Top Down View Games: 1972-1978
Some turn-based games are listed as forerunners (and some real-time games considered as full-fledged RPGs as outliers for later years) since they had an influence on the genres; they are not meant to be seen as AA or ARPG games.
1972-1978|1979
1972:
Hunt the Wumpus (Mainframes, 1972 or 1973)
Subgenre: Text Adventure
Gameplay
1975:
Western Gun/Gun Fight (1975)(Taito)
Subgenre: Open World Shooter or Free-roaming Shooter/Proto-Action Adventure
Perspective: TD view
-8-way movement, some destructible obstacles
"combined action gameplay with an open-world adventure environment", "It was the first on-foot shooter, the first on-foot multi-directional shooter, introduced human combat, was the first open-world video game, and the first action/adventure video game. It was also the first tactical shooter, with elements of real-time strategy/tactics." - Codex Gamicus
Gameplay (Advertisement)
Dungeon (1975 or 1976), pedit5 (1975), dnd (1975)
Subgenre: First RPGs, Rogue-like/Dungeon Crawler precursors
Perspective: TD view
-Quarter and half turns+time limited turns (one turn is about 3 mins long)
-Character creation (name, 5 character stats (strength, intelligence, constitution, dexterity, hit points)) - can also choose between 15 pre-made chars
-16 spells (magical: sleep, charm, light, magic missile, esp, speed, invisibility, blastbolt; clerical: cure, detect evil, protection from evil, pray, serious cure, hold person, continual light, dispel myth)
-Random encounters (every fourth turn) and some spells that affect their rate
-Can break through doors
-Some hidden doors which you have a 1/6 chance to discover when passing by them
-Can only escape from monsters in corridors (based on level)
-Can only level up by leaving the dungeon (treasure brought out of it also yields exp)
Gameplay w/ commentary (Dungeon)
1976:
Colossal Cave Adventure (PDP-10, 1976/PC, )
Subgenre: First Text Adventure and work of interactive fiction?
Other: Text command inputs, Score and turn counters
-Save feature (built into the PDP system like a save state)
Playthrough w/ commentary
1977:
Zork (PDP-10, 1977/PC, )
Subgenre: Text Adventure
Other: Inventory puzzles, non-linear structure?
-Save feature (built into the PDP system like a save state)
Playthrough (Apple)
1978:
Beneath Apple Manor (PCs, 1978?)
Subgenre: Rogue-like/Rogue precursor
Perspective: Top down view
-First commercial RPG for a home computer
-Manual stat allocation (buy stats with exp)
-Unusual save feature (pay to save system, respawn where you saved with minor stat reductions)
-Procedurally generated dungeons aka random map generation (can pick between 4 and 20 rooms per level)
-Locked chests (can attempt to break the locks)
-Gain exp from gold
-Four magic items (magic wand 1 - infinite zap spells, wand 2 - opens doors, magic sword and armor - ?)
-Trapped chests
-4 spells (zap, heal, x-ray, teleport)
-Listen (for monsters) and inspect (for secret doors; happened automatically in Dungeon) commands
-Can break or kick a door open - Dungeon
-Can drop gold (why?)
-Wait/rest command (1-9 turns or until rested)
Playthrough (Apple II)
MUD1 (PDP-10, 1978/PC, )
Subgenre: First Virtual World/Multi-User Dungeon, Text-based
Gameplay
1972:
Hunt the Wumpus (Mainframes, 1972 or 1973)
Subgenre: Text Adventure
Gameplay
1975:
Western Gun/Gun Fight (1975)(Taito)
Subgenre: Open World Shooter or Free-roaming Shooter/Proto-Action Adventure
Perspective: TD view
-8-way movement, some destructible obstacles
"combined action gameplay with an open-world adventure environment", "It was the first on-foot shooter, the first on-foot multi-directional shooter, introduced human combat, was the first open-world video game, and the first action/adventure video game. It was also the first tactical shooter, with elements of real-time strategy/tactics." - Codex Gamicus
Gameplay (Advertisement)
Dungeon (1975 or 1976), pedit5 (1975), dnd (1975)
Subgenre: First RPGs, Rogue-like/Dungeon Crawler precursors
Perspective: TD view
-Quarter and half turns+time limited turns (one turn is about 3 mins long)
-Character creation (name, 5 character stats (strength, intelligence, constitution, dexterity, hit points)) - can also choose between 15 pre-made chars
-16 spells (magical: sleep, charm, light, magic missile, esp, speed, invisibility, blastbolt; clerical: cure, detect evil, protection from evil, pray, serious cure, hold person, continual light, dispel myth)
-Random encounters (every fourth turn) and some spells that affect their rate
-Can break through doors
-Some hidden doors which you have a 1/6 chance to discover when passing by them
-Can only escape from monsters in corridors (based on level)
-Can only level up by leaving the dungeon (treasure brought out of it also yields exp)
Gameplay w/ commentary (Dungeon)
1976:
Colossal Cave Adventure (PDP-10, 1976/PC, )
Subgenre: First Text Adventure and work of interactive fiction?
Other: Text command inputs, Score and turn counters
-Save feature (built into the PDP system like a save state)
Playthrough w/ commentary
1977:
Zork (PDP-10, 1977/PC, )
Subgenre: Text Adventure
Other: Inventory puzzles, non-linear structure?
-Save feature (built into the PDP system like a save state)
Playthrough (Apple)
1978:
Beneath Apple Manor (PCs, 1978?)
Subgenre: Rogue-like/Rogue precursor
Perspective: Top down view
-First commercial RPG for a home computer
-Manual stat allocation (buy stats with exp)
-Unusual save feature (pay to save system, respawn where you saved with minor stat reductions)
-Procedurally generated dungeons aka random map generation (can pick between 4 and 20 rooms per level)
-Locked chests (can attempt to break the locks)
-Gain exp from gold
-Four magic items (magic wand 1 - infinite zap spells, wand 2 - opens doors, magic sword and armor - ?)
-Trapped chests
-4 spells (zap, heal, x-ray, teleport)
-Listen (for monsters) and inspect (for secret doors; happened automatically in Dungeon) commands
-Can break or kick a door open - Dungeon
-Can drop gold (why?)
-Wait/rest command (1-9 turns or until rested)
Playthrough (Apple II)
MUD1 (PDP-10, 1978/PC, )
Subgenre: First Virtual World/Multi-User Dungeon, Text-based
Gameplay