History VideoGame / Zork

* AcmeProducts: The many, many subsidiaries of [=FrobozzCo=] International

%% * GettingCrapPastThe Radar: Due to overwhelming and persistent misuse, GCPTR is on-page examples only until 01 June 2021. If you are reading this in the future, please check the trope page to make sure your example fits the current definition.

* BackFromTheDead and DeathIsCheap: You; most of the games have a mechanism for bringing the player character back to life. Although dying made some of the games unwinnable - ''Zork I'', for example. You lose 10 points for dying, and can only complete the game by getting all 350 points.[[spoiler: If you die before visiting the altar, ''Zork I'' gives you a clue that the game's unwinnable by saying "I can't fix you up completely, but you can't have everything." Once you already have 350 points, you can die just for fun and still exit the game thru the stone barrow.]]

* InvincibleBoogeymen: Throughout most of the Zork franchise, Grues are a very clear example of this: a breed of unseen monsters that dwell only in darkness, they will kill and eat anyone that isn't carrying a light with them. There's ''usually'' no way of fighting them, and the only way to avoid being eaten is to either leave as soon as possible or have a light of some kind ready.

* DevelopersForesight: Unusually for such an early game, the parser had a surprisingly good vocabulary for the time, including several responses to things that take some odd directions. For instance, while you can kiss the princess, don't try to "grope", "rub", "touch", "feel", "screw", or "rape" her, or the Wizard will kill you. Kicking the bucket in the well isn't recommended either.

* FeaturelessProtagonist: ''Zork: Grand Inquisitor is the Former {{Trope Namer|s}}, as AFGNCAAP.

The mainframe original is {{freeware|Games}} but for non-commercial use only. The original trilogy was offered as a free download as a promotion at one point, but redistribution was not permitted, and the promotion has now finished. [[KeepCirculatingTheTapes Not that this has stopped fan-sites from offering them as downloads.]] If you'd rather stay on the right side of the law, Website/GOGDotCom sells most of the series.

* ArcNumber: 69,105

* SecretTestOfCharacter: Pretty much the entireity of ''Zork III'' was one of these by the titular Dungeon Master to see if you were worth of [[spoiler:succeeding him]]. A specific example was the encounter with the Shrouded Figure, the only combat encounter in the game- after defeating it and rendering it helpless, finishing it off is the wrong decision- instead you're supposed to [[spoiler:remove its hood, revealing [[MirrorMatch it has your own face]] and causing it to disappear]].

* DolledUpInstallment: One can be pardoned for thinking that DarkerAndEdgier ''Zork: Nemesis'' was not originally meant to be a Zork game, but it was.

** ''[[https://neverwintervault.org/project/nwn2/module/zork-%E2%80%93-rediscovering-great-underground-empire-nwn2 ZORK: Rediscovering the Great Underground Empire]]'', a fan campaign for ''VideoGame/NeverwinterNights2''.

* GettingCrapPastTheRadar: In ''VideoGame/ZorkZero'' if you wave the magic wand at yourself, you turn into a statue. Then the game-over text explains how a pigeon finds you and calls the other pigeons saying "I found an great statue for shitting on!"

* CrystalSkull

** ''[[http://nwvault.ign.com/View.php?view=NWN2ModulesEnglish.Detail&id=378 ZORK: Rediscovering the Great Underground Empire]]'', a fan campaign for ''VideoGame/NeverwinterNights2''.

*** ''Zork: The Undiscovered Underground'' - a text adventure released as a companion to Zork: Grand Inquisitor (1997)

* EarlyInstallmentWeirdness: ''Zork 1'' featured more overt, RPG-like combat elements- of the three [=NPCs=] in the game (the troll, the Thief and the cyclops) two of them had to be overcome by equipping a weapon and killing them (the cyclops is too powerful to defeat and [[PuzzleBoss must be overcome another way]]). The game didn't have actual stats like HP or levels, instead your rough combat strength was based on your score- you would be strong enough to beat the troll at the start of the game, but fighting the Thief early in the game would get you killed. Of the various weapons in the game, the Nasty Knife was the most effective against him. Although ''Zork III'' featured a single combat encounter against the Shrouded Figure, this was more of a puzzle than an actual fight that you could win or lose, and other games wouldn't feature combat mechanics again until ''Beyond Zork'' (which was a hybrid of text adventure and actual RPG).

* GettingCrapPastTheRadar: In ZorkZero if you wave the magic wand at yourself, you turn into a statue. Then the game-over text explains how a pigeon finds you and calls the other pigeons saying "I found an great statue for shitting on!"

* EverythingsBetterWithPrincesses: Rescuing a princess from a dragon is a required puzzle in Zork II.

Four [[{{Novelization}} novels]] set in the world of Zork also exist: ''The Zork Chronicles'' by Creator/GeorgeAlecEffinger, ''Enchanter'' and ''The Lost City of Zork'' by Robin W. Bailey, and ''Wishbringer'' by Craig Shaw Gardner. As well as four ChooseYourOwnAdventure-style books, ''The Forces of Krill, The Malifestro Quest, The Cavern of Doom,'' and ''Conquest at Quendor.''

** The Wizard of Froboz from II mutters spell words that don't match what the Enchanter Trilogy laid as the groundwork for performing magic, and instead of using a spellbook, you point and wave a wand instead.

* SdrawkcabName: Aragain Falls.

* DolledUpInstallment: Averted. One can be pardoned for thinking that DarkerAndEdgier ''Zork: Nemesis'' was not originally meant to be a Zork game, but it was.

* EarlyInstallmentWeirdness: Aside from a couple mentions of the real world in the first game, the Wizard of Froboz from II mutters spell words that don't match what the Enchanter Trilogy laid as the groundwork for performing magic, and instead of using a spellbook, you point and wave a wand instead.
** From a gameplay perspective, ''Zork 1'' featured more overt, RPG-like combat elements- of the three [=NPCs=] in the game (the troll, the Thief and the cyclops) two of them had to be overcome by equipping a weapon and killing them (the cyclops is too powerful to defeat and [[PuzzleBoss must be overcome another way]]). The game didn't have actual stats like HP or levels, instead your rough combat strength was based on your score- you would be strong enough to beat the troll at the start of the game, but fighting the Thief early in the game would get you killed. Of the various weapons in the game, the Nasty Knife was the most effective against him. Although Zork III featured a single combat encounter against the Shrouded Figure, this was more of a puzzle than an actual fight that you could win or lose, and other games wouldn't feature combat mechanics again until ''Beyond Zork'' (which was a hybrid of text adventure and actual RPG).