恶魔岛：灵魂的诅咒 Evil Islands: Curse of the Lost Soul p.292

我们从《愤怒的魔法师（Rage of Mages）》那儿学会了一件重要的事：当我们尝试将游戏里的角色扮演和策略元素五五开时，许多人都觉得它不上不下的，两者都达不到理想的效果。因此，我们决定应该两者取其一，比如角色扮演，然后再取一些其他游戏类型的内容作为增强项，这样就可以打造出新颖和更身临其境的游戏体验。

Rage of Mages taught us one important thing: that we tried to pack it equally with both roleplaying and strategy elements but found out that many people thought of the game as ‘a man between two chairs, which didn't have enough of either in it. As a result, we learned that we should stress one element, e.g. roleplaying, and enhance it with several elements of other genres, which would make its gameplay innovative and more immersive.

Dmitry Zakharov,
《恶魔岛》主设计师

Dmitry Zakharov,
Evil Islands' lead designer

《恶魔岛》的地图被划分为几大块相互连接着的区域。每当你离开它们的范围，地图就会被重置，但一些行为造成的后果是永久的，比如杀死某个重要的 NPC 后他就不会再出现了。需要注意的是你只有在位于各个区域之间时才能更换装备、替换小队成员、打造道具或者升级，所以每一次出发前你都要做好准备，再在一段时间后返回以收获报酬。

随着游戏进行，你将会抵达三座不同的岛屿以探寻你的真实身份，包括荒芜的吉帕斯（Gipath），雪原英格斯（Ingos）和黄沙漫天的萨斯兰格（Suslanger）。每个岛屿都提供了数个可能会加入玩家队伍的伙伴，但玩家每次只能选择其中两名。值得注意的是他们不会跟着你在岛屿之间移动，并且一旦死亡就无法再次复活。

虽然可供玩家角色扮演的内容有限，但游戏里的任务多种多样且代入感强，举几个例子，玩家可以盗走蜥蜴人（Lizardmen）的圣物，或者杀死独眼巨人（Cyclops）的猪来将它们赶走，甚至是诱惑一条巨龙来消灭鹰身女妖（harpies）的巢穴，还可以为了威胁一名商人去偷走某个工头的账簿。这样的内容还有许多。

Evil Islands' world is divided into several large and interconnected areas. They reset every time you leave them, but some actions – such as killing a key NPC – are permanent. The trick is that you can only change equipment and party members, craft or level up between areas, so you'll have to prepare yourself before heading out, then later head back to reap the rewards.

Over the course of the game, you will visit three distinct islands in search of your identity – primitive Gipath, snowy Ingos and desert-covered Suslanger. Each island also offers several companions that might join you, up to two at a time. Just beware that they won't follow you between islands and can die permanently.

While role-playing options are very limited, the quests are varied and involve, for example, stealing a Lizardmen holy relic, killing off a Cyclops's pigs so he will leave the area, charming a dragon to clear out a nest of harpies for you, stealing a foreman's ledger so you can blackmail a trader, and many more.

游戏离奇有趣的写作支撑起了这些丰富的内容——游戏中角色说话的风格极其戏剧化，表现起来就好似他们来自八十年代。配音大体上是优秀且恰当的，很遗憾，除了过度热情且怪异的主人公之外，大概用不了多久就会让你感到烦躁。

游戏的画面十分干净且出众，包括了动态的天气系统和日夜循环，玩家还可以在角色模型上看到留下的伤口，或者通过敌人留下的痕迹来判断它们离去的方向。总的来说，这些内容即使放在今天也毫不过时。

客观地说，在《恶魔岛》发售时，市面上并不乏比其优秀的角色扮演游戏。虽然本作没有什么划时代的设计，但它仍然提供了一个广阔有趣的世界供玩家探索、诸多小时的游玩内容、富有挑战性的战斗系统，和最重要的——一场不以讽刺为卖点也可以很诙谐的生动冒险。

This is helped in no small part by the quaint writing – characters all speak in an over-dramatised manner, and behave as if they are in a 1980s cartoon. The voice acting is generally quite good and fitting, with the unfortunate exception of the main character, whose overenthusiastic and strange delivery will probably soon start to grate on your nerves.

The graphics are clear and distinguishedlooking, feature a dynamic weather system, day-and-night cycle, wounds that are visible on the character's model and tracks left behind by enemies so you can see which direction they are heading. Overall, it still holds up today.

Even when released, there were objectively better RPGs than Evil Islands. While there is nothing revolutionary, it offers a vast, enjoyable world to explore, many hours of gameplay, a challenging combat system, and, most importantly, a fun-loving adventure when games could still be whimsical without being ironic.