The plan is when Vertic's been brought under new direction, Horizont and Diagon are next.
The first owns the dark of the moors bleak and nightly, where an eerie wind moans at the desolate sight.note
The next owns the dark of the realm of Osiris where waters of yonder restore Isis' might.note
The third owns the dark of the stairways and and alleys, reached only by flickering candlelight.note
The fourth owns the dark of the graves that are mould'ring, with fog that envelops the stone slabs at night.note
—Story intro in the manual.
Lords of Doom is a grid-based Survival Horror Adventure Game developed by Attic Entertainment Software. It was originally published by Starbyte Software around November of 1990 for the Commodore 64, Amiga, Atari ST, and DOS. The latter three are the same 16-bit game, while the 8-bit Commodore 64 version was built from the ground up as its own thing by Sense of Wonder.
The premise of Lords of Doom is the unprecedented alliance between four old and powerful monsters: a vampire, a zombie, a mummy, and a werewolf. These are the Lords of Doom and they have their eyes set on grand-scale conquest, having picked Vertic, an isolated hamlet bordering on a desert, as the place they'll get started. They convert the entire population to be their monstrous servants except for two survivors: Sharon McGillis and Charlie Jackson (also spelled as Charly). Rather than flee, the two take it upon themselves to end the four-fold menace while its still , but call in some experienced monster hunters to help them: Abraham Van Halen and Susan Leicester. Their mission objectives are to stay alive themselves, figure out the methods to destroy the Lords, obtain the means to destroy the Lords, and finally destroy the Lords one by one.
The player is presented with a first-person view play window in the upper left corner and character portraits beneath it. In the 16-bit version, the right side has the score tracker on top, the inventory and option menu in the middle, and the protagonist data at the bottom. In the 8-bit version, it's the other way around. Protagonists are guided through Vertic on an individual basis and cannot be controlled as a group. To keep things from getting frustrating, no harm can befall the inactive protagonists even if they're left in the middle of an attack. The protagonists do not have separate skill sets and are mostly interchangeable. This means that one or more may die; as long as at least one protagonist is alive, the adventure keeps going.
Aside from the usual adventure game fare of finding clues, objects, and ways to combine objects, Lords of Doom has a combat aspect. At any time, the active protagonist may be attacked by one of the Lords' monstrous minions and required to fight back with whatever weapon is at hand. Alternatively, there is one ward per monster type available to prevent that monster type from attacking the holder. There are few actual healing items, as most healing is done by drinking and eating, which also keep the thirst and hunger meters up.
Hans-Jürgen Brändle and Guido Henkel are the minds behind Lords of Doom and prior forayed into the horror genre with Ooze — Creepy Nites. Lords of Doom contains a reference to its predecessor, but other than that the two games have little in common. Instead, Lords of Doom takes a lot from and improves on the gameplay mechanics of the 1989 remake of Zombi. Incidentally, much like the original Zombi was Ubisoft's debut game, so is Lords of Doom that of Attic Entertainment Software. There also appear to be atmospheric and narrative cues taken from Personal Nightmare, another 1989 game, because both it and Lords of Doom are set in a rustic town infiltrated by monsters.
Lords of Doom contains examples of:
- All There in the Manual: The four protagonists are only referred to by their first name in the heads-up display, although Abraham's last name "Van Halen" is written down in the address book in the villa. The other three last names are exclusively found in the manual.
- Atop a Mountain of Corpses: In the 16-bit ending, the protagonists stand tall over the corpses of a werewolf, a zombie, and a vampire. Susan adds the usual flair to the image by lightly clinging to Abraham's arm.
- Bat Out of Hell: In the 8-bit version, entering the room in the villa with the wall safe prompts a bat to fly in through the open window and bite the protagonist. It may or may not act on behalf of the Lords, but it keeps coming back so striking at it with a knife is recommended.
