First of all, tell you that if you have an AMX mouse connected, the game is totally incompatible. The result is that our character will move alone and in a straight line.

As in most good games of this type, the protagonist can move in all four directions, jump, pick up objects, use them, wield his sword, etc. The labyrinth, on this occasion, is really extensive and varied, made up of different levels, accessed by stairs. Like a good castle that it is, it includes courtyards, passageways and corridors, chambers, bedrooms, etc.

The secret of the many and varied screens that we can enjoy in this game lies in a new programming language developed by Softek. With it, complicated rooms can be coded in a way that takes up much less virtual memory, which is very important when using Cartesian coordinates for 3D graphics. Bo Jangerborg, creator of the game, uses these techniques combined with his peculiar graphic style to achieve the “fine” finish of this game.

Another detail that places it among good adventure games is the way in which you can handle the furniture in the rooms and the different objects that appear in the game. We can stack objects to reach windows or other inaccessible points, push them to hinder enemies, throw them from high to low levels, and everything that our imagination asks of us. Each object has a specific weight, so we will not be able to use the five pockets that we have if we choose too heavy objects.

We will find several types of enemies that will hinder our tour of the castle, each one with its own level of energy that will make it more or less difficult to defeat it with the sword. The most difficult are the ghosts and something below them the “Trolls”; As for the Guardians, it depends on the position they occupy, but they are usually quite weak. To recover the strength that we have left in the fight against one of them, we can use the various foods that are in certain rooms; each one we use will raise our energy level by ten points.

One of the defects that can be attributed to it is that the speed with which the characters move depends on the amount of éstis that there are on each of the screens. It is something common in games of this type, which makes them lose a lot when there are several “bugs” that coincide in a room, being, therefore, much less pleasant to play.

It cannot be said that it happened overnight. There was a time when the land of Fairlight was a beautiful place populated by a joyous race ruled by great kings and queens. But the decline of beauty came. The leaders were getting weaker and weaker. The light was disappearing… The history books written by the Elders spoke of a land of peace, music and joy. Where it seemed that the sun was shining brighter every day, in a clear sky. A land where magic was everywhere, both in things and in people. No one could explain exactly what was wrong, despite the fact that not a few gossips in the town were willing to do so. On the one hand there was Geryon, the mighty eight-foot-tall leader, who led his people into a devastating war. Odgar replaced the mythical Geryon only to prohibit as quickly as possible all study of science, music, and the arcane magical arts. Then followed a succession of weak reigns from Reth to Lefoine that allowed the Pristine order to fall into chaos and obscurantism. And even when a seemingly good leader appeared many generations later, his own people murdered him. It was the final sign of decay, and many around this time disappeared and left Fairlight for the distant lands on the other side of the Cynwulf Mountains. Only Avars Castle was silent on the plains of Avarlund. The last resting place of a King of Fairlight, King Avars, who someone said was king when the land was infused with magic, before the disaster …

Ancient legends said that the high ancestors of the Fairlight inhabitants still lived in the hinterlands, where a perpetual spring would shine. There Segarl and Immortal would live, waiting for the moment to bring the light back to earth. Few did, case to these legends in these times of feudalism, where merchants and men imposed their power, if anyone could speak of power in this divided land … Thus begins the chronicles of the Fairlight lands, a world of magic and surprises.

After a hard day's work, Ivar headed home. In his rough and peasant mind, but his intelligent one, there was always the same question: Why work from sunrise to sunset?

While he was trying to find an explanation for this fact, he came to the village tavern where he always had a jug of wine while he talked to his friends. At the door of the tavern he saw a band nailed and read it carefully. This was its content:

“The lord of Cakchi seeks a brave man capable of saving the fiefdom mage and his magic book that are held captive in Avar's castle. If you wish to fulfill this mission, presenting yourself without delay. Whoever succeeds in freeing the wizard and the book from him will be greatly rewarded. “

Ivar did not think about it any longer and set course for the castle of Cakchi. When he was in the presence of the powerful master of the fiefdom, he asked him if he knew how to use the sword, to which ivar replied that he did not, but that with a little practice he would learn.

After the hearing, Ivar appropriately equipped himself for the mission he was about to undertake, and on the back of his spirited steed he headed for the castle of Avar. When he reached the entrance of the castle, he noticed that the drawbridge was lowered and, very surprised by this, he entered the parade ground.

