A week or so ago I was browsing a thread on Reddit titled, "What is that one childhood video game that you loved to bits, yet no-one else seems to have ever heard of?" That sort of thing is right up my alley, so I searched through it hoping to find some C64-specific posts and, I did! They are also ones I haven't yet featured, so let's do so!
First up, u/MELMHC posted: "Below the root on C64"
Below the Root was a nice little sidescroller RPG released in 1984 by Windham Classics, a once-division of Spinnaker Software. It's based on a series of fantasy novels titled The Green Sky trilogy by Zilpha Keatley Snyder which were published between 1975-77, which I actually didn't know until now so I looked up the books for more backstory.
In the books, a race of people called The Kindar of Green-sky are a utopian society, ruled by leaders called the Ol-zhaan, who are considered deities. "Unjoyful" emotions like anger and sorrow are banned and kept under strict control by a system of meditation, chant and ritual, accompanied by the use of narcotic berries. The people are vegetarians and surround themselves with pets. Babies are born with paranormal powers, which is kept into adulthood, but were disappearing earlier with each successive generation. The people lived in fear of the forest floor and the pash-shan, legendary monsters said to stalk below the roots of their magnificent tree-cities.
A novice Ol-zhaan named Raamo and his friend Neric (one of the game's playable characters) set out to discover if the monsters truly exist. What they found were the Erdlings, a race made up of exiled Kindar dissidents and their descendants. Where the Kindar live their whole lives in the shade, the Erdlings seek places where the sun penetrates the caverns. They have been living in the caverns and subsisting on plants, mushrooms and the occasional unwary rabbit (lapan) or ground bird, plus fallen fruits from the Kindar orchards. They are superb craftsmen, metalworkers and jewelers; they have fire, which is unknown in Green-sky, and transport people and supplies by railway, using steam propulsion. They have no taboos against anger, sadness or other "unjoyful" emotions, and (possibly as a result) appear to have retained much more of their psychic powers than have the Kindar.
Their discovery shakes the very foundation of Green-sky's social order. The Erdlings are released from their exile and the Ol-zhaan disbanded, but reconciling the two societies takes a long time. An unnamed society of disgruntled Ol-zhaan (called Salite in the game) and the Nekom, vengeance-seeking Erdlings, began patrolling the branch-paths and causing unrest. Furthermore, Raamo himself apparently perished, silencing a voice for tolerance and unity.
In the game's manual, you are told that the wise old woman (and former Ol-zhaan high priestess) D'ol Falla has a vision, in which she heard these words: "The Spirit fades, in Darkness lying. A quest proclaim - the Light is dying." Your character (one of five from the series) then begins the game looking for clues to the meaning of D'ol Falla's vision in hopes of restoring peace to both nations.
The game does a great job in sticking close to details of the books, such as making you unable to steal as that behaviour is banned in the society. To obtain and item you must ask characters for permission to take it, or to pay with tokens you can gain in-game. Also adhering to this, the game was made to be almost entirely non-violent. You can only be hurt by contact with venomous animals, falling, or colliding with a barrier. Your character can also be kidnapped and taken hostage, and collect weapons, which can mostly only be used to cut vine barriers. Killing someone renders the game unwinnable.
The nicely coloured graphics were considered advanced for the time, and competent controls made gameplay easy. The game was well-received, and now has a fanpage for the game and the books up online.