- Bodyguarding a Badass: All Lords have a couple of minions guarding their lair. These minions are the same as all the others except that they aren't affected by the wards. Each Lord has five bodyguards except for the Zombie Lord, who has settled in the cemetery. Because he uniquely can also raise the dead instead of only turning the living, he has afforded himself a small army. One character has to be sent in to serve as a distraction so that the Zombie Lord will be left unguarded.
- Breaking the Fourth Wall: The game has numerous instances of irreverently breaking the fourth wall.
- The flavor text of a painting in the villa in the 16-bit version quips that there is no lack of paintings in this game. Across from the painting is a grandfather clock that has stopped ticking at midnight. The flavor text notes that game is just filled with this kind of clichés.
- Two of the possible minion lines in the 16-bit version are "Ever seen anything like me before? Bah, on television..." and "I would have certainly been killed in a movie by now... Well, I won't in here!"
- In an act of developer trolling, there are many small carpets in the game and the player can look under each and every one. Not a single one hides something.
- Chainsaw Good: A chainsaw lies in the villa's garden in an easy-to-miss screen below the garden gloves. It is an Evil Dead reference and seems like a promising new weapon or at least useful tool, but in fact it's broken and can't be picked up.
- Deader than Dead: While every other Lord needs to be stunned and then killed in a fairly clean fashion, the Zombie Lord goes down a lot less elegantly. He needs to be hacked to bits with an axe straight away and when that's done, his remains are to be covered in holy earth because he can just reform himself otherwise.
- Devoured by the Horde: The protagonist who takes it upon themself to be the distraction needed to clear the way to the Zombie Lord walks into the horde of zombies occupying the cemetery. In the 16-bit version, they get devoured by them.
- Dies Differently in Adaptation: One protagonist has to die to distract the zombies guarding the cemetery. In the 8-bit version, the victim gets turned into another zombie. In the 16-bit version, the ravenous zombies consume the victim whole.
- Don't Go in the Woods: The Werewolf Lord has his lair in the forest bordering Vertic, which means that his five bodyguards hang around there as well. Properly equipped, any of the protagonists can deal with the latter five, but all except Charlie freeze in fear when they come face to face with the Werewolf Lord.
- Doomed Hometown: The population of the hamlet of Vertic gets near-completely murdered and turned into undead servants of the Lords. Only Sharon and Charlie escape the carnage, but rather than flee, they stay to fight back and ensure Vertic is the only place that'll suffer this unholy fate.
- Dramatic Thunder: In the intro sequence of the 16-bit version, a thunder storm rolls in as the camera glides over to Vertic.
- Encounter Repellant: There is a ward per monster type that is needed to defeat the Lord, but in the meantime the protagonist holding it won't be attacked by any of its kin either. For vampires, it's the crucifix found in the church. For zombies, it's the holy earth from the cemetery chapel. For mummies, it's the ankh found in the bank. And for werewolves, it's the wolf herb found in a knight's grave. The first catch to the wards is that only one out of four available protagonists is protected from one out of four possible attacks. The second catch to the wards is that they aren't readily obtained. Especially the ankh takes many steps to acquire. And the third catch to the wards is that they don't work on the minions serving as the Lords' bodyguards.
- The End... Or Is It?: Both versions leave the possibility for the Lords to return open, but in completely different ways.
- In the 16-bit version, the protagonists remark upon defeating the Lords that they "can only hope that they won't come back to Earth one day!" The Mummy Lord in particular is the one Lord to get a dying speech, which is a vow that they'll return because "the servants of Amun are immortal".
- In the 8-bit version, the protagonists gather in the main street and watch the gates to the villa close on their own. The villa's shadowy silhouette changes shape into a giant bat that flies off, at which point the sky clears and everyone is magically alive again. A happy ending, but one that implies the evil has only been thwarted, not destroyed.
- Everybody Lives: In the 8-bit ending, the entire population of Vertic lives as if it all had been a bad dream after the defeat of the Lords. How this is possible when the manual is clear that the population was turned and the protagonists have been killing off monsters left and right isn't explained.
- Everybody's Dead, Dave: In the 16-bit ending, the Lords are dead and so is everyone in Vertic except for the four protagonists. They've saved other towns from suffering the same fate, but Vertic is gone.
