, and you can't improvise either. Either you work out the solution or you stay stuck.

Conan will not go down in history as a groundbreaking strategy game or the entertainment of the year. Nor is it a game you would play for long stretches. But this very type of logic puzzle rarely appeared in the nineties and always had a specific atmosphere — you felt like a detective being pulled by a thread toward the solution. Graphic adventure games were in fashion, but puzzles of pure logic without adventure chatter were a rarity.

The game has really aged. The graphics are dark, the text is hard to read and getting through the individual levels without pen and paper is a road to hell. But if you take a moment and make notes, you suddenly see logic that is elegant and solid. That was exactly the goal — to keep your brain occupied for a whole evening.

Playing it today means going back to moments when a computer game did not need money, dynamics and effects. A brain and a piece of paper were enough. In an emulator or in DOSBox you will find a bit of atmosphere that has since vanished.