Knight Tyme

Knight Tyme is a graphic adventure published by Mastertronic in 1986 for 8-bit platforms, initially from the ZX Spectrum and Amstrad CPC. Later it was ported to Commodore 64 and MSX.

The game was designed and programmed by David Jones, and it was the third title in the Magic Knight series, after Finder Keepers and Spellbound. Legendary musician Rob Hubbard composed the soundtrack for the MSX/Spectrum version.

If Spellbound was more of an action adventure, considering the enemies to avoid and other more dynamic mechanics, Knight Tyme would be a pure graphic adventure. Don't let the 2D platformer-like graphics fool you. The game is entirely based on exploration and puzzle-solving. The platforming mechanics are used only for movement because you will sometimes need to jump to reach a specific object.

If other early adventures were mostly based on text parsers, David Jones developed an advanced window system (called "Windimation") showing a contextual menu with all the actions that the player can perform. Activities vary from taking/leaving/using objects to examine, read, and command a character and more. This made the UI very advanced for the time and easy to use.

Reviews of the game were extremely positive. Knight Tyme was one of the best adventures ever created for the Spectrum, CPC, and other 8-bit computers. Still loved by many nostalgic users.