近日点：

Perihelion:

预言

The Prophecy

这款晦涩的科幻 RPG 只在欧洲发售，并且独占于快要过气的 Amiga 平台。它使用了比较大胆的双色画面、阴森的配乐以及怪异的设定。

《近日点（Perihelion）》受到《沙丘（Dune）》的启发而非《指环王》（Lord of the Rings，为什么很少有游戏这么做？），其设定在一个被古代战争摧毁的星球，上面居住着半机械人、有超能力的狂热分子以及改造过基因的变种人。他们都被帝国克隆人（Imperial clones）所统治着。

独具特色的开场动画介绍了一位强大的有超能力的神“魔婴（The Unborn）”试图闯入这个次元，给整个星球带来混沌。为了阻止它，帝王（Emperor）召唤了六位预言中的英雄，他们沉睡了几个世纪就为了这一时刻：这就是我们的主角团。

游戏就从创建这个主角团开始，有多个种族和职业可供选择，不过规则却很复杂又缺乏解释——你可以修改 DNA 将多个种族的基因混合在一起，但是游戏手册并不会告诉你每一个职业代表着什么。（大概）完成这些之后，你的使命就开始了。

《近日点》是一款带有战术回合制战斗系统的第一人称地下城探索游戏，类似金盒子游戏（Gold Box games）。最大的不同就是本作流程更短一些——大概 8-10 小时——并且更注重故事方面的体验。战斗偶尔会发生，而且没有随机遇敌，考虑到游戏节奏缓慢以及战斗场面之乏味，这其实是件好事。

不幸的是，游戏的大部分内容都如此缓慢与乏味。气氛营造得确实不错，故事也尽可能被打造得有趣，但你就是会花费大多数的时间在空旷的城市和地下城之间转悠，试图弄清楚下一步要做什么。

界面也有一些问题——尽管它们看起来令人印象深刻，但很难用还反直觉。像是调查一个物品或者和 NPC 对话这种简单的操作都搞得很复杂。

Released only in Europe and exclusive to the then-declining Amiga, this obscure sci-fi RPG oozes atmosphere with its audacious two-tone palette, ominous soundtrack and exotic setting.

Inspired by Dune rather than Lord of the Rings (why so few games do this?), Perihelion is set in a planet ravaged by ancient wars, inhabited by cyborgs, psionic cultists and genetically engineered mutants, all ruled by a long line of Imperial clones.

The stylised intro sequence tells of a powerful psionic god named “The Unborn” trying to breach into this reality, causing chaos all across the planet. To stop it, the Emperor summons six prophesied heroes kept in stasis for centuries just for this moment: your party.

You start the game by creating said party from several races and classes, in a complex but poorly explained ruleset – you can do things like customise the DNA composition of hybrid races, but the manual won't even tell you what each class stands for! That finished (somehow), you start your quest.

Perihelion is a first-person dungeon crawler with tactical turn-based combat, similar to the Gold Box games. A core difference is that it's much shorter about 8-10 hours long – and focus is more on its story. Combat occurs sparingly and there are no random encounters, which is welcome given how slow and underwhelming the game's battles are.

That, unfortunately, can also be said for most of the game itself. The atmosphere is great, and the story tries very hard to be interesting, but you'll spend most of your time roaming across empty cities and dungeons, trying to figure what to do next.

There's also the issue of the interface – while it looks impressive, it's cumbersome and unintuitive. Simple actions such as examining an item or talking to NPCs are way harder than they ever needed to be.

《近日点》被它的设计者 Edvard Toth 标记成废弃软件（abandonware），不过他还放出了游戏+模拟器合集供所有人下载。

Perihelion was declared abandonware by its designer, Edvard Toth, who put together a game + emulator pack for anyone to download.

事实上，整个游戏都有一股很强的“形式大于实用”的感觉。有一些功能，比如使用计算机终端进行调查（你需要在命令行中实际敲出像是“read”或者“login”这样的命令）或者使用符文创造自己的咒语等等，设计理念都很棒，但都因为难以操作而变得极其繁琐。

很遗憾，这样独特的表现方式和设定摊上了这么一个游戏。总而言之，本作更适合观赏，而不是实际游玩。

In fact, the entire game has this strong “form over function” feeling. Features such as using computer terminals for investigative work (you need to actually type in commands like “read” or “login”) or crafting your own spells via runes are all great in concept, but become busy work due to their poor execution.

It's a shame that such unique presentation and setting are tied to such a weak RPG. In the end, it's better to just look at, rather than actually play Perihelion.