La Abadía del Crimen

La abadía del crimen
Amstrad CPC 6128 title screen
Developer(s)	Opera Soft
Publisher(s)	Opera Soft
Designer(s)	Paco Menéndez, Juan Delcán
Platform(s)	Amstrad CPC, MSX, PC, ZX Spectrum
Release	1987
Genre(s)	Adventure game
Mode(s)	Single player

La abadía del crimen (The Abbey of Crime) is a computer video game programmed in 1987 by Paco Menéndez with graphics made by Juan Delcán. The game was originally conceived as a version of Umberto Eco's book The Name of the Rose. However, Paco Menéndez and Opera Soft received no reply from Eco in order to secure the rights for the name, so the game was released as La abadía del crimen. "The Abbey of Crime" was the original working title of the novel The Name of the Rose, but it was finally rejected by Umberto Eco.

This game is a videoadventure with 3D isometric graphics, where a Franciscan friar, William of Occam (William of Baskerville in the book) and his young novice Adso have to discover the perpetrator of a series of murders in a medieval Italian abbey.

The player controls the movement of the friar (Fray) William (mistakenly described as a monk on the user's manual). The player has also the possibility to control the movement of the novice Adso within the same screen in which Fray William is. If the key for controlling the novice is not pressed he follows Fray William most of the time. The game features other characters representing the monks of the abbey who behave according to programmed artificial intelligence to move throughout the mapping of the abbey and show a series of dialogs shown by written text which is moved along the lower part of the screen.

An extensive mapping of the abbey is represented in a large series of screens with 3D isometric graphics. A series of objects has to be collected in order to successfully complete the game. The action occurs in seven days subdivided in different Canonical hours. The time (day + current hour) is indicated at the bottom left of the screen.

The game starts with the abbot welcoming Fray William and explaining that a monk has disappeared. He also explains to Fray William that he is obligated to obey the orders of the abbot and the rules of the monastery: attend religious services and meals and stay in his cell at night while the research of the crimes is pursued. During the game the novice Adso will remind players when they have to attend offices and meals, and players can just follow him if they forget the way to the church or the refectory.