User avatar
intric8
Seattle, WA, USA

Posted Sun Mar 04, 2018 1:15 pm

Here's a game you don't hear about every day: Death Bringer, with it's eye-brow raising almost NSFW box art.
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Box art for Death Bringer (1989) aka Galdregon's Domain.

I don't have any personal expectations for the game as I never played it back in the day, and it seems to be a bit of a sleeper RPG from 1988/1989. But it does seem to have a bit of an unusual history which I've yet to fully uncover.

It was made originally in 1988 by Pandora, which was an off-shoot of Interceptor Micros - a developer/publisher for games in during the Amiga days based out of England. But what's really interesting (IMO) about this game is it was actually distributed by US-legend Cinemaware. It was originally called Galdregon's Domain.
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Cinemaware was a distributor of games made by other companies, apparently.

It was re-developed in 1989 by Spotlight - maybe to make it an NTSC version? I really haven't figured that out as it looks the same. But it also got a name change to Death Bringer as well as a distribution deal from Cinemaware, which I didn't even realize they did back then.

It seems to have mainly been given a new intro screen and box art. That's about it.

And speaking of the box art - wow. This would have been one of those times I would have asked my dad to buy this game for me, not my mom! And I probably would have walked away empty-handed. The game even includes a larger poster just in case you don't want to be caught gazing at the box art all day.
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Box contents, including a poster.

Back then my brother and I actually had a poster of Heather Thomas in a hot tub on our wall which he tacked above his bed, among other things. Thinking back on it now I'm really amazed we were allowed to do that. We shared a bedroom until I was in 9th grade, believe it or not. I guess this game's poster wouldn't have been so bad in the long run.
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Heather Thomas wall poster from 1982 that was above my brother's bed (we shared bedrooms). I vaguely knew she was on a show called The Fall Guy, with Lee Majors (The Six Million Dollar Man). I didn't really care about her acting, or the show.


User avatar
intric8
Seattle, WA, USA

Posted Sun Mar 04, 2018 1:32 pm

After looking through the box and its paperwork more closely, it's apparent that "Spotlight Software" is some sort of business arm of Cinemaware, which makes total sense when you think of the name.

Nice to see the disks work flawlessly, too. Have to say I'm a big fan of the graphic style so far. They really did seem to have a thing for women being draped across the floor like rugs, though.
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User avatar
ArtstateDigital
Wales, United Kingdom

Posted Mon Mar 05, 2018 2:46 am

It's been a good while since I last played this, so thanks for the reminder. I'll definitely be re-visiting this title, but under the European name, as I prefer that particular title screen.

User avatar
intric8
Seattle, WA, USA

Posted Mon Mar 05, 2018 9:49 am

@ArtstateDigital
Well, if you go that route, you'll miss out on the exceptional box art and poster. But you can return here from time to time to regain a little inspiration as needed. ;)

That being said, I looked it up. The European box are was really tame but the intro screen was indeed kick ass. Definitely a better rendering of a dragon and his foe. Not sure why they felt compelled to change that.

Oddly, the intro screen for the C64 is a lot more akin to the US-box art. You get a well-muscled barbarian and scantily clad and suggestive woman. (They removed the woman in the US release for some reason.)

User avatar
McTrinsic

Posted Mon Mar 05, 2018 9:56 am

The game is crap.

Back then I was looking for a graphical update to games like Ultima IV.
While the screen art was great the game is thrash.

I remember it with this box.

and these screens.

User avatar
intric8
Seattle, WA, USA

Posted Mon Mar 05, 2018 10:18 am

What I've read about the game is that it is an RPG for novices - it can be completed from beginning to end in about 6 hours. So easy, according to CRPG Addict, that it borders on being refreshingly endearing.

That being said, it sounds like it has some serious User Interface/Experience issues that keep it from being considered a classic.





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