The Dink Network

In July 2003 I received a new PC in the form of an Athlon XP 2400+ with 256MB of RAM to replace my ageing Pentium 200 MMX with 48MB of RAM. Of course, as one does upon getting what was then a space-age PC is to install Dink, which a few weeks later I did, along with the 1.07 patch and some of those dmods that everyone had been raving about. I dove in blindly, downloading a few from the first page of the alphabetically-sorted dmod list, along with Cycles of Evil which had recently received a minor patch and had a news post on the front page at the time. There were few replies to the thread which I deemed perfect as I was merely testing the waters and had approximately zero expectations. Upon installing and loading it up, however, my brain promptly exploded.

If there is one thing that Cycles of Evil does well, it is that it presents the average Dink player with a world that is so utterly removed from that of the base game of dragons, herb boots, and tree years old, that is instead subject to events taking place a very long time ago that are far from straightforward and that perhaps we, as players, may never truly fathom. The decision to remove the stats and most of the combat system plays a major part in this, for even if the town of Beral had a working blacksmith, whatever blade forged would no doubt snap like a twig in the face of the titular evil. In a sense, the player is subject to a Lovecraftian impotence in the face of something unfathomably greater, in which they must observe somewhat helplessly how a variety of archetypes react to it, or become subject to its changing nature coinciding with the seasons.

Were Cycles of Evil to be released today, it might be derided as a "walking simulator" in the same vein as Dear Esther or Edith Finch. However CoE predates them all by a magnitude of eons when one considers the size and scope of the gamedev world, while at the same time featuring design choices that did not become commonplace outside of point and click adventures until several years after the initial release. The lack of overlap with base game's story or characters means just about anyone can pick it up, and it would have been fascinating to see Cycles of Evil entered in a real indie dev contest at the time just to see how it fared.

Unfortunately, as a consequence of high production values and the linear nature of it all, its flaws very soon become apparent. Most unfortunate is the lack of decontestification compared to its rivals in the Alternate Hero Contest, such as Mayhem and Lyna's Story, as CoE's multitude of patches appear to be for mere bug-squashing or engine compatibility purposes rather than polishing its edges, and the lack of flavour text on various sprites around the map makes the town in particular feel like a Potemkin village during certain seasons. The ending is similarly unpleasant, and more or less tells you "it's over" before throwing you back to the title screen, not unlike someone playing you a wonderful tune on a piano and then ending it by thumping their fist on the lower octaves and slamming the lid down.

After I got to the end, the themes and topics within CoE stuck with me for quite a while after. What is the origin of evil in the physical world? Is it cosmic, or is it merely a consequence of the whims and desires of mankind and its precursors? What is the significance of the house? Is it an aspiration towards anarcho-primitivism? An allusion to the Kaaba? An allegory for the Dharmic concept of greed? Who was Old Jones, really? Eventually I returned to the forum thread from which I had initially downloaded the zip expecting a drawn-out discussion of such things conducted by people far more knowledgeable and insightful than I. That was not the case, however. Instead, I was treated to a series of complaints regarding the exorbitant price of Bryce3D. I was bitterly disappointed and shocked to the point where I wondered if everyone else had actually downloaded what I had.