The Immortal, presented by Will Harvey, stands as one of the most ambitious isometric adventures on the NES. Originally designed for the Apple IIGS, this port manages to capture the dark, oppressive atmosphere of a labyrinthine dungeon with surprising fidelity. As an unnamed sorcerer seeking his mentor Mordamir, players are thrust into a world of treacherous traps and hidden dangers. The visuals are remarkably detailed for the hardware, utilizing a tilted perspective that gives the dungeon a sense of depth rarely seen in 8-bit titles of the era.
Gameplay is a brutal mix of environmental puzzle-solving and real-time combat encounters. The title is notorious for its unforgiving difficulty, where a single misstep or a failure to read a cryptic clue results in a gruesome cinematic death. Combat transitions to a close-up perspective where players must time dodges and slashes against goblins and trolls. It is a game of memory and precision; you will die often, but each failure provides the necessary knowledge to progress one room further into the darkness.
What truly sets this title apart is its mature tone and the haunting soundtrack composed by Rob Hubbard. Despite the NES's strict censorship policies at the time, The Immortal retains a level of visceral violence—including exploding heads and melting flesh—that was shocking for the platform. While the controls can feel stiff and the trial-and-error nature may frustrate modern audiences, it remains a technical marvel that pushed the console to its limits. It is a cult classic that rewards patience with some of the most memorable imagery in the NES library.
