Avon
Acorn Electron - Released - 1990
A double-pack of games originally written for the Phoenix IBM System/370 mainframe at Cambridge University, reworked for commercial release on home computers:
Avon is an appropriately Shakespearean adventure which beings innocently enough, with a sight-seeing visit to the celebrated playwright's hometown. As the protagonist explores the streets and souvenir shops, certain people, animals and objects begin exhibiting strange behavior; finally, the surroundings become completely unfamiliar, and the inhabitants' English unusually rich and poetic... the stage is set for an exploration of this strange land, in an attempt to find a way out. The happenings take place over three different calendar dates; the game world is a blend of places and characters from Shakespeare's plays, but as the authors reassure us, "an exhaustive knowledge of the Shakespearean Canon is not necessary".
Monsters of Murdac is billed as a bonus game, in which an expatriate known only as George takes a flight from England back to his native land of Murdac. Here he meets a mysterious old lady remembered from his childhood, rumored to be a witch (in any case, she's at least somewhat unconventional). A stop at her strangely-furnished home proves fateful, as the hero finds himself sent on a quest deep into the foreboding forest of Murdac. Only the hag's incoherent mumblings about hostile powers and odd rituals hint at what lies ahead.
