SwordQuest: FireWorld

Swordquest is an unfinished series of video games produced by Atari, Inc. in the 1980s as part of a contest, consisting of three finished games and a planned but never released fourth game. Each of the games came with a comic book that explained the plot, as well as containing part of the solution to a major puzzle that had to be solved to win the contest, with a series of prizes on offer that were worth together to the value of $150,000. The series had its genesis as a possible sequel to Atari's groundbreaking 1979 title Adventure, but it quickly developed a mythology and system of play that was unique. The comic books were produced by DC Comics, written by Roy Thomas and Gerry Conway, and drawn and inked by George Pérez and Dick Giordano. A special fan club offer was provided, allowing those who wanted the game, to also get a T-shirt and poster for each game.

The games of the Swordquest series (along with Atari 2600 Raiders of the Lost Ark) were some of the earliest attempts to combine the narrative and logic elements of the adventure game genre with the twitch gameplay of the action genre, making them some of the very first 'action-adventure' games. However, the series was unable to hold the last two contests along with the grand finale contest, as well as release the final game in the series, due to Atari's financial problems leading up to and being a part of the Video Game Crash of 1983.

Atari planned four interrelated Swordquest games, one each based on earth, fire, water, and air. The company intended that playing all four games would be necessary to win the final prize. Each had essentially the same gameplay: Logic puzzle adventure style gaming interspersed with arcade style action gaming. The character wanders through each screen, picking up and dropping items, playing simplified variants of current 'twitch' games of the time between screens. If the correct items are placed in a room, a clue shows up, pointing the player to a page and panel in the comic book included with the game. There, the player would find a word that was hidden in that panel. If the player found all five, or in the case of Waterworld, four, correct clues, amongst all the hidden words (hinted by a hidden clue in the comic), they could send the sentence to Atari and have a chance to compete in the finals and win a prize. During the playoff, which ran on special versions of the games, the person who managed to find the most clues within 90 minutes would be considered the winner. The winners of the four game contests would go on to a final competition where they would compete for a sword valued at $50,000. However, only two of the competitions actually took place before Atari cancelled the contest in 1983.

Fireworld's room structure was based on the tree of life. After defeating many beasts of the Zodiac and another thief (Herminus) in Earthworld, the twins are transported to the 'central chamber' where the 'Sword of Ultimate Sorcery' and the 'Talisman of Penultimate Truth' are kept. Upon reaching them, the sword burns a hole through its altar all the way to Fireworld.

In Fireworld, the twins split up to look for water, and Torr, with the aid of the talisman, summons Mentorr who shows Torr the 'Chalice of Light,' which will quench his thirst. The twins reunite eventually and find the chalice. However, Torr drops it after he is startled, and it is revealed that the one they found was not the true chalice. Herminus then gives them the chalice, and it grows until it becomes large enough to swallow the twins and transports them to Waterworld.

As there were more than the 50 planned participants, a much larger turn out than the previous contest, they held a second preliminary round where the contestants were told to write what they liked about the game. From there, Atari chose fifty of the entries to continue on.

As noted above, the Chalice of Light was won by Michael Rideout. The chalice itself was made of gold and platinum and was adorned with citrines, diamonds, green jade, pearls, rubies, and sapphires. Like the Talisman of Penultimate Truth, the Chalice of Light had a value of $25,000. In a 2005 interview Rideout said he still was in possession of the chalice.