He was recognizing it when suddenly and out of nowhere, he saw the spectral reincarnation of a warrior form. He now understood the reason for that apparent lack of vigilance, as well as the magnitude of the task that he was going to undertake.

As we have another one ahead of us, and no less important than Ivar's, we will leave this sword at the ready and pick up the pen to relate the details that have not happened in FAIRLIGHT, a game made by THE EDGE.

And so that things do not happen, we must load the operating system, which comes with the equipment, since the game does not have it incorporated.

After loading, a “canvas” will appear on the screen in which we can see a castle that is near the sea. We press a key, and the menu will appear where we will be told how to move, jump, fight, select objects and use them, etc.

The reason for this explanation is that we can also use the cursor keys, it seems less confusing to us, and this is not very clear in the menu.

To jump in the direction we want, we must hold down the direction key in which we want to go and press the SHIFT key. Well, once we've cleared this up or at least tried, we can move on in our important task of saving the wizard and his book.

But if we want our vital energy not to decrease, we have to pay attention to the indicator on the screen and try to avoid the contact of whirlwinds, reincarnated soldiers, bearded giants and black monks.

All of them are dangerous, their contact is fatal if it is very long, but some are more so than others. Let's see:

BLACK MONKS: From the moment one appears on the screen he will not stop chasing us. They are indestructible, some of them can be eliminated with poison flasks or crosses.

REINCARNATED SOLDIERS: They appear on the screen from below his case. They are tough to fight, but after an arduous confrontation they can be beaten. Once dead, you must pick up their helmet, otherwise they will reappear and attack us again.

GIANTS: They are big and powerful. They carry a truncheon with which they will hit us from the moment they see us. They can be killed with a few swipes of the sword.

WHIRLPOOLS: We will see them appear on almost any screen. These voracious meteorological elements destroy all the objects that they catch in their path, as well as they will drain us of energy if they touch us.

All objects that appear on the screen have their own characteristics. You can move most objects, even stack them. Objects have three real characteristics, such as weight, inertia, and sometimes some degree of intelligence. Also, your character, the hero Isvar, has five pockets where he can put up to five things. What you wear depends on the weight of the objects. As you can suppose you will not go at the same speed carrying a wrench as a heavy barrel.

Since we have talked about objects, we are going to describe what each one is for.

THE PAPYRUS: It serves to teleport us. It is found in the parade ground of the castle, that is, on the first screen.

THE CROWN: Together with the magic book, it serves to finish the game. It is located above the lower door of the parade ground. To reach the crown, one of the very useful barrels that we can find in some of the castle's rooms is necessary.

KEYS: There are eight and each one is used to open a certain door.

ENERGY CIRCLE: It is found floating in many corridors and passageways. Their contact gives us greater speed, but they take away our vital energy.

FOOD OBJECTS: They replenish energy and it is interesting to use them when we are exhausted. The objects are: a chicken, a jug, a watch and a loaf of bread.

POTION AND CROSS: They give way to some screens that would otherwise be impossible.

THE BOOK OF LIGHT: Once we have them, along with the crown as we have already said, we will have finished the mission. The book of light is located in a remote underground gallery of the castle.

It represents the ultimate advancement in three-dimensional adventure adventure programs, with techniques never seen before on personal computers. FAIRLIGHT is made with the interesting “FILMATION” technique, so we see a film pass through our computer screen into which we feel fully integrated, even more so if we take into account that on this occasion the visual angle has been raised , that is, we have a more “bird's eye” view.

It's good graphically, but we think the definition could be improved. The animation is well done and both Ivar and all his opponents move with the right speed. The fighting movement that reminds us a bit of fencing is also very well achieved.

The total result is a realistic castle, with caverns that you can freely explore. But keep your eyes peeled. As in real life, not everything is what it seems at first glance. Many items have magical uses. This game will take several weeks to solve, so don't expect to see everything Fairlight has to offer in one afternoon. Well, another game for PCW, which we think is well done.

Altogether, we must talk about a category game that can perfectly rub shoulders with the great “best-sellers” on the market and come out well off. A very complete game that will test your ability to solve puzzles and get out of the most complicated mazes.

In the following images you can check the original packaging.

• Original cover.

Here you have the front of the original cover.

• Retouched cover

Its measurements are: Height 13,20 x Length 22,10 cm.

