SwordThrust
SwordThrust is an interactive text adventure game for the Apple II, created by Donald Brown and published by CE Software in 1981. It consists of seven separate adventures (each sold separately) and is the commercial successor to Brown's Eamon (1980).
SwordThrust
- Date
- 1981
- Publisher
- Startly Technologies
- Genre
- adventure video game
Reference Check
Propose documentary evidence for SwordThrust. A contribution is never written directly as fact: identity, source, rights and evidence gates still decide.
Sign in to contribute
World of VALÉORINE
Documentary connections
Only confirmed graph relationships appear here. Images are shown only when their identity and reuse rights both pass the documentary gate.
Documentary evidence
Documentary basis
Authority files
wikidata · Q15036774
In this article
Key facts
Key facts
• Title — SwordThrust • Developer — Donald Brown • Publisher — CE Software • Designer — Donald Brown • Released — May 1981 • Genre — Adventure / RPG • Modes — Single-player • Platforms — Apple II
Premise
Premise
Players take on the role of a warrior/adventurer in the magical, feudal world of Diurla. Play begins at the Main Hall of the Guild of Free Rogues, where the player creates a character, buys equipment and learns spells before venturing out to gain wealth and experience. Each scenario has a different goal, and typically a time limit. A save option is available, allowing the player to suspend the game and pick it up later.
Adventures
Adventures
Seven separate adventures were released for the SwordThrust system: • The King's Testing Ground by Donald Brown. Intended for "beginning rogues", this adventure is the equivalent of Eamon's Beginners Cave and contains relatively easy opponents. • The Vampyre Caves by Donald Brown • The Kidnappers Cove by Donald Brown • The Case of the Sultan's Pearl by Donald Brown • The Green Plague by Donald Brown • The Eternal Curse by Donald Brown • The Hall of Alchemie by Peter Wityk
Reviews
Reviews
• Casus Belli #19 (Feb 1984)
Places
Named by the record
Places
Only places the record itself states, plotted where the house gazetteer settles their coordinates. Nothing is inferred from a name or a nationality.
- United States
Named but not plotted · 1
SwordThrust is associated with United States.
Country
Reception
Forrest Johnson reviewed SwordThrust in The Space Gamer No. 43. Johnson commented that "SwordThrust is not the best game of its type; it's the only. It has flaws, but so does every milestone." Debuting in May 1981, Swordthrust #1 sold 1,000 copies by June 1982, appearing on Computer Gaming Worlds list of top sellers. A 1982 review in the magazine praised the game's departure from the typical Dungeons & Dragons character class system, instead allowing a character to advance in any skill, closer in style to RuneQuest. Computer Gaming World stated in 1991 and 1993 "It's a pity that Swordthrust did not survive into the graphic era, as it had great potential". Dale Archibald reviewed Sword Thrust #1: The King's Testing Ground in Ares Magazine #14 and commented that "if gothic, nurse, mystery and western writers can publish four books at a time about a character, why can't a software publisher? It's an attractive idea, if you've got a good character and good plots. Brown has the best character going: you. And his plots are interesting." Norman Banduch reviewed The Eternal Curse in The Space Gamer No. 58. Banduch commented that "The Eternal Curse is an excellent adventure program, ideal for building up characters for other SwordThrust adventures. It is also good fun on its own."
Text attribution
Licensing
Text attribution
Part of the biographical narrative on this page reuses licensed material. Its origin, revision and licence are recorded here.
The biographical narrative on this page is based on the Wikipedia article SwordThrust, revision 1233612491 (EN edition), by its contributors. VALÉORINE has edited that text and built its own documentary record around it. The reused material is available under CC BY-SA 4.0, and this page's reuse of it is offered under the same licence. Everything else on this page — the chronology, the holdings, the evidence, the plates and the connections — is VALÉORINE's own record. Sources and licences.
References
Citations
References
Each reference names the institution holding it, so a reader may go to the document itself.
reference work
Secondary witness
The Encyclopedia exists whether or not anything is for sale. Corrections are recorded rather than overwritten, and every version of this record is kept. Published 18 August 2026.
Elsewhere in Collectables
20,755 published records in this field, each with its sources named.
- Swords & SoldiersWork
- Swords and SerpentsWork
- Swords and SorceryWork
- Swords of XeenWork
- SX SuperstarWork
- SyberiaWork
- Syberia IIWork
- SybianTerminology
Best supported in this field
For owners
Own a copy of SwordThrust?
A specialist will read what you send and tell you what the house can establish, what it cannot, and whether the object is suited to sale. There is no charge and no obligation. The object stays with you throughout; nothing is shipped to us unless it is arranged in writing beforehand.