Both unexplored 1 & 2 have been very interesting to read about. Very cool proc gen, and now this time mechanic (is this a bit like dwarf fortress if you let it run?). Sadly I’ve never got the urge to play them.
Steve Jackson Games has released the PC copy of Autoduel on their website for $1!
Aw, hell yeah! Time to bus to Atlantic City and gamble/save-scum until I can buy the ultimate car and rule the highways!
Thanks much for the helpful write up. It looks like the devs have been trying to improve things with regular updates, so I will probably go ahead and grab the bundle.
Anyone know if you need to do anything special to get Autoduel to work?
It looks like it’s rebuilt in Unity for modern machines. I haven’t messed with it much, but it runs easily from the .exe.
Haha yeah, I said that! Just that I hadn’t tried the changes introduced in that update. :)
Pre-patch, it was more like a turn-based mechanic - you’d ‘end your turn’ by dying, then the game world got a turn. You see things moving around and battles happening on the overworld map. Unsure exactly how it works post-patch.
No probs, it’s certainly worth a few bucks if you have any interest in a more adventure/less combat-focused kind of entry in the genre.
Unexplored 1 was very combat orientated, I liked that game a lot. Haven’t tried the second yet but maybe I will fire that up on the deck tonight.
I’m grabbing another copy because I want it on Steam instead of the garbage Epic Store. Here’s hoping the devs can keep working on it - it still needs a lot of development time if it’s ever going to rise above the high water mark the first Unexplored set. And it will help if the devs re-think their evaluation of Unexplored 2 as not needing the tightness of combat systems the previous game had. The first game got the combat so, so right, and the mushiness of the sequel feels much harder to swallow as a result.
I remember having to go to my friend’s house so i could watch him play Autoduel on his Apple. It wasn’t available on the PC at the time and so I never got around to playing it. I’m guessing it hasn’t aged well since then?
Apple as in Apple II of some flavor? That is old school. I never even saw Autoduel in action (I was already in my 20s in the 1980s) but I’ve heard people go on and on about it. Suppose I’ve gotta hit up YouTube for a look at it.
Yes the feel of the combat in 2 is pretty average, agreed.
Haha yes, my friend had an Apple IIc. His parents got him a lot of games so I would go over to his place to play them with him. Mostly Origin and Infocom games from what I remember.
I think some of the Ultimas (at least IV) were also released later on PC than on Apple, which made me pretty sad.
I played Autoduel on my Atari 800XL. I spent dozens of hours on it, it was by far one of my favorite games ever published for the Atari 8-bit computers. So fun.
I have far too many unplayed new games now to ever go back to those days though, even for a classic like Autoduel.
Bought AutoDuel because $1. Never played it in the original era. Gotta figure out how to get this running on the Steam Deck.
With a name like Autoduel I thought it would have car combat, but I watched a YT video of the old school game and it mostly seemed to be just about driving your little car around in a neighborhood. Admittedly I skipped around in the video.
You encounter enemy cars on the roads between cities and you can also participate in arena battles.
Please share if you do! One of my all time favorites and top of my want a modern remake list.
Cross-posting a GOG sale on Falcom games from the Trails thread:
The Legend of Heroes: Trails in the Sky (aka ‘excellent classic JRPG’) ($9.99)
The Legend of Heroes: Trails of Cold Steel ($19.99) [forum thread]
Ys: The Oath in Felghana ($5)
Ys: Memories of Celceta ($15)
Ys IX: Monstrum Nox ($48)
All the other stuff (including sequels!)
Might grab this, the demo was promising