Temple of Apshai
1979 · RPG · TRS-80 / Apple II
Overview
Temple of Apshai (1979) is Epyx's early graphical dungeon crawler for the TRS-80 and Apple II, with room descriptions read from a printed book.
Deep Dive
Temple of Apshai sent a single adventurer through the rooms of a dungeon, fighting monsters and collecting treasure in one of the first commercial graphical role-playing games for home computers. The on-screen graphics could only sketch each room, so the full descriptions were printed in the manual and players read along as they explored. Written by Jon Freeman and Jeff Johnson at Automated Simulations (later Epyx), it sold strongly, and the pair went on to make Archon.
Developer Story
Temple of Apshai was developed by Jon Freeman and Jeff Johnson at Automated Simulations in 1979. It was one of the first graphical dungeon-crawling RPGs for home computers and sold extremely well for its era. Freeman and Johnson went on to found Free Fall Associates, which created Archon. Temple of Apshai was notable for extensive printed manual descriptions of each dungeon room — the game's graphics were so limited that room descriptions had to be read from the booklet.
Did You Know?
- Temple of Apshai came with a printed manual containing written descriptions of every room — players had to cross-reference the booklet as they explored because the graphics were too primitive to convey details.
- It was one of the first commercial graphical RPGs, predating Ultima and Wizardry by nearly two years.
- The game sold over 30,000 copies — enormous numbers for a home computer game in 1979.
- Freeman and Johnson later created Archon, one of the most original games of the 1980s, showing a consistent interest in innovative game mechanics.
Sources & further reading
- Temple of Apshai — Wikipedia