The manual is printed on black and white glossy poster paper. Its measurements are: Height 26.20 x Width 39.50 cm.

Original disk supplied with Fairlight.

Another disk version.

Custom labels to print them. Over the years due to their use, the labels are spoiled and lose their color and quality. Now we try to adapt the closest thing to the best of our ability, the labels so that they can be printed and replaced or for those who work with a copy of the program and preserve the original disk. Measure in 3 “high: 7.00 cm - width: 7.10 cm. The first image corresponds to the original label of the game, the second is the same label modified to replace the broken one and the third and fourth image is for the 3.5 “discs.

Instructions

They are printed on double-sided black and white plain paper. Its measurements are: height 16.90 x length 15.80 cm.

Tips and Tricks

1. After killing a guard, pick up his helmet and drop it near a whirlpool to prevent the guard from reappearing.
2. After killing an ogre, for a barrel right there to prevent the ogre from reappearing.
3. Place a barrel over the place where a bubble appears to prevent it from reappearing the next time you enter the room.
4. The guards only attack you if you stand near them, except those that materialize out of nowhere, which will attack you immediately.
5. Gold, when falling, attracts the guards, so if you put it under something to make it inaccessible, you can move without being attacked.
6. Watch out for flowers: if you get too close, they get close to you and quickly drain your energy.
7. Don't fall down the well, it's fatal!
8. Save all the food you can and eat the smallest first, as food is useful to get on it and reach things.
9. Fire drains Isvar's energy.
10. There are three teleports: two of them connect the towers and the third one connects the tomb with the north side of the precipice.
11. The loading screen is a view from the sorcerer's room, and the bird's beak points to the beginning of the game.
12. Falling from high places uses a lot of energy.

• In the home screen there is a small corridor crossed by a guardian. This corridor is an important transition point, we must go through it more than once. We can get rid of the enemy without killing him by means of the following maneuver: As soon as we start we approach the corridor, we will see how our enemy, in his eagerness to catch us, lets himself fall to where we are. It is time to get away from there. The guardian as soon as he touches the ground, having moved away, will begin to walk making a fixed route; he will not be able to reach us unless we seek him.

• To end the guards, we must pay attention to our energy when we are fighting with them. If with each hit we lose a unit of life, rest assured that you will never kill him. We have to move around a bit and fight again. If we hit it and our energy does not drop, we can fight without fear. It will take four accurate blows to kill him.

• In the caverns there is a ravine that communicates with another nucleus of screens. Apparently the only way to get there is to go back to the castle, grab a certain key, and then go through some really tough screens. Well, none of that, you just have to go to the caverns with objects that we can climb on, and make a bridge. That is, put an object and place ourselves on top of it, and so on until we reach the other extreme. If we do not want to abandon the objects in the abyss, we can collect them after use. To our surprise, the objects do not fall into the void, but Isvar, the hero, does.

• To make the black monk disappear from the bridge for the rest of the game, all you have to do is head towards the bridge, with the scroll ready to use it. And when I go to throw you, jump and thus you will save a little energy. Then it will jump over and that will be when you will have to use the scroll, with which you will return to the screen of the main door. So you can see how the ghost reaches the bottom and disappears until the end of this game. Another way: enter first from the right side (taking into account that our right is the left of the character, facing the door), and we will release the keys, with which the monk will make us go back from the screen. Then we re-enter from the opposite side, but this time trying to pass him. The monk when pushing us will fall through the moat leaving us alone.

• When you manage to enter the screen of the book of light, stand at your feet, on the right side of the statue and jump in a SW direction, taking into account that the north is above the screen, and you will see that in addition to falling the statue to the ground, a tile will fall, where we can access the screen where the book of light is located.

• There are three jars and two crosses, one of which is hidden inside the throne. We will need three of these objects to reach the end of the game. The jars containing poison can be used as a food object by restoring the energy to full.

• To kill the ghosts we need three objects: parchment, crown, book of light, key.

• Objects in the game: 4 hourglasses, 5 sandbags, 2 crosses, 3 jars and 2 secret doors.

