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221:. The league of wizards forge a magic sword named Deathbringer to kill him; they perform a sacrificial ritual, summoning a demon and imbuing their soul into the sword. Karn takes the sword for himself, turning it against them. The demon that inhabits Deathbringer needs souls to stay alive; Karn must feed souls to the sword by killing monsters, and he ultimately seeks to defeat the wizards.
242:
has a time limit for each level in the form of the sword
Deathbringer; the player must constantly kill monsters to obtain their souls, and refill a meter at the bottom of the screen that gradually decreases over time. If this meter reaches zero, it drains the player's health, ultimately killing them.
237:
has nonlinear map design: the player starts in the middle of each given level, and may move left or right to progress towards the boss. Upon reaching an exit to the level, they fight the boss; defeating them allows the player to progress to the next level, and the game has a total of 30 levels.
460:
gameplay as repetitive, summarizing it as "a matter of moving towards the next , killing numerous creatures on the way", expressing that the difficulty of the monsters and the landscapes are "about the only things that change", further stating that 'it doesn't have much to it'.
322:
initially had placeholder sound effects made by the Oxford
Digital team themselves, but the sound effects in the final version were produced by Skinnybone Productions, and has 'over 116' 57Khz sampled sounds. In indoor levels,
507:
graphics, calling its parallax scrolling "shaky", expressed that the game 'gets less and less colorful' as the game goes on, and stated that "unfortunately only the animation of the sprites turned out nice."
452:
criticizes the game as 'priorizing looks over function' however, expressing that "it looks as if the programmers have spent the time getting the parallax right without thinking about the game itself."
300:, which was achieved through using wedge-shaped tiles as opposed to square ones. As the player moves left or right, the wedge moves in the respective direction, giving the parallax effect. In
480:
style of gameplay "has been around for five years", further criticizing its 'limited' array of enemies, and summarizing its style of play as having "less strategy and more button mashing."
923:
591:
praised its "superb" graphics as its strongest feature, calling its parallax scrolling "one of the best seen on the ST", and its sprites and backgrounds "extremely detailed".
555:"simple" gameplay, expressing that "the pause function, endless continues and amount of patience required make the game pass by too fast", and furthermore said that
472:
an overall score of 61%, praising its "fantastic" music, "fast" parallax scrolling and "bright & colorful" graphics, but criticized its 'unoriginal' gameplay.
448:
an overall score of 72%, noting the game's graphics as its strongest feature, stating that it "uses so many levels of parallax the effect looks almost perfect."
516:
sound, lamenting the game's single music track, and called the game's sound effects "nerve-killing", overall summarizing the game as "an economy version of
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difficulty, expressing that the game's bosses are "almost impossible" until the player figures out their pattern, at which point they're "too easy".
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gameplay and controls as "tedious", expressing that combat is 'a matter of luck as opposed to strategy' due to its "sluggish" controls.
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graphics, stating that while its bosses are "impressive" and some of its sprites are "well animated", everything else is "simple".
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began development in
February 1991, and was released in September 1991. In a September 1991 issue of British gaming magazine
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When the sword's soul meter gets low, the player may lose control of their character, due to the sword taking control.
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an overall score of 37%, criticizing it was 'short' and 'unsubstantial', stating that "there's not much to see".
339:
music was produced out-of-house by Angus Murray, who was chosen after submitting a demo tape to Oxford
Digital.
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is 'unsubstantial', stating that "there's nowhere near enough to be anything more than a very average game".
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539:, expressing that it has 'similar shortcomings' due to the game 'prioritizing graphics over gameplay'.
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in 1992, and the Amiga version was stated to cost 'around 79' Deutschmark. The Amiga version of
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level design, expressing that they primarily differ by the "degree of their colorlessness".
157:
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cave level, these 36 segments are instead curved, giving the cave walls a tubular effect.
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was developed by Oxford
Digital Enterprises and published by Empire. The Amiga version of
774:
613:, but criticized the lack of visual damage when fighting opponents as 'unatmospheric'.
877:
347:
324:
20:
314:
19:
This article is about the 1991 video game. For the unrelated 1988 video game, see
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soul meter mechanics, as well as its nonlinear map design, comparing it to
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as 'technically sound', and called its soul meter mechanic "a great idea".
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plot to enslave the entire world, but are repeatedly stopped by Karn the
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graphic designer, and
Swinbourne's art was then adapted into sprites in
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graphics were originally created out-of-house by Colin
Swinbourne, a
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sword
Deathbringer, and seeks to defeat a group of evil wizards.
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The player takes the role of Karn the
Barbarian who wields the
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game developed by Oxford
Digital Enterprises and published by
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an overall score of 80%, but criticized its unoriginality.
