Sword of Sodan

Amiga screenshot

There are two playable characters: Brodan or his twin sister Shardan, whose gameplay characteristics are identical despite their physical differences. The character walks in a horizontally scrolled world from left to right, defeating enemies with their sword, wielded either standing or kneeling. Though the player is also equipped with a shield, it is merely for decoration. It was completely removed from the Sega Genesis version.

Before each level starts, a map appears, showing the player's progress through the land on their way to castle Craggamoor. Scrolls give additional information about the current location. Once the player enters the castle, the map is replaced by a gloomy picture of an outside view of the castle. Most of the levels consist of simply fighting enemies with the sword, but sometimes the player must avoid traps or solve puzzles.

The player starts with five lives, an energy meter and a hit strength level. A player's energy is reduced every time they are hit by enemies, but their hit strength can be increased by using potions. There are different types of potions. Some increase hit strength, some give an extra life, some provide short-term invincibility, while still others kill the current opponent immediately.

There are eleven different areas, five in the area surrounding the castle, and six within. The player starts at their own city gate, and progresses through the countryside towards the castle, passing through city streets, a forest and a graveyard. Once within the castle, the player wanders through catacomb-like levels, which lead to the wizard's tower at the end. The world is inhabited by 13 different enemies and a single supporting character, the ostrich-like creature called "the animal".

While the gameplay mechanic is very similar to the Amiga version, there are several differences. First, enemies attack from both directions, instead of the single direction in the Amiga game. Second, the player relies more regularly on potions, which are also dropped more frequently and can combined to achieve different effects. Third, the areas have been reduced from eleven to eight, with some completely deleted (e.g. the forest), while others combined. Finally, there are only eight enemies, as opposed to the thirteen in the Amiga game, however, the enemies are spawned more frequently, and in different areas.

A partially completed port for the Apple IIGS was advertised and shown at the CES Expo in 1989 by Visual Concepts, Ltd (then known as "Visionware"). [2] Playable with a joystick, it was approximately 70% complete. Soon after, a three level self-playing demo was released and displayed in stores, virtually indistinguishable from the Amiga version in terms of graphics and animation fluidity.[3] Originally set to be released in mid-1989, it was pushed back several months when its programmer, Scott Patterson, was fired for misconduct and a replacement had to be found. Programmer Jimmy Huey was eventually hired, however Discovery Software went bankrupt soon after in 1990. Despite these developments, appearing in magazines ads, on display in stores and the game being included on vendor's price lists, the port remained in limbo and never released. Nearly 30 years later, on May 26, 2018, the unreleased Apple IIGS port was unearthed and made public, revealing an entirely playable and very polished version of the game.[4] It was revealed all levels are present, however four (primarily castle areas) are missing enemy sprites or obstacles–in addition to the final boss stage. The Apple IIGS source code required to complete programming of the game has still yet to be found.

Ports for the IBM PC, Atari ST and the Commodore 64 systems were planned but never developed.[5]

A sequel was developed but never released, however a single screenshot was shown in a magazine.[6]