The keys (Map No. 5)

1. The one at the end of tower “A” opens the door located in a very narrow corridor where there are two doors and a bubble. Either of these two doors leads to an isolated part at the lower floor level.
2. The key at the end of the “C” will open the main door.
3. The one in the garden guarded by a guard, we can open the doors of the first tower screen “C”.
4. Located in a room at the bottom (open), and with which you can open three rooms on the same floor.
5. The one on the third floor, in the back room and under the second bed, can facilitate entry to the first screen of tower “B”.
6. On a high board on the main floor and in the back room, open a continuous corridor. The crown makes it easy to enter the screen above the Book of Light. The book of light opens a hatch (loft type), in the penultimate screen of tower “C”.
7. It is recommended to use the parchment in the last screen of tower “C”.

Special objects

HOUR CLOCK: used to paralyze a black monk during our stay on that screen or to restore power.

SAND BAG: it attracts the soldiers from the rooms where they do not attack us immediately, but if they eat it, then they will come after us so we must put it on a bed, for example. Keep in mind that the main arsenal is once past the secret door.

End the game

First, we must find some objects that will be very useful, such as the cross (which is taken by running the leaves on the right side of the throne and making the “Take” option) and the three magic potions (the first is in the room with a checkered and swirling floor, under the table; the second, is in a kind of raised altar that is located in the room next to the large staircase that comes from the cellar and reaches the lower floor; the third, in a secret room whose door is located on the right wall of a room that leads to a corridor in which there are two round balls and three doors. The one in the middle, precisely, is the one that communicates with the previous room mentioned. The other two doors They overlook the garden and the corridor that is to the right of the large door, entering the castle.These two doors are closed and you will find the key in the room that is to the right of the corridor that leads to the corridor.

After having taken the 3 potions and the cross, we entered the garden. Here we see how a guard keeps a key. We kill the guard to get the key so that we can enter through the door that was closed and is in the same room. We enter the room and we will see a staircase and a ghost that does not leave the door. We go up the ladder and before reaching the top, we throw the cross (if we did it from above it would say “Blocked”). Taking the cross to the ghost, it will disappear. We go through the door and enter a similar room, but in this one, to kill the monk we will throw a potion, with which the monk will also disappear. We reach a fourth floor with a staircase and a trap door in the ceiling. This door is closed and the key to open it is in the book of light that we will go to find right away. Before we have to take the teleportation papyrus, the crown on the door and an hourglass, whose real use will not be to give energy, but to stop time in the room that we are going to use. We can get one in the first room of the four in the corridor. The door is closed, but the key is in the room in this corridor. Taking these objects, we headed towards the drawbridge screen. Once here, we will see how a ghost comes over us with what we quickly “use” the hourglass and they will remain static, with which we can go through it without any problem.

We are already in the caverns, here we will look for a screen in which there is only a lonely path that borders a high stone wall to its left. Once you've gotten off the drawbridge, go ahead. You will run into a “Giant” that you will kill or avoid by leaving the cave through the other door. When leaving the cave take the path to the right (depending on the character). You will arrive at a screen with a whirlpool, follow the truck on the left. We began to search on the left side of the road, the secret door that leads to the burial chamber. Here we will see a body on a table, jumping on it and pushing it to either side, we will see that the corpse falls, exposing three leaves. We get off the table and stand at the level of the second one on the right, we jump again and see that it moves, exposing a well. Before throwing ourselves for it, and as our energy will be rather low, we will use the potion that we have left, with which the energy will return to 99%. Then we jump and the energy will decrease again due to the fall. There we will see the book of light, we take it and use the teleportation papyrus. Back in the castle we go to the tower where we previously killed the monks. The ceiling trap door will open and we will find ourselves in a room with a statue and a key. We take the key and when we return to the square of the floor, we will see that we cannot go down. If we step back a bit and throw the book of light, the statue will transform into a monk who will reward our efforts trying to kill us. Now, and quickly, we will return to the square through which we will fall. The statue was none other than the sorcerer we had to free since by leaving the book we broke the enchantment. We return to the castle courtyard and go to the door through which we will exit once we have opened it with the key that we had taken in the tower. So our mission is accomplished and we can see the final screen.

Maps

Here are some maps to make it easier for you to finish the game.

Advertising

Some advertisements of the game in magazines of great circulation of the time.

Game

The disk images, obtained from the original Fairlight version, have been recorded and verified.

• Fairlight (Compressed .DSK file in ZIP format)

Manual

Below you can download the Fairlight game manual or view it online.

• Fairlight Manual (PDF file)
• Fairlight Instructions in Spanish (PDF file)

• Play Fairlight online