Ludography
More scores
Metacritic usersuser score
88/100
GameFAQsTough
3.78/5
Player reviews
100% positive2 reviews
Runs on
Windows, Mac, Linux
Price
US$6.99

Where to get it

Chronomaster cover

1995 · DreamForge Intertainment · Adventure · Point-and-click adventure

Chronomaster

You are Korda, the Chronomaster. You must re-start time and right the wrongs of a war-plagued past in this epic quest for vengeance. Journey through man-made "pocket universes" full of cyborgs, pirates and witches who provide deadly puzzles. It's up to you to return justice to the stars.

Released
20 December 1995
Platforms
LinuxMS-DOSWindowsmacOS
Genres
AdventurePoint-and-click adventurePuzzleScience
Developers
DreamForge Intertainment
Publishers
IntraCorp
Modes
Single-player
Perspective
Bird view / Isometric
Themes
Science fictionMystery
Country
United States
Languages
English
Time to beat
8.5hmain story10hcompletionist

About

Chronomaster is an adventure game developed by DreamForge Intertainment for MS-DOS compatible operating systems and published by IntraCorp on 20 December 1995. Its main plot was written by novelist Roger Zelazny and was his last known work, since he died during the game's development. Because of Zelazny's passing, Dreamforge used in-house puzzle and game designers John McGirk and Aaron Kreader to complete a majority of the game puzzles, while leaving the overall game plot and concept intact according to Zelazny's vision.

Chronomaster narrates the story of Rene Korda (voiced by Ron Perlman), a retired and formerly renowned designer of "pocket universes" — self-contained worlds developed according to the tastes of the person who finances their construction. Korda is hired by a representative of the "Terran Regional government" to restore two pocket universes from a state of "temporal stasis" and to find out who is responsible for the situation.

Players say

Media

The articlegameplay, story, development, reception

Gameplay

Each pocket universe contains a single solar system with anywhere from one to several worlds Korda can visit. Each world requires Korda to travel to magnetic North and use a "resonance tracer" to locate the universe's "world key". The world key (each protected by a unique puzzle) stops or starts the universe's temporal flow. Each pocket universe has a unique feel to it, reflecting the personality and interests of its owner. Verdry for example, owned by a woman known for creating a philosophical movement centered on nonsense and unreality, contains a world shaped and colored like an Easter egg.

In order to move within pocket universes in which time is stagnant, Korda employs "bottled time", a container which when opened provides him with a field in which times flows normally. Bottled time may also be used to activate objects and trigger ongoing events which were halted by the temporal stasis. He also counts on the help of a versatile context-sensitive tool which makes available different functions to him, depending on the pocket universe he visits. During his journey Korda is accompanied by his personal digital assistant (PDA) Jester (voiced by Lolita Davidovich), a flying blue spherical robot who provides more comic relief than help with gameplay. Korda is eventually joined by Milo, (voiced by Brent Spiner) a former student of Korda's and the sole survivor of a horrific pirate attack on his homeworld.

Reception

According to Charles Ardai of Computer Gaming World magazine, Chronomaster was commercially unsuccessful.

A reviewer for Next Generation magazine praised the game for its detailed graphics, simple and intuitive interface, "entertaining" dialogue, puzzles that are mostly neither too easy nor overly hard, and deep story based "around the concepts of immortality, universe construction, and the nature of time itself." The reviewer was also pleased with the voice acting from well-known stars, though he noted that some of the lesser-known actors gave "painful" performances. A reviewer for Maximum lauded Chronomaster for its story and presentation, calling the game "a prime example of [Roger Zelazny's] ability to create a compelling story that rewrites the rules of science as it goes." He described the pre-rendered graphics as "stunning" and said that the voice actors "add atmosphere to an already intriguing adventure."

Legacy

Chronomaster was adapted into novel form in 1996; the novel closely followed the game's plot, and it was coauthored by Roger Zelazny and Jane Lindskold.

Releases by platformdates and regions as published

PlatformReleasedRegions
MS-DOS20 December 1995North America
macOS3 February 2022Worldwide
Linux3 February 2022Worldwide
Windows3 February 2022Worldwide

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Description adapted from its source, CC BY-SA 4.0.