- Evil Tainted the Place: In the 16-bit version, there are several encounters with ghosts that seem to be a side-effect of the violence the Lords inflicted on Vertic. There's a hand that slides down the window of the villa next to the front door. A figure leaves through the door at the end of the hallway in the villa. Examining a mirror in the villa causes the protagonist to notice someone behind them, but upon turning around nobody is there. From outside, eyes peer into the ground floor bedroom in the villa. A head looks up from the basement stairs in the villa. Blood flows from the stairs leading to the first floor without a source. A shadow disappears into an upstairs room in the villa. A shadow walks off behind the counter in the post office. A set of eyes look up from a manhole in the street. And a figure leaves the restaurant through an otherwise locked door when a protagonist enters. None of these have to be ghosts, but if they're minions it's curious why they don't attack, especially the one on the stairs, and ghostly activity is confirmed. There's a painting of a ship in the villa upstairs that moves and prompts the protagonist to comment that this is the first time they've ever seen a haunted painting.
- Fate Worse than Death: The 16-bit version's manual ominously describes the fate of the people of Vertic as worse than death: "Yet it was no death to give their souls peace. Whoever died became one of them, and that was worst of all..."
- Gas Siphoning: To get fuel for their homemade flamethrower, the protagonists siphon some from the parked car nearby the movie theatre with the drain hose taken from the barber shop.
- Genius Loci: In the 8-bit version's ending, the villa's silhouette changes into a bat and flies off, which also allows the weather to go back to normal. Up to this point, no reason was given to assume the villa was anything but a normal building where terrible things have happened.
- Haunted House: The villa is the place the Vampire Lord has taken as his residence. It is a large building, even more so in the 8-bit version where it's size compares to a castle's, and previously inhabited by someone close to Abraham van Halen. Aside from the vampires and other minion monsters walking around, it's also the place with the most and the most obvious ghostly activity in the 16-bit version.
- Holy Burns Evil: The protagonist that holds the crucifix doesn't have to worry about random vampire attacks and the protagonist that holds the holy earth doesn't have to worry about random zombie attacks. They'll be notified when one was supposed to occur, but the monster fled upon recognizing the holy object. The exception are the five vampires that protect the Vampire Lord and any of the zombies that protect the Zombie Lord, presumably because they are stronger. The Vampire Lord himself is unsettled by the crucifix, but can hold his own against it. It's only in combination with holy water and a stake through his heart that the crucifix is useful to weaken him. The holy earth can't harm the Zombie Lord, but it does prevent him from recovering from being hacked to pieces.
- Homemade Flamethrower: Fire is needed to end the Mummy Lord's reign, but there is no flamethrower lying around in Vertic. This means that the protagonists have to make their own, starting with fetching the water pump and garden hose from the garden supplies store. The water pump and garden hose combine to the hose pump. Fuel is to be tapped from the parked car nearby the movie theatre with the drain hose taken from the barber shop. After this, the flamethrower works, even though among others its construction omits an ignition source.
- Hyperactive Metabolism: Other than the medkits that Abraham brings with him in the 16-bit version, there are no direct healing items, but the protagonists can improve their health by eating and drinking. Even water does wonders for the health meter. Incidentally, those four medkits also improve hunger, so presumably the medical contents are medicine.
- It's Quiet… Too Quiet: The manual goes in detail on how silence rules Vertic where no longer a soul is to be seen or a child is to be heard crying. Anyone who enters will find their own footsteps noisy and so will the various monsters that now haunt the hamlet.
- Keystone Army: Minion monsters endlessly respawn in Vertic until their respective Lords get destroyed.
- Let's Split Up, Gang!: All four protagonists are controlled individually, which means that each does battle with the monsters alone even though their survival odds would improve significantly if they'd take them on together. This is especially true in regards to the wards. Each ward keeps a specific monster type at bay, but there's only one of each ward so, because the protagonists operate individually, only one protagonist enjoys its protection.
