Fahrenheit 451

• Title — Fahrenheit 451 • Developer — Byron Preiss Video Productions Trillium • Publisher — Trillium • Designer — Lee Jacknow Robert Strong • Programmer — Michael P. Meyer • Artist — Robert Strong Brian Humphrey • Writer — Len Neufeld Ray Bradbury • Released — 1984 • Genre — Interactive fiction • Modes — Single-player • Platforms — Apple II, Atari ST, Commodore 64, MS-DOS, Mac, MSX

Bradbury himself contributed to the game by writing the prologue and responses of the game's intelligent computer "Ray". Working under the aegis of Byron Preiss Visual Publications, the plot of the game was conceived by Byron Preiss and the text was written by Len Neufeld (known for his previous authorship of books in the Be an Interplanetary Spy interactive novel series, also produced by Preiss).

At the ending of Fahrenheit 451, former Fireman Guy Montag is a fugitive, wanted for murder for killing his supervisor and stealing contraband books. The game takes place five years later. A pointless war has swept across the country, leading to martial law by the Firemen. Now an agent for the literary underground, Montag makes his way to New York. His mission is to break into the heavily guarded New York Public Library on 42nd Street. The books themselves were burned, but the contents had first been transferred to microcassette. The microcassettes need to be retrieved and uploaded into the Underground's information network. Along the way, he discovers that Clarisse McClellan, the young woman who inspired him to rebellion, is still alive. Challenges for the player involve finding ways to alter one's appearance, fingerprints, and "chemindex" (body chemistry) in order to evade detection. Other issues arise in finding food to eat and safe places to rest. The player must also make contact with members of the Underground hiding in the city, through the use of a lighter and literary quotations. In the end, Montag is able to break into the Central Library and meet up with Clarisse. The microcassettes are found and transmitted on the information network to resistance cells all over the world. While Montag and Clarisse achieve victory in saving the extensive collection of literature, it costs them their lives as firemen storm the office after the last cassette is transmitted, immolating them both.

The game was released in 1984 for the Apple II, Commodore 64, MS-DOS, and Tandy platforms; for the Mac in 1985; and for the Atari ST and MSX systems in 1986.