“A hardcore RPG player’s dream.”
[AMIGA ACTION]
“Well, simply put, the intro to Perihelion is the best game intro I’ve ever seen, save Microcosm.” [AMIGA GAMES DATABASE]
“I have never played a game with more atmosphere to suit the theme.”
[AMIGA REPORT]
“This is the best-presented submission we have ever received.”
[PSYGNOSIS about the prototype of Perihelion.]
>Perihelion – a world where advanced science and malevolent Gods exist side by side; where genetic engineering and occultism evolved together; where mutation is a way of life. Oh well. The game was created by only 3 people under pretty challenging conditions (don’t even ask). Taking this project to completion while going to school still remains to be the most difficult but most rewarding thing I have ever done.
As far as my role in the project goes: I did all the artwork, I was responsible for the concept, the rule-set and virtually the entire design of the game, provided the story narrative (in form of about 80 pages worth of in-game script and dialogue) and handled project-management duties. In retrospect I would do a LOT of things differently with Perihelion but nevertheless, in its day it had very high production values, some pioneering technical achievements and a highly sophisticated core rule-set and combat system which we never did quite manage to polish and push to its limits.
One signature element of the game was the shared, common 32-color two-tone palette which in retrospect was a pretty bold move but it was a key element in providing a unique look and a very consistent atmosphere.
The game eventually climbed to #9 on Amiga Action’s prestigious “50 best RPGs of all time” list.
DOWNLOAD – The full, playable version of Perihelion. It even includes a copy of the WinUAE Amiga-emulator, preconfigured to run the game (make sure to refer to the READMEFIRST.txt instructions).
DOWNLOAD – The soundtrack to the game separately, in old-school .MOD format.
Special thanks must go to Marek Tarnawski – apparently the biggest Perihelion-fan on the planet – for providing me with all these files.
Normally I’m not into distributing cracked versions of copyrighted software over the Internet, but since Perihelion has not been distributed commercially for at least 17 years – not to mention that its publisher doesn’t even exist anymore – I’m sure nobody really cares at this point. It probably even qualifies as “abandonware”…
It’s quite amazing and humbling that even after all this time there’s still a number of fan-sites and other material out there dealing with the game, like a link to this Lemon Amiga page which features numerous user reviews and even scans of magazine reviews, or this YouTube playlist of fan-made videos of the game:
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