- Life Meter: The four protagonists each have three meters: hunger, thirst, and health. Hunger and thirst drain over time for all, but only the protagonist actively being played with can lose health because only they can be on the receiving end of an attack or experience the effects of an empty stomach. Other than the medkits that Abraham brings with him in the 16-bit version, there are no direct healing items, but the protagonists can improve their health by eating and drinking.
- Limited Loadout: Each protagonist can only carry six items, regardless of whether that item is a key or a makeshift flamethrower. Weapons that rely on ammunition can be opened for a separate compartment of again six slots. Also, if a protagonist dies, they leave behind a bag with their stuff. Another protagonist can pick up that bag, which takes up one slot in the core inventory, but can be opened to find room for another six items.
- Lock and Key Puzzle: There are a handful of keys to be found in Vertic and several locked doors, chests, vaults and the like. Most can't be opened, so figuring out where what key goes is a little more difficult than by process of elimination. There is also one wall safe in the villa that requires a code the notes for which are scattered all around the building. And in one case a glass display case has to be opened with a crowbar to get to the loot. None of other heavy objects to be found in the game work to get through the glass.
- Looks Like Orlok: In the 8-bit version, minion vampires and the Vampire Lord all look exactly like Prana's Orlok. In the 16-bit version, minion vampires also look like Orlok, but less so than their 8-bit counterparts because their head is less elongated and their teeth less pronounced. The 16-bit Vampire Lord looks more like Universal's Dracula.
- Mummy: In the 8-bit version, the minion mummies and the Mummy Lord are designed in homage of Imhotep from The Mummy. In the 16-bit version, the minion mummies look like ash-ified humans and the Mummy Lord is hidden inside a cloak. Amun, Isis, and Osiris are all mentioned, so despite their unconventional looks they are indeed supposed to be the Egyptian variety of mummy. Mummies are held at bay by the ankh. The Mummy Lord resides in the movie theatre's basement, which has to be blown up to get to him. Defeating him requires the use of the ankh and a homemade flamethrower with a full fuel tank.
- Night of the Living Mooks: The Lords have converted the entire population of Vertic into their minions a per their own monster type: vampire, werewolf, zombie, and mummy. The minions attack on sight and can themselves turn humans into more minions for their respective masters. The Zombie Lord is the most powerful in this regard, because not only can he turn humans, he can also raise the dead as more zombies to serve him. The other Lords do not display this power. Naturally, the Zombie Lord has made himself at home in the cemetery.
- No Name Given: None of the Lords are named, although examining the photo of Indiana Jones in the 8-bit version does suggest that the Mummy Lord is named Imhotep.
- Our Vampires Are Different: In the 8-bit version, the minion vampire and the Vampire Lord are designed in homage of Count Orlok from Nosferatu. In the 16-bit version, the minion vampires look like well-fed Orloks and the Vampire Lord looks like Dracula from Dracula. Vampires are held at bay by the crucifix. The Vampire Lord resides in the villa's basement and has strong mesmerizing powers that make Abraham van Halen the only one able to deal with him. Defeating the Vampire Lord requires the use of holy water, the crucifix, and a crossbow with stakes as ammunition.
- Our Werewolves Are Different: In the 8-bit version, the minion werewolves and the Werewolf Lord appear to be designed after the werewolf from An American Werewolf in London. In the 16-bit version, the minion werewolves have brown fur while the Werewolf Lord has grey fur and all of them are more humanoid than the 8-bit werewolves. Werewolves are held at bay by the wolf herb. The Werewolf Lord resides in what is called a moor but certainly looks like a forest. He induces intense fear that only Charlie Jackson can overcome. Defeating the Werewolf Lord requires the use of the wolf herb and a gun loaded with a silver bullet.