257:, and its graphics received polarized reviews from critics.
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809:[Swordfighting and Cramps: Deathbringer].
723:(in German). Markt&Technik Verlag. p. 56.
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840:. No. 30. Future Publishing. p. 49.
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924:Video games developed in the United Kingdom
753:. No. 38. emap Images. pp. 58–59.
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777:[Tome of Swords: Death Bringer].
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719:[Barbarian Sword: Deathbringer].
533:an overall score of 41%, comparing it to
296:levels has backgrounds with 36 levels of
715:Schneider-Johne, Boris (February 1992).
331:. Due to the number of sound effects in
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813:(in German). Joker Verlag. p. 81.
717:"Barbarisches Swchwert: Deathbringer"
335:, the game has only one music track.
327:was added to give the illusion of an
7:
805:Löwenstein, Richard (January 1992).
773:Löwenstein, Richard (January 1992).
374:
365:
775:"Schwerer-Schwarte: Death Bringer"
14:
934:Oxford Digital Enterprises games
677:Presley, Paul (September 1991).
807:"Schwertk(r)ampf: Deathbringer"
745:Presley, Paul (November 1991).
346:was stated to cost 'around 90'
1:
829:Ricketts, Ed (January 1992).
583:gave the Atari ST version of
444:gave the Atari ST version of
914:Side-scrolling beat 'em ups
950:
909:Side-scrolling video games
831:"Screenplay: Deathbringer"
781:(in German). Joker Verlag.
495:gave the Amiga version of
193:that was released for the
54:Oxford Digital Enterprises
18:
919:Single-player video games
378:
375:
185:is a 1991 side scrolling
36:
929:Empire Interactive games
529:gave the DOS version of
468:gave the DOS version of
525:German gaming magazine
491:German gaming magazine
464:German gaming magazine
859:at Amiga Hall of Light
258:
292:development. Each of
249:
751:The One for ST Games
580:The One for ST Games
476:further stated that
387:The One for ST Games
354:was released on two
904:Fantasy video games
551:further criticized
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342:The DOS version of
536:Wrath of the Demon
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298:parallax scrolling
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255:parallax scrolling
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253:has 36 levels of
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884:1991 video games
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571:also criticized
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315:Deluxe Paint III
213:A group of evil
108:Colin Swinbourne
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26:1991 video game
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849:External links
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747:"Deathbringer"
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679:"Deathbringer"
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605:Deathbringer's
597:Deathbringer's
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404:72% (Atari ST)
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371:Review scores
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98:Rich Horrocks
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92:Programmer(s)
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43:DOS cover art
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21:Death Bringer
864:Deathbringer
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856:Deathbringer
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356:floppy disks
352:Deathbringer
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344:Deathbringer
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333:Deathbringer
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320:Deathbringer
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182:Deathbringer
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118:Angus Murray
60:Publisher(s)
50:Developer(s)
32:Deathbringer
889:Amiga games
811:Amiga Joker
595:criticized
563:criticized
543:criticized
512:criticized
510:Amiga Joker
503:criticized
501:Amiga Joker
493:Amiga Joker
456:criticized
434:37% (Amiga)
430:Amiga Joker
376:Publication
348:Deutschmark
270:version of
262:Development
124:Platform(s)
114:Composer(s)
82:Designer(s)
72:Director(s)
878:Categories
721:Power Play
617:References
482:Power Play
474:Power Play
466:Power Play
410:Power Play
288:previewed
899:DOS games
869:MobyGames
838:ST Format
454:ST Format
450:ST Format
442:ST Format
424:41% (DOS)
414:61% (DOS)
399:ST Format
367:Reception
362:Reception
310:freelance
231:eponymous
219:Barbarian
104:Artist(s)
96:John Wood
86:John Wood
779:PC Joker
603:praised
569:PC Joker
561:PC Joker
549:PC Joker
541:PC Joker
527:PC Joker
519:Beast II
484:praised
420:PC Joker
225:Gameplay
203:Atari ST
158:Genre(s)
137:Atari ST
76:Rik Yapp
683:The One
610:Out Run
601:The One
593:The One
589:The One
286:The One
281:The One
215:wizards
169:Mode(s)
143:Release
325:reverb
201:, and
191:Empire
187:action
163:Action
149:Amiga:
65:Empire
834:(PDF)
379:Score
268:Amiga
195:Amiga
129:Amiga
329:echo
266:The
209:Plot
146:1991
867:at
522:."
199:DOS
133:DOS
880::
836:.
819:^
787:^
759:^
749:.
729:^
691:^
681:.
625:^
358:.
318:.
284:,
205:.
197:,
135:,
131:,
384:'
23:.
Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License. Additional terms may apply.
