Curse of the Seven Faces

Curse of the Seven Faces is an interactive fiction video game published by Classic Computing for the ZX Spectrum in 1984.^[1] It was re-released later in 1985 by Imperial Software.^[2] The game was included in a compilation titled Assemblage in 1986 with three other games. It was published by Artic Computing.^[3]

Curse of the Seven Faces
Title screen
Developer(s)	Alan McDonald Peter Galbavy[1]
Publisher(s)	Classic Computing (1984)[1] Imperial Software (1985)[2] Artic Computing (1986)[3]
Platform(s)	ZX Spectrum
Release	EU: 1984
Genre(s)	Interactive fiction
Mode(s)	Single-player

Gameplay

The objective of the game is to retrieve four objects from an evil wizard: his spell book, staff, hat, and cloak.^[2] The game had a unique save system at the time: the user has the option to save the game to memory instead to the tape. This was faster than the normal save system.^[1]

Reception

Reception

Review scores

Publication	Score
Crash	7/10[4]
Computer and Video Games	7/10[2]
Sinclair User	5/10[5]
Home Computing Weekly	1/5[6]
Personal Computer Games	6/10[7]

Computer and Video Games wrote: "A variety of original locations, and some surprise ways of finding new exits, combined with well-written and fairly lengthy descriptions to make an interesting game".^[2] Crash said the plot was "weak and thin" but the location descriptions "are really quite impressive".^[4] Sinclair User called the game "disappointing but attractively produced".^[5] Your Spectrum gave a negative review and was unimpressed with the parser: "Once you've read 'You Cannot Do That' and 'Nothing Exciting Happens' for the umpteenth time in a row, you begin to believe it — nothing ever exciting happens!"^[8] Personal Computer Games called it "an enjoyable adventure".^[7] Popular Computing Weekly called it "an extremely well-crafted Adventure".^[1] Assemblage collection received four out five stars in Sinclair User.^[3]