- Our Zombies Are Different: In the 8-bit version, the minion zombies and the Zombie Lord appear to be designed after the deadites from Evil Dead. They look possessed, but otherwise human. In the 16-bit version, both the flesh and the clothes of the minion zombies and the Zombie Lord are obviously decaying. Zombies are held at bay by the holy earth. The Zombie Lord resides in a chapel at the cemetery, where he's fiercely guarded by formerly living and formerly dead zombies; the Zombie Lord is the only Lord shown to be capable of turning the long-dead. Defeating the Zombie Lord is a matter of rigorously chopping him up with an axe and covering his remains with holy earth before he gets back up.
- Pamphlet Shelf: There are eight readable books to be found between the library and the villa. Some are in-fiction fiction and some are in-fiction documentation. The player is relayed only a few sentences per book.
- Pixel Hunt: The scenery in the game is rich, but between all that visual noise the player has to find those areas on a given screen that matter for the gameplay. This can be tricky, also because sometimes items are located in drawers and thus don't stand out. There are also a few traps, like a coffin in a carpenter shop early on. It's worth clicking around the entire shop but click that particular object and a vampire will jump out.
- Puzzle Boss: Each of the Lords has to be handled in a precise way before they've drained the protagonist's health. Instructions on how to end them can be found in books in the library or villa, but these instructions only concern the immediate fight, not any preparations.
- To kill the Vampire Lord, only Abraham van Halen is an option because only he can resist his hypnosis. This is trial-and-error knowledge. The rest can be found in the book Vampireology Volume II. First the Vampire Lord needs to get sprinkled with holy water, then kept docile with the crucifix, and finally impaled with a stake loaded on a crossbow.
- To kill the Mummy Lord, a lot of gathering and combining has to be done to acquire a homemade flamethrower. During combat, first the Mummy Lord needs to be kept docile with the ankh and then burned with the flamethrower six times. This latter part is trial-and-error because the text doesn't change between hits, making it look like you're supposed to do something else too or altogether.
- To kill the Zombie Lord, first someone has to be sacrificed to distract the minion zombies protecting the Zombie Lord. This information is cryptically relayed in Father Goodman's notes. The rest can be found in the book Zombies. First the Zombie Lord needs to be hacked to pieces and then his remains need to be covered with holy earth.
- To kill the Werewolf Lord, only Charlie Jackson is an option because only he doesn't freeze up in fear. This is trial-and-error knowledge. The rest can be found in the book The Curse. First, the Werewolf Lord has to be kept docile with the wolf herb and then he needs to be shot with a silver bullet once.
- Race Lift: Charlie and Sharon are white-looking in the 8-bit version and black-looking in the 16-bit version. Except for the screen that pops up when all the Lords have been defeated. There, Charlie and Sharon are white-looking while Susan kind of looks East Asian.
- Random Encounters: All four types of minion monsters are fought during random encounters. It is not possible to get out of a fight, but good weapons and the rare wards keep the threat and annoyance down. As soon as a Lord is defeated, his minions die alongside him and won't be a bother from then on. This is all the same between both versions. One important difference, though, is that in the 16-bit version there either is or isn't a monster on the screen to fight. In the 8-bit version monsters can spawn at any time, rarely even multiple in succession, and all the player gets as a warning is an eerie tune.
- Shout-Out: There are many references to extra-fictional material in Lords of Doom and there are different ones between the 8-bit and the 16-bit versions. In some cases, it's hard to tell if a reference is a true shout-out or part of the worldbuilding.
- In the 16-bit version, only the Vampire Lord is recognizable as a take on Universal's Dracula. In the 8-bit version, all vampires are modeled after Prana's Film/Nosferatu and all mummies are modeled after Universal's Imhotep. The 8-bit werewolves appear to be based on the werewolf from An American Werewolf in London. And the 8-bit zombies appear to homage Evil Dead with their distorted grins, medium blue shirts, and one of the two intro animations where a zombie puts their head back on their neck not unlike Linda does in Evil Dead 2.
- One of the lines monsters can utter in the 16-bit version is "Tell me, have you ever danced with the devil in the pale moonlight?". This line is said by the Joker in Batman.
- One of the lines monsters can utter in the 16-bit version is "Are you able to beam yourself away? Do it now!" This references key technology in Star Trek.
