The Return of Medusa

The Return of Medusa is a video game developed by X-Ample and published by Starbyte Software. This game was released in 1991 for the Amiga, Atari ST, and DOS platforms. It is a sequel to Rings of Medusa, released in 1989. The Return of Medusa combines role-playing and strategy gameplay to create a unique hybrid gaming experience.

The game begins with the story of Cirion, the Crown Prince of Morenor, who has to rescue his girlfriend from the evil Medusa, who has returned to take over his kingdom. Medusa has traveled 300 years into the future, and Cirion follows her through a portal to the modern era. Now, Cirion is alone in the fight against Medusa and her army. He has to find thirteen keys hidden in underground bunkers to enter Medusa's lair and destroy the dark crystal Dohor, the source of Medusa's power. The game has two distinct gameplay modes. The first is a first-person perspective dungeon crawl, similar to Dungeon Master. The second is a strategy-style game where players visit various locations to trade and finance their armies.

The Return of Medusa: Rings of Medusa II received generally positive reviews from critics. Reviewers praised the game's innovative gameplay, intriguing story, and excellent graphics and sound. Amiga Format gave it a score of 85%, Amiga Joker 82%, but you also have a 69% from Amiga Action and 70% from Power Play. However, when you mix two different types of gameplay, the risk is none of them is outstanding. In fact, this is the main problem with The Return of Medusa. The strategy scenes are a bit boring, and the dungeon crawling is not as good as masterpieces like Eye of the Beholder.

There are also positive aspects: the game's soundtrack was composed by Jochen Hippel, known for creating music for other games such as Wings of Death and Apidya. The game's art design was created by Torsten Zimmermann, who was also responsible for the art design of the first game, and it's not bad at all if you ignore the limited number of colors (unfortunately the graphics are the same on Amiga, Atari ST, and DOS).

If you like a mix of genres or have played the first game and want to see the end, The Return of Medusa can be the right choice for this evening.