Castle of Dreams

Castle of Dreams is a fantasy adventure and puzzle game for the ZX Spectrum 48K, released in 1987 by The Adventure Workshop. Inspired by Wagner’s opera Parsifal and the Greek myth of Pandora’s Box, the game casts you as a lone hero tasked with infiltrating the castle of the wicked magician Klingsor. Hidden within the castle is a casket containing cruel spells that must be stolen and destroyed before Klingsor can unleash them upon the world.

Gameplay combines interactive problem-solving with traditional adventure mechanics. Players navigate a network of rooms and corridors, solving a series of mini-games such as decoding magical scrolls, escaping a labyrinth of colored doors, crossing a trapped mosaic floor, uncovering a buried treasure in the courtyard, reuniting reflections in an enchanted pool, and searching for hidden safes in a picture gallery. Each puzzle rewards you with vital objects — like keys, charms, or tools — needed to bypass obstacles and reach deeper parts of the castle. Escape becomes possible only after retrieving Klingsor’s staff, which triggers a countdown as the castle burns, pushing you to flee in time and cast the casket into the distant fiery mountain.

A helpful character, Kundry — Klingsor’s former apprentice — can be summoned for hints if you become stuck, but misusing her aid resets your progress. Technically, Castle of Dreams runs on standard ZX Spectrum 48K hardware, using simple but effective text and graphics to present locations and mini-games. Each playthrough generates slight variations, giving the game good replay value for its time.