- One of the lines monsters can utter in the 16-bit version is "I am the beast, where the hell is the beauty?" This is a play on the fairy tale Beauty and the Beast.
- One of the lines monsters can utter in the 16-bit version is "I am no nightmare. I am not Freddy either," invoking A Nightmare on Elm Street.
- When killed in the 8-bit version, monsters will utter the line "My only friend, the end," quoting from "The End" by The Doors.
- A book on the table in the salon in the villa in the 8-bit version is Fanny Hill by Jon Cleland.
- Two paintings in the salon in the villa in the 8-bit version depict Abraham Lincoln and George Washington.
- The description of a painting at the end of a hallway in the villa in the 16-bit version proposes that it was painted by Boris Vallejo.
- The description of a painting (that looks like a vase with flowers) in the salon in the villa in the 16-bit version notes that it's the cover art of Rings of Medusa.
- In the 8-bit version, there are photos of Superman, Doc Brown from Back to the Future, and Indiana Jones and on the wall upstairs. The falvor text for the Superman photo makes fun of Superman IV: The Quest for Peace. There's also a print left by a bat that crashed against the wall that resembles the Batman logo.
- In the 16-bit version, there's a framed Tooth and Nail tour date poster by Dokken on the wall upstairs.
- In the 16-bit version, a painting of a lady in the hallway of the villa is identified as an advertisement for Attic Entertainment Software's upcoming video game adaptation of The Dark Eye, nowadays known in English as Realms of Arkania.
- In a bedroom in the villa in the 16-bit version and in the library in the 8-bit version, there's an unnamed document by Father Goodman about the necessity of being willing to sacrifice yourself if you want to stand a chance against evil. This relates to how to deal with the Zombie Lord and thus is a likely reference to Jack Goodman from An American Werewolf in London.
- There are many books to be found in either the library, the villa, and specifically the upstairs study in the villa. Aside from being helpful or entertaining, they contain various shout-outs. There's Vampireology Volume II about vampires by Jonathan Harker of Dracula fame. There's The Curse about mummies by Alan Gardener, a reference to the Egyptologist Alan Gardiner. There's Red Plague about spiders under the skin by Dorian Dark, a reference to the protagonist of The Picture of Dorian Gray. There's Medieval Legends about a wolf-hunting knight by A.H. Dolkin, a reference to J. R. R. Tolkien. There's Zombies about zombies by G. Helsing (sometimes Ch. Helsing), recalling Abraham van Helsing of Dracula fame. And there are two other books, Rendezvous about vampires by Elmo Ripper, and The Horror'' about zombies by Alice Stranger.
- In the 8-bit version, some of gravestones in the cemetery have readable text. Accordingly, the cemetery is the final resting place of Victor Frankenstein, H. P. Lovecraft, Thomas Kovacs, Henry Jekyll, Edgar Allan Poe, and Ligeia.
- ALF is on the screen of the movie theatre in the 16-bit version.
- Batman is on the screen of the movie theatre in the 8-bit version.
- The movie theatre has a marquee announcing King Kong in the 8-bit version. Elsewhere, a fence holds up a poster promoting a film titled Ping Pong, about a monster with table tennis ball eyes.
- Left of the entrance to the movie theatre is a poster announcing The Mummy in the 8-bit version.
- Right of the entrance to the movie theatre in the 16-bit version is a poster for Morocco.
- There's a billboard along a wall that promotes Ooze. Ooze — Creepy Nights is the game Hans-Jürgen Brändle, Guido Henkel, and Markus Henrich worked on the year prior to Lords of Doom. The flavor text also urges the audience to look out for their soon-to-be-published game, Drachen von Laas.
- The image shown as the game over ending in the 16-bit version is reminiscent of the cover art of The Monster Squad.
- Shows Damage: The portraits in the heads-up display can show the characters healthy-looking if they are at least alive, as a skull when they've died due to environmental circumstances like a collapsing ceiling, or as whatever monster that killed and turned them.
