阿卡拉贝斯：世界末日 Akalabeth: World of Doom p.44

1980-1984 繁荣，兼容和崩溃 1980-1984 The boom, the clones and the crash p.46

做《阿卡拉贝斯》的初衷并不是为了发售。我仅仅是为自己和朋友做了这款游戏。有个夏天，我在 ComputerLand（译注：80 年代崛起，曾为美国最红的电脑连锁店）打工期间，商店经理 John Mayer 鼓励我用 200 美元的巨款（对于那个年代的高中生而言）在他的店里上架。

Akalabeth was not made to be published. I made it merely for myself and my friends. It was John Mayer, the manager of the Computerland store where I had a summer job, who encouraged me to spend the large sum (in those days for a high school senior) of $200 to ‘publish' it on the store wall.

理查德・盖瑞特,
《阿卡拉贝》制作人

Richard Garriott,
Akalabeth's creator

这并不是说游戏完全没有意思。《阿卡拉贝斯》最出彩的地方，甚至会让人觉得是在玩简单的 Roguelike 游戏。死亡有时候会来得很突然，看看自己能坚持多久才死也别有乐趣。然而，即使这一点点体验，也被游戏的食物惩罚系统给破坏了。

《阿卡拉贝斯》选择食物，而非通常的 HP（hit points），来作为角色的生命值。你必须吃很多很多食物，而且这个设计毫无余地，一旦食物耗尽，角色就会立即饿死。如果游戏能允许玩家提前做好规划，倒也不至于是严重问题。遗憾的是，游戏中地牢和城镇的位置都是随机生成的，你几乎无法得知前往下一个目的地究竟需要携带多少食物。

地下城的布局也同样是随机的，你很容易在线框绘制的走廊里迷路。如果你以法师开局，还能利用魔法护身符将自己安全传送到地下城之外。如果是战士职业，就只能一路跋涉，自己走回外面，每一步都会消耗食物。

That's not to say there's no charm or fun to be had. In its best moments, Akalabeth almost feels like a simple roguelike. Death can come quickly, and it can genuinely be fun to see how long you can last before you're killed. Even this experience, however, is derailed by the game's punishing approach to food.

Food, even more than hit points, is life in Akalabeth. Your character eats a ton of it and there's no leeway – if the food counter reaches zero, you starve to death instantly. This would be fine if it were easier to plan ahead. Unfortunately, the random dungeon and town locations can make it hard to determine how much you'll need to find your next destination.

Dungeon layouts are likewise random and it's easy to get lost in their wire-frame corridors. If you start off as a Mage, you can use the Magic Amulet to transport yourself outside safely. If you're a Fighter, however, you'll have no choice but to trek all the way back out, scoffing down food with every step.

《阿卡拉贝斯》的命名源自托尔金（J.R.R. Tolkien）的 The Silmarillion（中译：《精灵宝钻》）中的一个章节名 Akallabêth。游戏中最强大的敌人叫做“炎魔”（Balrog），也是由托尔金所创。

The name Akalabeth comes from Akallabêth, one of the chapters in J.R.R. Tolkien's The Silmarillion. Another Tolkien reference is that the final enemy you must hunt is always a Balrog.

你的死因十有八九就是食物匮乏，这大大扼杀了游玩乐趣。游戏流程不算长，但你创建的角色常常在去第一个地下城的路上就被饿死了，这很容易让人产生挫败感。我自己在玩的时候，一旦感觉到食物可能不够了，就会立即重开一局。

当然，纵然有上述缺点，《阿卡拉贝斯》也并非完全不值一试。只是你在尝试前需要调整下自己的心态。如果你想通过玩《阿卡拉贝斯》去体验经典 CRPG 的乐趣，结果可能是失望而归，还有很多其他作品可以更好地满足你的诉求。

《阿卡拉贝斯》更像是一件博物馆珍藏，它是《创世纪》的襁褓阶段。它预示了经典 CRPG 的诞生，世界地图、任务系统设定是它丰厚的遗产，同时它还是理查德·盖瑞特的一片实验田，其中的一些创意成就了日后伟大的《创世纪》系列。

Nine times out of ten, this will be what kills you. Worse than that though, it kills the fun. Play sessions typically aren't long, but it's still frustrating when you starve to death before even reaching the first dungeon. I started giving up and restarting the second my food supply began to run low.

None of this should be taken to mean that Akalabeth's not worth trying. It just means that you need to approach it with the proper mindset. If you start up Akalabeth intent on enjoying some good old-fashioned CRPG fun, you're probably going to be disappointed. There are just too many other titles that do what it does better.

Akalabeth feels best if you view it as a museum piece. It's Ultima in the infant stage; the birthplace of now-traditional CRPG elements like the overworld map and the quest-based progression, as well as Richard Garriott's testing ground for the ideas that would make the Ultima games great.