It’s been 25 years since we lost Douglas Adams, but his games will live on forever
It’s been 25 years since we lost Douglas Adams, but his games will live on forever
An enthusiast’s guide to obscure-but-brilliant PC games.
Douglas Adams is most famous for his The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy radio show, which were later adapted into books, TV shows, a movie, and of course video games, but his influence goes much farther than that philosophical spacefaring farce. Adams was a pioneer in a specific kind of mostly harmless, slightly unhinged, and unquestionably inspired imagination that went on to be a lodestar for thousands of creators who followed him. Adams helped create and inspire the likes of Doctor Who, the Marvel Cinematic Universe, the films of Edgar Wright, and countless other commercially and critically acclaimed fantasy worlds. And that’s not even getting into his direct influence on video games, a medium that fascinated him almost as much as digital watches.
This week marks 25 years since Adams died at the far-too-young age of 49. Thinking about his legacy reminded us of the brilliant games that he helped create.
Bureaucracy (Infocom, 1979)
At the ripe old age of 27, Douglas Adams saw his first video game published for personal computers by way of the masters of text adventures, Infocom. Bureaucracy absolutely bursts with a clever yet decidedly bitter view of a modern world that puts processes and technology before people. His game utilizes the text adventure medium as a vessel to laugh at the ludicrous pains that come with navigating an alienating and inhuman world controlled by mega banks and billionaires. Much like indie darling The Stanley Parable, Bureaucracy is packed with cutting insights into the overly complicated virtual structures that are used to manipulate and sometimes belittle us, and the process of interacting with the game itself is a key component of the commentary. If you hate filling out loan applications and being treated like a number by faceless corporations, you’re sure to have a fun time with this one.
Bureaucracy can be played in-browser and downloaded for free at Archive.org. Just be warned that it has some glitches (though it’s sometimes hard to tell what’s a bug in this game and what’s a feature).
The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy (Infocom, 1984)
For those who haven’t heard of it, please pause for a moment and find yourself a copy of the original The Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy to read instead. After you do, you won’t see the world the same way again. First published in 1979, the same year as Bureaucracy, the original Hitchhiker’s Guide still holds up as one of the most shockingly original and risk-taking mainstream hits of the century. Starring Arthur Dent, a meek British bachelor who bears witness to a constant stream of improbable events spanning all of time and space, it too feels almost improbably successful given how brazenly authentic and strange it is. One of the many mediums the story succeeded in was that of text adventure, a genre near and dear to Adams’s heart. A hugely successful release, the computer game inspired multiple rereleases and interpretations over the years.
The 30th Anniversary version of the game can be played in-browser for free via the BBC.
Labyrinth: The Computer Game (Lucasfilm Game, 1986)
Working as an extension of the cult-favorite motion picture, Labyrinth: The Game was an opportunity for Adams to create a sure-fire hit. Naturally, he did the opposite. Instead of directly adapting the movie into game form, he and director David Fox devised a concept where the player would choose a name and avatar before playing the game as themselves. From there, they explore a small area on their way to the theater to watch Labyrinth before David Bowie himself invites them into the movie. Not only does the game bridge itself to the film, but it also works as a passage between the text adventures and the burgeoning point-and-click genre.
Adams may seem like an unlikely choice for a game produced by George Lucas, but given that the film was directed by Jime Henson, a friend of Adams, and was based on a screenplay by Terry Jones, another Adams friend and frequent collaborator, it makes sense that he’d be involved somehow. The game also works as a sort of prototype to the SCUMM system engine that would be used in almost all of Lucasfilm/LucasArts’ later adventure titles. Still, it wouldn’t be a Douglas Adams project if it fell in line with anyone’s expectations. While the SCUMM system games that followed used a menu that included interaction verbs like “Use” and “Pick Up”, Labyrinth also lets you try to “Complain”, “Manicure”, and even “Adumbrate” just about anything you can find, including David Bowie’s Jareth himself.
You can play the Apple II version of the game at Archive.org.
Starship Titanic (1998)
Starship Titanic was the last game that Adams worked on before his untimely death in 2001. Like Labyrinth, it combines point-and-click mechanics with text adventure elements, though on a much larger scale. As was mandatory for a big-name game at the time, Starship Titanic features full voice acting, massive 3D environments, and tons of fully animated characters. Developed by The Digital Village, Adams’s own studio, the game was a huge creative and financial risk. To help guarantee its success, it was originally planned to hit stores alongside a tie-in novel by Adams (though, due to time constraints, Terry Jones stepped in to pen the book). Jones also provided voices for the game, alongside vocal performances from Python alumni John Cleese and even Adams himself, making it last time all three would collaborate.
There’s a strange irony to Adams’s final project being a play on an unforeseeable real-life tragedy, as three years later, he’d die of an undiagnosed heart condition while working out the gym. Adams was cheated out of decades of life, and the world was robbed of who knows how many amazing stories and brilliant ideas that he surely would have created. But thankfully, his thoughts and feelings live on in the words, worlds, and yes, technology that he helped create.
But that’s enough deep thoughts for now. You can buy Starship Titanic on Steam.