Hibernated 1 – The Director’s Cut
Author: Stefan Vogt Free download, ZX Spectrum 48K/128K, 2021
Touching down onto the ZX Spectrum +3 and the ZX Spectrum Next is Berlin-based author Stefan Vogt’sVogt’s new Sci-Fi text adventure, Hibernated 1 – The Directors Cut. A complete re-write of the 2018 original, the game was created using Stefan’sStefan’s engine for the much-anticipated sequel Hibernated 2. It features tons of new narratives and dialogue as well as many new and expanded puzzles. He has also taken the time to correct and iron out several plot holes that had cropped up in the original game.
For those among you who haven’t played the original Hibernated 1, the game follows the story of astronaut Olivia Lund and her AI sidekick ‘Io’ who, while on an interplanetary exploration mission for the Terran Alliance. They stumble across a large and seemingly lifeless alien spacecraft that then catches them in its tractor beam. With no life signs or communication possible, Olivia decides that there’s only one thing for it, gear up and head over to the alien spacecraft to look for some answers.
So, just what exactly is different about the Director’s Cut? Well, for starters, you get two disks, one is a CP/M Plus loader, and the other is the main game itself. Once you’ve loaded the CP/M disk, switch to the main game disk and type ‘play game’, and your adventure begins. Loading CP/M Plus switches the Spectrum into a higher resolution mode — one that looks more akin to the Infocom adventures of old, which Stefan sights as one of his major influences when creating his adventures.
The other noticeable change is that the traditional compass directions have been swapped in favour of nautical ones. This makes more sense because the game is set between two space ships, but fear not as the traditional N, S, E, W directions are still all recognised should you prefer them.
The game’s parser also receives an upgrade, and now instead of simple oneword commands, you must type in a bit more of a detailed request.
For example, ‘use knife’ now requires more along the lines of ‘cut [object] with vibro knife’. This is an excellent addition to the game, and while it may put some off, I welcome it as it all adds to the realism and makes for a much more polished adventure. Many in-game puzzles have also been given a slight facelift, which requires a little bit more thought on
the players part to solve, but there’s nothing overly complex. My favourite addition to the Director’s Cut is the inclusion of a teleportation device that, when found, makes for a very clever way of being able to move around between both ships.
One final feature I found very welcome was the ships computer terminals that have been given the upgrade treatment. Instead of just entering ‘use computer’ there are, in some cases, numeric passcodes that have to be obtained and entered in a more detailed manner to progress. Again, another clever and excellent addition that adds a touch more realism to the game.
Just like the original game, there’s a collector’s edition available to currently preorder from poly.play which features some fantastic box art that has been produced to look like one of the old Infocom adventure boxes. Also included are an actual 3” disk, autograph card, stickers, poster, micro-SD card and an exclusive mission patch feelie.
If you fancy one of the collector’s copies, you can pre-order it here: https://bit. ly/3DsyAec
Overall, I have to say that Hibernated 1 – The Director’s Cut is nothing short of text adventure brilliance! The game oozes passion and atmosphere from start to finish, and you can’t help but admire Stefan and the commitment he puts into his work. Not only has he managed to deliver yet another cracking modern text adventure, but at the same time, he’s given us the perfect stopgap to keep us all more than satisfied while we wait for the muchanticipated sequel, Hibernated 2. Superbly written, the game is a showcase from start to finish of how to write a text adventure game and is why it deserves nothing less than our prestigious CRASH SMASH award.
Congratulations Stefan — well deserved!