Hi-Res Adventure #4: Ulysses and the Golden Fleece

Ulysses and the Golden Fleece is an interactive fiction game originally developed by On-Line Systems (later to become Sierra On-Line). It is the fourth game in the “Hi-Res Adventure” series and features similar gameplay as other games in the series. The game provides a split screen with color images occupying most of the screen towards the top and text along the bottom where the player can read about the current situation and enter commands. To progress through the story the player needs to enter commands to interact with the environment, talk with other characters, collect items, and solve puzzles. The game is inspired by and features many characters from greek mythology.

As the adventurer in the game, the player has been assigned a quest by the king to retrieve the legendary golden fleece. The quest begins in a small town, and to locate the fleece the player will need to travel to a far away land and overcome many obstacles along the way. Many mythological characters will also be encountered, including King Neptune, Pluto (the god of the underworld), The Sirens, a dragon, and more. As was common in adventure games of the time it was possible for the player’s character to die in a variety of situations; the game allowed progress to be saved at any point so the player could restore the game to an earlier point when stuck.