''Talisman'' is a

board game Board games are tabletop games that typically use . These pieces are moved or placed on a pre-marked board (playing surface) and often include elements of table, card, role-playing, and miniatures games as well. Many board games feature a ...

Games Workshop Games Workshop Group (often abbreviated as GW) is a British manufacturer of miniature wargames, based in Nottingham, England. Its best-known products are '' Warhammer Age of Sigmar'' and '' Warhammer 40,000''. Founded in 1975 by John Peake, ...

. There have been several attempts to adapt the board game into a video game since its introduction in 1983. The first was a 1985

ZX Spectrum The ZX Spectrum () is an 8-bit home computer that was developed by Sinclair Research. It was released in the United Kingdom on 23 April 1982, and became Britain's best-selling microcomputer. Referred to during development as the ''ZX81 Colou ...

game, titled ''Talisman'' or ''The Talisman''. It was developed by SLUG and produced by the board game's publisher,

. Another attempt, by Big Rooster Games in 2008 was abandoned and was labeled "a misfire" by Games Workshop. In 2012, Nomad Games released ''Talisman: Prologue'', a single-player game for Microsoft Windows and

mobile Mobile may refer to: Places * Mobile, Alabama, a U.S. port city * Mobile County, Alabama * Mobile, Arizona, a small town near Phoenix, U.S. * Mobile, Newfoundland and Labrador Arts, entertainment, and media Music Groups and labels * Mobile ...

platforms, and in 2013 Nomad released ''Talisman: Digital Edition'' which added multiplayer to the game, with several expansions also released. ''Talisman Origins'' was released in 2019 by Nomad Games.

1985 version

''Talisman'' was released in 1985 for

, developed by SLUG and published by

. The game is a conversion of the Second Edition of the board game. It is a fantasy hybrid

board Board or Boards may refer to: Flat surface * Lumber, or other rigid material, milled or sawn flat ** Plank (wood) ** Cutting board ** Sounding board, of a musical instrument * Cardboard (paper product) * Paperboard * Fiberboard ** Hardboa ...

role-playing game A role-playing game (sometimes spelled roleplaying game, RPG) is a game in which players assume the roles of player character, characters in a fictional Setting (narrative), setting. Players take responsibility for acting out these roles within ...

, in which players moved across a text-based virtual board, fighting creatures, collecting items, and strengthening their characters through experience. The ultimate goal was to defeat the other players, typically by reaching the ''Crown of Command'' on the game board.

Reception

Trevor Mendham reviewed ''Talisman'' for ''

White Dwarf A white dwarf is a stellar core remnant composed mostly of electron-degenerate matter. A white dwarf is very dense: its mass is comparable to the Sun's, while its volume is comparable to the Earth's. A white dwarf's faint luminosity comes ...

'' #66, giving it an overall rating of 7 out of 10, and stated that "Overall, the presentation of ''Talisman'' is excellent and the graphics make it a pleasure to play. It will certainly appeal to ''Talisman'' fans lacking opponents, as the computer makes a very reasonable job of this." Richard Price of ''

Sinclair User ''Sinclair User'' was a magazine dedicated to the Sinclair Research range of home computers, most specifically the ZX Spectrum (while also occasionally covering arcade games). Initially published by ECC Publications, and later EMAP, it was pub ...

'' gave the game four out of five stars and said: "Even with four players it is unlikely that anyone will be bored as the action can be quite entertaining, even to watch. This gives The Talisman an edge over text-based multiple player games." Paul Coppins of ''

Computer and Video Games ''Computer and Video Games'' (also known as ''CVG'', ''Computer & Video Games'', ''C&VG'', ''Computer + Video Games'', or ''C+VG'') was a UK-based video game magazine, published in its original form between 1981 and 2004. Its offshoot website ...

'' gave it one out of ten and said: " ..for me this Adventure is summed up in one word — poor!" Derek Brewster of ''

Crash Crash or CRASH may refer to: Common meanings * Collision, an impact between two or more objects * Crash (computing), a condition where a program ceases to respond * Cardiac arrest, a medical condition in which the heart stops beating * Couch s ...

'' gave the game seven out of ten and said: "Talisman is a very complex strategy game with superb graphics and all the other trappings of a well designed and highly polished piece of software. Where the game really excels is in its offering entertainment for up to four players which is sufficiently complex to keep all interested for the duration. As with all involved strategy games it will take a while to get into it, but I think the time would be well spent as this game has a lot going for it."

