Lure of the Temptress

About the game

Lure of the Temptress is the first game by Revolution Software, the studio that later made Beneath a Steel Sky and Broken Sword. You play Diermot, an ordinary man who ends up in a cell after a battle goes badly, in a town now run by a sorceress and the brutish creatures that serve her.

Its signature idea is what Revolution called Virtual Theatre. The townspeople do not wait around for you: they walk their own routes, go to work, talk to each other and change where they are through the day. You can give orders to some of them, and a good part of the game is working out who can help and when to find them.

It is a short adventure by later standards, with dry humour and puzzles that are fair once you pay attention to the people around you.

Playing it here

This is the freeware release Revolution made available through ScummVM, run with the original DOS program. Important: the original program starts with a copy protection check. When the game begins, move the mouse to the top of the screen, open the menu and choose Restart; that skips the check.

Controls

Input	Action
Left click	walk there, or do the default action on what you click
Right click	open the list of actions (look, talk, take, use and more)
Menu at the top of the screen	save, restore, restart and quit

A few things worth knowing

Talk to everyone twice. People move and circumstances change, so the same character can have something new to say later.

Follow people. If you cannot find someone, wait or walk around: they are somewhere on their route.

Save before trying something drastic. The menu at the top of the screen saves and restores at any time.

Credits and licence

Lure of the Temptress was developed by Revolution Software and published by Virgin Games in 1992. Revolution released it as freeware under a licence that allows free distribution with its notices intact, and the original licence text is linked from this page. All game content is © Revolution Software Ltd.