- Silver Bullet: Minion werewolves can be killed off with whatever is at hand, but the Werewolf Lord needs to be finished with a silver bullet through the heart. To get some, the protagonists collect silver jewelry from the villa and a bullet mold from the weapon shop. They melt the jewelry into bullets at the metalworker's.
- Slain in Their Sleep: The Lords attack Vertic in the dead of night when most of the desert hamlet is asleep. Therefore, by far most of their victims died unaware of their slaughter.
- Someone Has to Die: There is a book by Father Goodman that states that you cannot stop evil if you aren't willing to give your life in the attempt. This relates to the means by which the Zombie Lord can be stopped. The cemetery is filled with zombies and one protagonist of the player's choosing will have to walk right into their midst to distract them, something they cannot survive. This way, they leave the Zombie Lord unguarded for another protagonist to deal with.
- Stopped Clock: A grandfather clock in the main hallway of the villa and a kitchen clock have come to stop right at midnight. Implicitly, this was when the Lords struck, but the clocks themselves are fine and there's no obvious reason as to why they stopped.
- Timed Mission: In the 16-bit version, once a protagonist has been sacrificed to the zombie bodyguards at the cemetery, they'll permanently be distracted from attacking another protagonist. In the 8-bit version, the distraction is temporary and the player has to hurry if they don't want to have to need to sacrifice another protagonist as a distraction.
- Today, X. Tomorrow, the World!: The Lords of Doom have their eyes on, if not world domination, at least a good chunk of territory to rule unopposed. Because they have to build up their forces, they start their plan by attacking a hamlet in the middle of nowhere where there is little resistance and limited means for survivors to reach out for help.
- Trial-and-Error Gameplay: Lords of Doom guides the player for most of the gameplay, but there are some things one either has to luck out on or learn the hard way. An example is that only Abraham can keep his cool against the Vampire Lord and likewise Charlie the Werewolf Lord. Nothing in the game mentions this and even going up against these Lords with the wrong protagonist only informs the player why they can't do it, sooner making one think there's a step missing than that the protagonist is inherently unfit. Another example is that in the 8-bit version, there's a chest with a poisoned needle on the lock that, if opened without garden gloves on, will poison and slowly kill the protagonist that opened the chest. No indication is given that the needle is poisoned and the health drain is easily missed. The 16-bit version is merciful: the chest won't open at all without garden gloves — which informs the player that opening the chest without gloves is a no-go, the needle is indicated to be poisoned, and only some health is drained on the spot.
- Unwinnable by Design: You can save whenever you like and multiple save slots are available. But if you don't utilize them, you could end up saving the game in an unwinnable state. Only Abraham can resist the Vampire Lord's hypnosis and only Charlie does not freeze in fear when up against the Werewolf Lord. The game is therefore unwinnable if either of them dies before their respective archenemy bites the dust. And if three protagonists have already perished before the Zombie Lord is dealt with, that's no longer possible either because there need to be two protagonists: one to distract the zombie horde and one to actually fight the Zombie Lord.
- Vampires Sleep in Coffins: Clicking the coffin in the carpenter shop makes a vampire jump out. In the 8-bit version, the Vampire Lord doesn't even bother to leave his coffin during the boss fight.
- Wizard Needs Food Badly: The protagonists all have food and thirst meters which slowly dwindle to zero. When either does, a protagonist's health will slowly dwindle, but only if they're active. The game is forgiving in keeping the meters filled: there's a sustainable amount of food and drink to be found around the game and would the player run out of the limited supplies still, then there are also an apple tree for unlimited food and a kitchen for unlimited water. There's some distance between these locations, so for the full meal travel is necessary. Eating and drinking restores health too, so random encounters during travel should not be a problem.
- You Don't Look Like You: The artwork of the Lords in the manual isn't always the same as the models of the Lords in the game. The Werewolf Lord is always a match. The manual art matches for the Vampire Lord in the 16-bit version but not the 8-bit version. The Zombie Lord and the Mummy Lord don't match in either version.
