The Bard's Tale is a fantasy role-playing video game designed and programmed by Michael Cranford for the Apple II. It was produced by Interplay Productions in 1985 and distributed by Electronic Arts. The game was ported to the Commodore 64, Apple IIGS, ZX Spectrum, Amstrad CPC, Amiga, Atari ST, DOS, Macintosh, and NES. It spawned The Bard's Tale series of games and books. The earliest editions of the game used a series title of Tales of the Unknown, but this title was dropped for later ports of The Bard's Tale and subsequent games in the series.
Frank Brian Fargo is an American video game designer, producer, programmer and executive, and founder of Interplay Entertainment, inXile Entertainment and Robot Cache.
A dungeon crawl is a type of scenario in fantasy role-playing games (RPGs) in which heroes navigate a labyrinth environment, battling various monsters, avoiding traps, solving puzzles, and looting any treasure they may find. Video games and board games which predominantly feature dungeon crawl elements are considered to be a genre.
The Bard's Tale is a fantasy role-playing video game franchise created by Michael Cranford and developed by Brian Fargo's Interplay Productions (1985–1992) and inXile Entertainment (2004–present). The initial title of the series was Tales of the Unknown. The Bard's Tale II: The Destiny Knight dropped the Tales of the Unknown series title, as did all ports of the original game after 1988. From then on, the series was known as The Bard's Tale series. Both Cranford and Fargo have refuted the assertion that the original projected titles for the second and third installments were The Archmage's Tale and The Thief's Tale.
The Bard's Tale II: The Destiny Knight is a fantasy role-playing video game created by Interplay Productions in 1986. It is the first sequel to The Bard's Tale, and the last game of the series that was designed and programmed by Michael Cranford.
The Bard's Tale III: Thief of Fate is a computer fantasy role-playing video game created by Interplay Productions in 1988. It is the second sequel to The Bard's Tale. It was designed by Rebecca Heineman, Bruce Schlickbernd, and Michael A. Stackpole. The game was released for the Amiga, Apple II (64k), Commodore 64, and DOS.
Oculus Rift is a discontinued line of virtual reality headsets developed and manufactured by Oculus VR, a virtual reality company founded by Palmer Luckey that is widely credited with reviving the virtual reality industry. It was the first virtual reality headset to provide a realistic experience at an accessible price, utilizing novel technology to increase quality and reduce cost by orders of magnitude compared to earlier systems. The first headset in the line was the Oculus Rift DK1, released on March 28, 2013. The last was the Oculus Rift S, discontinued in April of 2021.
Torment: Tides of Numenera is a role-playing video game developed by inXile Entertainment and published by Techland Publishing for Microsoft Windows, macOS, Linux, PlayStation 4 and Xbox One. It is a spiritual successor to 1999's Planescape: Torment.
The Gallery is an episodic virtual reality video game developed and published by Cloudhead Games for the HTC Vive and Oculus Rift with Oculus Touch. The game uses the Unity game engine, and was inspired by 80s fantasy adventures like The Goonies and The Dark Crystal.
Superhot is an independent first-person shooter (FPS) video game developed and published by Superhot Team. Though the game follows traditional first-person shooter gameplay mechanics, with the player attempting to take out enemy targets using guns and other weapons, time within the game progresses at normal speed only when the player moves; this creates the opportunity for the player to assess their situation in slow motion and respond appropriately, making the gameplay similar to strategy video games. The game is presented in a minimalist art style, with enemies in red and weapons in black, in contrast to the otherwise white and grey environment.
Obduction is an adventure video game developed by Cyan Worlds. Obduction is considered a spiritual successor to Cyan's previous adventure games, Myst and Riven. In the game, the player finds their character transported to strange alien worlds but with human elements within the settings. The player must explore and solve puzzles to figure out how to return home.
Edge of Nowhere is an action-adventure virtual reality video game developed by Insomniac Games and published by Oculus Studios. The player controls adventurer Victor Howard as he ventures into Antarctica in order to find his fiancée's lost expedition while encountering unworldly beasts. Edge of Nowhere is based on the work of H.P. Lovecraft, At the Mountains of Madness. The game released on June 6, 2016, exclusively for the Oculus Rift virtual reality headset on Microsoft Windows.
The Bard's Tale IV: Barrows Deep is a 2018 dungeon crawler video game developed by inXile Entertainment as a continuation to The Bard's Tale trilogy from the 1980s.
StarCrawlers is a dungeon crawler and role-playing game that was released for Windows, macOS, and SteamOS on 24 May 2017. It was the first game produced by Juggernaut Games, which funded it using a Kickstarter. It is set in a sci-fi universe with cyberpunk elements, and features a mixture of pre-built and procedurally generated content. The game aims to revitalise dungeon-crawlers as a genre, billing itself as a "modern take on a classic cRPG dungeon crawler", and is available on Steam or GOG.
The first-generation Oculus Quest is a discontinued virtual reality headset developed by Oculus, a brand of Meta Platforms, and released on May 21, 2019. Similar to its predecessor, Oculus Go, it is a standalone device, that can run games and software wirelessly under an Android-based operating system. It supports positional tracking with six degrees of freedom, using internal sensors and an array of cameras in the front of the headset rather than external sensors. The cameras are also used as part of the safety feature "Passthrough", which shows a view from the cameras when the user exits their designated boundary area. A later software update added "Oculus Link", a feature that allows the Quest to be connected to a computer via USB, enabling use with Oculus Rift-compatible software and games.
Stormland is a 2019 action-adventure game developed by Insomniac Games and published by Oculus Studios for the Oculus Rift virtual reality (VR) headset. The game put emphasis on both exploration and combat as the player character, an android gardener named Vesper, traverses an alien planet from a first-person perspective. The game received generally positive reviews from critics upon release.
Oculus Rift CV1, also known simply as Oculus Rift, is a virtual reality headset developed by Oculus VR, a subsidiary of Meta Platforms, known at the time as Facebook Inc. It was announced in January 2016, and released in March the same year. The device constituted the first commercial release in the Oculus Rift lineup.
Asgard's Wrath is a 2019 action role-playing game developed by Sanzaru Games and published by Oculus Studios for the Oculus Rift virtual reality headset. In the game, the player assumes control of a Norse god who must guide several mortal heroes to fulfill their destinies. The game received generally positive reviews upon release. A sequel, Asgard's Wrath 2, is scheduled for release on the Meta Quest 2 and Meta Quest 3 on December 15, 2023.
