Below the Root

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MS-DOS 0 subscribers

0 plays 1984 #Simulation

Below the Root is a 1984 video game developed by Dale DeSharone and published by Windham Classics for Commodore 64, IBM PC, and Apple II. The game is a continuation of the author Zilpha Keatley Snyder's Green Sky Trilogy, making it the fourth story in the series. The game is set in the fantasy world of Green-Sky covered with enormous trees and wildlife. The player is tasked to choose one of the five characters to explore the world and discover the meaning of the words that appeared in the dreams of the character D'ol Falla. The player explores the world through platforming, solving puzzles and exploration.

The game was developed by Dale DeSharone. Along with collaborating with Snyder for the game's narrative, DeSharone collaborated with artist William Groetzinger who would create graphics for the game.

On its release, received a positive review in Compute!, which praised the game's graphics and scale. Game journalist John Szczepaniak praised the game as the highlight of DeSharone's career, noting that the game mechanics were ahead of its time, such as the LucasArts-style command list options seen in games like Maniac Mansion (1987), or the blend of action and adventure games in games later described as metroidvanias.

From Wikipedia's article Below the Root (video game), licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0

Controls

This is a PC game: it uses the keyboard the way it did under MS-DOS, and the mouse where the game supports it. Click the game screen first so it gets your key presses.

Many DOS games start with a menu or ask a question first — read the screen and answer with the keyboard. Arrow keys, Enter, Space, Ctrl and Alt are the usual game keys.

Emulator help & troubleshooting

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Controls

This is a PC game: it uses the keyboard the way it did under MS-DOS, and the mouse where the game supports it. Click the game screen first so it gets your key presses.

Many DOS games start with a menu or ask a question first — read the screen and answer with the keyboard. Arrow keys, Enter, Space, Ctrl and Alt are the usual game keys.

Emulator help & troubleshooting

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Review scorecard

  1. Graphics — Not scored Unavailable
  2. Sound — Not scored Unavailable
  3. Control — Not scored Unavailable
  4. Fun Factor — Not scored Unavailable

No category score or overall rating is available for the unscored slots.

Full reviews

GamePro face key

  1. 1.0Wake me up when it's over0+ out of 100
  2. 1.5Wake me up when it's over+ thumbs-up40+ out of 100
  3. 2.0Could be better50+ out of 100
  4. 2.5Could be better+ thumbs-up60+ out of 100
  5. 3.0Good job68+ out of 100
  6. 3.5Good job+ thumbs-up75+ out of 100
  7. 4.0Great job!80+ out of 100
  8. 4.5Great job!+ thumbs-up85+ out of 100
  9. 5.0Outstanding!90+ out of 100

GamePro named the five whole-number faces; a thumbs-up adds half a point to the same caption. GamePro’s original rating-face design, adapted from Ryan Quintal’s 2018 vector recreation; cleanup for YouConsoles.

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