Episode 20 - The Mask of the Sun and Valkyrie 17

Dave and Jason confront a double dose of terrifying terrors! First up is the RamJam Corporation's Valkyrie 17, a Cold War thriller set in a pseudonymous Eastern Bloc nation, boasting excellent off-screen production values but some quirky on-screen choices. The title was originally published for ZX Spectrum and Commodore 64, with a Windows update released more recently.

Then we travel to South America for the so-close-to-the-original, you-can-feel-the-stubble Indiana Jones-adjacent The Mask of the Sun originally published by Ultrasoft. You are rugged professor of archaeology Mac Steele, struggling under the debilitating effects of an ancient curse! Only by enduring many (many, many) Jeep and cave-navigating sequences can he be free of the exotic pills which keep him just barely clinging to life! The Mask of the Sun was published for Apple II, Atari 8-bit, and Commodore 64, with a German translation to boot!

(And one of these days Jason will stop saying something has an "X-word" parser when he means an "X-letter" parser... but not today!)

Valkyrie 17 box, documentation, and audio

Valkyrie 17, C64 playable online

Valkyrie 17, Windows update

Valkyrie 17 on Mobygames

The Mask of the Sun documentation (Broderbund)

The Mask of the Sun on Mobygames