Indiana Jones and the Fate of Atlantis (A Memory)

Sometime after we got the CD-ROM drive for our 386, we picked up a demo disc that included several LucasArts game demos. The only one I really remember from that disc was Indiana Jones and the Fate of Atlantis.

My dad and I played that demo over and over again. It probably took us a couple of months before we finally reached the end of it.

I can’t remember the exact date, but I do remember it was a Thursday evening. I only remember that because my mom was volunteering at the school’s weekly bingo night, which was always on Thursdays.

When we finally figured out how to light up the entrance to Atlantis and got inside, we spent some time looking around before placing the Sunstone on its spindle. We walked over to get a better look at it, and instead of continuing the game, a message appeared on the screen.

“If this weren’t just a demo, you’d get a better look at it.”

I remember laughing when I read it, but I was also disappointed because I wanted to keep going. After spending all that time figuring out the puzzles, I wasn’t ready for the adventure to end.

Even today I know that demo so well that I can finish it in a single sitting. In fact, while writing this, I realized I should probably time myself one of these days just to see how long it takes.

Then came my next birthday.

I opened one of my presents and there it was.

The full CD-ROM version of Indiana Jones and the Fate of Atlantis, complete with voice acting. The “Talkie” version.

I wasn’t really sure what to expect, but one of the first things I noticed was that the game started in a completely different place than the demo. It was exciting to finally have the whole adventure instead of just a small piece of it.

Like a lot of LucasArts adventure games, though, it wasn’t easy.

If I had to guess, I probably made it only about 10% of the way through before getting completely stuck. I stayed stuck there for what felt like a year or two.

At one point my dad even ordered the official hint book for the game. We waited for it to arrive… and waited… but for whatever reason it never showed up.

This was before the Internet was something we could just hop on to check an order status, and long before package tracking was commonplace. Once you mailed in an order, all you could really do was wait and hope it eventually showed up.

I don’t know if it got lost in the mail or if the order was never processed, but I do remember being disappointed because I was convinced that hint book was going to help me get past the puzzle.

In the end, it never arrived.

Eventually I figured that puzzle out on my own, made a little more progress, and then, of course, got stuck somewhere else.

That became the pattern for a while. I’d solve one difficult puzzle, make it a little farther into the game, and then hit another roadblock.

As a kid, I never actually finished Indiana Jones and the Fate of Atlantis without using a walkthrough.

Today I can finish the game without any help, but that’s mostly because I’ve played it so many times over the years that I still remember most of the puzzles.

Looking back, I think that’s part of what made those old adventure games so memorable. You didn’t beat them over a weekend. Sometimes you lived with them for months, or even years, before finally reaching the end.

I’m actually glad I experienced games that way. There was something satisfying about finally solving a puzzle after being stuck for weeks, months, or even longer. It made finally reaching the end feel like an accomplishment instead of just another game completed.

— James