Moebius: The Orb of Celestial Harmony

Moebius: The Orb of Celestial Harmony is a role-playing game initially created by Origin Systems for the Apple II and published in 1985. The game was designed and programmed by Greg Malone. In 1987-88, DOS, Atari ST, and Amiga versions were released. In 1989, Origin published a sequel called Windwalker.

Moebius strongly reflects its 8-bit origins and is reminiscent of Ultima IV: Quest of the Avatar, another title from Origin to which it is clearly inspired. Like in Ultima, you'll have to explore a large world (actually, four different worlds) from a top-down perspective in search of the infamous Orb of Celestial Harmony. However, what sets Moebius apart is its combination of RPG mechanics with side-view beat 'em up-style combat.

Unfortunately, while the RPG aspects, despite being dated, are at least on par with the early Ultima games, the combat component doesn't even come close to a game like Kung-Fu: The Way of the Exploding Fist, to name one, or even an action-adventure game like The Last Ninja. As a result, Moebius: The Orb of Celestial Harmony ends up feeling like a partially successful experiment.

The graphics for the Amiga and Atari ST versions are more colorful than the Apple II version but could have benefited from a complete overhaul. In short, Moebius is recommended primarily for fans of the series or for those who find the idea of a mix between a beat-up and an RPG intriguing.