1980s
Dungeon Master
1987 · RPG · Atari ST
Overview
Dungeon Master was the first real-time first-person RPG — a genre-defining departure from the turn-based dungeon crawlers that preceded it. Players navigated a dungeon in real time, managing four characters' actions simultaneously.
Deep Dive
FTL Games' Dungeon Master replaced turn-based structure with genuine real-time movement and combat in a first-person dungeon. Food and water were consumable resources; spells required component gathering; enemies moved and attacked independently of player action.
Developer Story
Dungeon Master was developed by FTL Games and released on the Atari ST in 1987 before being ported to Amiga, DOS, and SNES.
Did You Know?
- Dungeon Master sold more copies than any other Atari ST game, and was instrumental in driving hardware sales.
- The game's real-time mechanics directly influenced Ultima Underworld, which influenced every first-person action RPG that followed.
