''Escape from Monster Manor'' is a

first-person shooter First-person shooter (FPS) is a sub-genre of shooter video games centered on gun and other weapon-based combat in a first-person perspective, with the player experiencing the action through the eyes of the protagonist and controlling the pl ...

video game developed by

Studio 3DO The 3DO Company (formerly THDO on the NASDAQ stock exchange), also known as 3DO, was an American video game company. It was founded in 1991 by Electronic Arts founder Trip Hawkins, in a partnership with seven other companies. After 3DO's flagsh ...

and published by

Electronic Arts Electronic Arts Inc. (EA) is an American video game company headquartered in Redwood City, California. Founded in May 1982 by Apple employee Trip Hawkins, the company was a pioneer of the early home computer game industry and promoted th ...

exclusively for the 3DO. The game was released as in Japan.

Gameplay

''Escape From Monster Manor'' is a

where the player character wanders through a haunted mansion from a first-person point of view in a 3D environment. The player must defeat spiders, spooks, and other horrors to escape. The objective of the game is to collect pieces of a sacred talisman in each stage, then make it through twelve levels to the exit to escape. Rather than having a

HUD Hud or HUD may refer to: Entertainment * Hud (1963 film), ''Hud'' (1963 film), a 1963 film starring Paul Newman * Hud (1986 film), ''Hud'' (1986 film), a 1986 Norwegian film * HUD (TV program), ''HUD'' (TV program), or ''Heads Up Daily'', a Canadi ...

, the player's health is visible as damage to the on-screen hand and the ammunition is listed as a bar on the gun sprite.

Development and release

The game's main developer was Leo Schwab. A

computing Computing is any goal-oriented activity requiring, benefiting from, or creating computing machinery. It includes the study and experimentation of algorithmic processes, and development of both hardware and software. Computing has scientific, ...

and programming prodigy, Schwab was best known for his

Amiga Amiga is a family of personal computers introduced by Commodore International, Commodore in 1985. The original model is one of a number of mid-1980s computers with 16- or 32-bit processors, 256 KB or more of RAM, mouse-based GUIs, and sign ...

screen hacks and animations during the mid-late 1980s and for developing ''Disney Presents: The Animation Studio'' for Silent Software in 1990. Schwab joined

head

Trip Hawkins William Murray "Trip" Hawkins III (born December 28, 1953) is an American entrepreneur and founder of Electronic Arts, The 3DO Company, and Digital Chocolate. Career A fan of the Strat-O-Matic Football pen and paper games, Hawkins started his ...

when the latter founded

The 3DO Company The 3DO Company (formerly THDO on the NASDAQ stock exchange), also known as 3DO, was an American video game company. It was founded in 1991 by Electronic Arts founder Trip Hawkins, in a partnership with seven other companies. After 3DO's flagsh ...

for the release of the

3DO Interactive Multiplayer The 3DO Interactive Multiplayer, also referred to as simply 3DO, is a home video game console developed by The 3DO Company. Conceived by entrepreneur and Electronic Arts founder Trip Hawkins, the 3DO was not a console manufactured by the compan ...

. For ''Escape from Monster Manor'', Schwab has cited ''

Wolfenstein 3D ''Wolfenstein 3D'' is a first-person shooter video game developed by id Software and published by Apogee Software and FormGen. Originally released on May 5, 1992, for DOS, it was inspired by the 1981 Muse Software video game ''Castle Wolfen ...

'' as the chief inspiration for the game. After some months working on a different 3DO game, Schwab and his team abandoned that project and switched to the less ambitious ''Escape from Monster Manor'' so that they could have a demo to present at that year's

Consumer Electronics Show CES (; formerly an initialism for Consumer Electronics Show) is an annual trade show organized by the Consumer Technology Association (CTA). Held in January at the Las Vegas Convention Center in Winchester, Nevada, United States, the event ty ...

. The game's source code was released onto

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under the

MIT License The MIT License is a permissive free software license originating at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) in the late 1980s. As a permissive license, it puts only very limited restriction on reuse and has, therefore, high license co ...

on August 7, 2022, with an accompanying

live stream Livestreaming is streaming media simultaneously recorded and broadcast in real-time over the internet. It is often referred to simply as streaming. Non-live media such as video-on-demand, vlogs, and YouTube videos are technically streamed, but ...

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by original developer Leo Schwab.

Reception

Electronic Gaming Monthly ''Electronic Gaming Monthly'' (often abbreviated to ''EGM'') is a monthly American video game magazine. It offers video game news, coverage of industry events, interviews with gaming figures, editorial content and product reviews. History The ...

'' gave the game a 6.75 out of 10, mentioning some minor issues with the control but overall recommending the game for its well-rendered graphics and genuinely creepy audio. ''

GamePro Gamepro.com is an international multiplatform video game magazine media company that covers the video game industry, video game hardware and video game software in countries such as Germany and France. The publication, GamePro, was originally la ...

'' praised the game's frightening graphics and audio, nerve-wracking challenge, and strafing ability. A review in ''

Edge Edge or EDGE may refer to: Technology Computing * Edge computing, a network load-balancing system * Edge device, an entry point to a computer network * Adobe Edge, a graphical development application * Microsoft Edge, a web browser developed b ...

'' praised the "look and feel" of the game, but criticized the simplicity of the game design and gameplay. The game was compared unfavorably to ''

DOOM Doom is another name for damnation. Doom may also refer to: People * Doom (professional wrestling), the tag team of Ron Simmons and Butch Reed * Daniel Doom (born 1934), Belgian cyclist * Debbie Doom (born 1963), American softball pitcher * ...

'' and given a score of 5/10. The game was reviewed in 1994 in '' Dragon'' #204 by

Sandy Petersen Carl Sanford Joslyn "Sandy" Petersen (born September 16, 1955) is an American game designer. He worked at Chaosium, contributing to the development of '' RuneQuest'' and later creating the acclaimed and influential horror role-playing game ''Cal ...

in the "Eye of the Monitor" column. Petersen gave the game 2 out of 5 stars.

Notes

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Escape from Monster Manor 1990s horror video games 1993 video games 3DO Interactive Multiplayer games 3DO Interactive Multiplayer-only games Commercial video games with freely available source code Electronic Arts games First-person shooters Single-player video games Sprite-based first-person shooters Video games developed in the United States Video games with 2.5D graphics