For this month's "Maps Of The Month" featurette, I wish to draw your attention to Guillaume Saint-Amant's Solstice (NES) maps.
Morbius the Malevolent kidnaps Princess Eleanor of Arcadia, intending to use her in a ritual sacrifice to become the Evil Baron of Darkness. Shadax the Wizard witnesses the kidnapping and makes his way into Kâstleröck, which is not only Morbius's stronghold, but also where six pieces of the Staff Of Demnos are hidden. The Staff Of Demnos has the power to defeat Morbius, but its invisible pieces are only magically visible on Winter Solstice once a century, which is the very day that you are infiltrating Kâstleröck. Will you, as Shadax, be able to save the princess, and the world?
Solstice (or, as on the box, Solstice: The Quest For The Staff Of Demnos) is a puzzle-oriented platformer. Its isometric view makes it stand out visually and also challenges the player to be aware of their surroundings in this pseudo-3D environment. Kâstleröck consists of 253 dangerous rooms in nine different areas, so it may be easy to get disoriented, and the perspective might make it challenging to map. Thankfully Guillame Saint-Amant has figured out how to do it, with a thoroughly-labelled map that shows how all the colourful rooms are connected, even vertically. Not only are the items indicated, but also the routes of enemies and the movement paths of traps and obstacles. Without a doubt, this map of Kâstleröck is one of the most impressive and detailed NES maps that VGMaps.com is proud to host.
So to recognize the effort in conquering Kâstleröck, Guillaume Saint-Amant's Solstice (NES) maps will be known as VGMaps.com's Maps Of The Month for December 2014.
