My Experience with Zork

I was pretty excited about playing Zork for the first time. I grew up playing Kings Quest and think Syberia was the best game ever made – so this was going to be fun, right? That was before I learned that I am completely incapable at playing Zork, and for what I’m pretty sure are my own issues rather than any fault of the actual game. My first half an hour playing was spent lost in the woods, before I realized that all I had to do was “open” the kitchen window. Oops. I did try making a map, but didn’t really have success with that either. The fact that you can sometimes “go west” and then “go east” and not end up in the same spot drives me crazy. As much as I hate to admit it, the fact that there are no graphics makes the whole thing very difficult for me. So, after a couple of very frustrating hours, I finally reached the underground passages, got lost again, and quit. I am apparently never going beyond Amateur Adventurer.