2008 version

Capcom is a Japanese video game developer and publisher. It has created a number of multi-million-selling game franchises, with its most commercially successful being '' Resident Evil'', '' Monster Hunter'', '' Street Fighter'', '' Mega Man'', '' ...

had begun development in 2007 of a downloadable video game for both the

PlayStation Network PlayStation Network (PSN) is a digital media entertainment service provided by Sony Interactive Entertainment. Launched in November 2006, PSN was originally conceived for the PlayStation video game consoles, but soon extended to encompass smar ...

PlayStation 3 The PlayStation 3 (PS3) is a home video game console developed by Sony Interactive Entertainment, Sony Computer Entertainment. The successor to the PlayStation 2, it is part of the PlayStation brand of consoles. It was first released on Novemb ...

and

Xbox Live Arcade Xbox Live Arcade (XBLA) is a digital video game download service available through the Xbox Games Store, Microsoft's digital distribution network for the Xbox 360. It focuses on smaller downloadable games from both major publishers and independen ...

Xbox 360 The Xbox 360 is a home video game console developed by Microsoft. As the successor to the original Xbox, it is the second console in the Xbox series. It competed with Sony's PlayStation 3 and Nintendo's Wii as part of the seventh generati ...

. A version was also planned for Microsoft Windows. Based closely on the board game of the same name from

, it was being developed by Big Rooster, but Capcom eventually announced they were seeking new developers. On 12 October 2008, Capcom Senior Director of Strategic Planning, Christian Svensson, announced: This digital version would have supported up to four players, either

online In computer technology and telecommunications, online indicates a state of connectivity and offline indicates a disconnected state. In modern terminology, this usually refers to an Internet connection, but (especially when expressed "on line" o ...

or offline. Including 25 different characters from the game and its expansions, it also promised additional downloadable content, such as extra characters and alternate ending conditions.

2012/2013 version

Games Workshop and

Fantasy Flight Games Fantasy Flight Games (FFG) is a game company based in Roseville, Minnesota, United States, that creates and publishes role-playing, board, card, and dice games. As of 2014, it is a subsidiary of Asmodée Éditions. History Fantasy Flight Publi ...

partnered with another

video game developer A video game developer is a broad term for a software developer specializing in video game development – the process and related disciplines of creating video games. A game developer can range from one person who undertakes all tasks to a larg ...

to produce a video game version. Nomad Games produced a single-player version of ''Talisman'' based on the Fourth Edition rules. It is titled ''Talisman: Prologue''. It was released 15 November 2012 for Microsoft Windows. On 1 May 2013 Thumbstar Games Ltd released ''Talisman: Prologue'' for

Android Android may refer to: Science and technology * Android (robot), a humanoid robot or synthetic organism designed to imitate a human * Android (operating system), Google's mobile operating system ** Bugdroid, a Google mascot sometimes referred to ...

2.2, this version also still lack multiplayer or other players directed by computer. On 3 September 2014 new version was released that supports AI controlled characters and local multiplayer as well. A full

multiplayer A multiplayer video game is a video game in which more than one person can play in the same game environment at the same time, either locally on the same computing system ( couch co-op), on different computing systems via a local area network, or ...

version of the game, ''Talisman Digital Edition'', was released in October 2013. According to the

review aggregate A review aggregator is a system that collects reviews of products and services (such as films, books, video games, software, hardware, and cars). This system stores the reviews and uses them for purposes such as supporting a website where users ...

website

Metacritic Metacritic is a website that aggregates reviews of films, TV shows, music albums, video games and formerly, books. For each product, the scores from each review are averaged (a weighted average). Metacritic was created by Jason Dietz, Marc ...

, ''Prologue'' received "generally favorable reviews", while ''Digital Edition'' received "mixed or average reviews".

2019 version

Nomad Games released ''Talisman Origins'' on May 16, 2019 for the PC, Mac, iOS, and Android.

References

External links

Official website for ''Talisman: Digital Edition''

Official website for ''Talisman Origins''

Talisman Island
- A fan page

{{Games Workshop 1985 video games 2012 video games 2013 video games 2019 video games Android (operating system) games Cancelled PlayStation 3 games Cancelled Windows games Cancelled Xbox 360 games Capcom games Games Workshop games IOS games MacOS games Mobile games Nintendo Switch games PlayStation 4 games PlayStation Network games PlayStation Vita games Role-playing video games Talisman (board game) Video games based on Arabian mythology Video games based on board games Video games developed in the United Kingdom Windows games Xbox One games Xbox Series X and Series S games ZX Spectrum games ZX Spectrum-only games