Technomage: Return to Eternity

"My wife told me to say this!"

If you’re looking for a game where puzzles and brainteasers are as important towards experience points as the usual hacking and slashing of enemies, then look no further than the excellent TECHNOMAGE.

At first you may be worried about the simplicity of the tasks (or quests) that you have to perform, such as finding a key or returning books to the library. But never fear, when you have completed them and night falls complete with a thunderstorm, the enemies appear and before you know it you’re into the first boss battle.

After that it’s all go. The quests become harder and more rewarding and the fighting definitely gets tougher. Expect to die on a regular basis; so, like me, you may need to save after defeating every group of enemies.

So you’ve done the mine and the crypt and defeated the boss in the scrapyard and things can’t more difficult, can they? Wrong. Welcome to the Hive where the map and the compass are the only items keeping you alive and on the right track, and you pray that you don’t run out of torches.

Finally you stagger out into the innocent sounding Fairy Forest, hoping for a little peace and quiet. But then the goblins attack and the fun starts all over again. Find the beehives, repair the harp, retrieve the lost seals... will the demands never end? No.

And so it continues. Each quest leads to a reward and/or another quest but at least when you have defeated all the enemies in an area they don’t reappear. So you don’t have to worry about ambushes when you are searching for items.

At time of writing, I have been playing the game for over twenty hours and have only completed the first four areas so you can see that it is a time-consuming activity but it’s very satisfying when you see another quest ticked off in the log.

Technically the graphics are a little old-fashioned, the number of weapons, items and spells is fairly limited compared to a Final Fantasy game.

At the moment there is no walkthru for the game so if you get stuck, log on to the Technomage webpage and have at look at the hints and tips under Forums because if you don’t know how to proceed, the chances are that other people had the same problem and you may find the answer already posted.


The only drawback is the fact that the hero’s name is Melvin but despite that I give it a resounding 10 out of 10.

Reviewer's Score: 10/10, Originally Posted: 07/10/01, Updated 07/10/01