Treasure Quest

Treasure Quest is a single-player puzzle-adventure game released in 1998 by Digital Dreamware. The game is set in a fictional archipelago known as the Sunken Isles, where a legendary hoard of gold and artifacts was lost during a volcanic eruption. The player assumes the role of an unnamed cartographer and explorer who inherits a cryptic map from a deceased relative. The objective is to navigate through a series of interconnected islands, each containing a distinct environmental theme such as a jungle, a desert, a frozen tundra, and an underwater cavern. The game employs a top-down perspective with pre-rendered 2D graphics. The narrative is delivered through text-based journal entries and occasional non-player character dialogues. The game world is non-linear, allowing the player to choose the order in which islands are explored. The primary goal is to locate and assemble four ancient keys, each hidden within a different island, to unlock the central treasure vault. The game features a day-night cycle that affects visibility and the behavior of certain environmental hazards.

Gameplay is controlled via a keyboard and mouse interface. The player character moves in four cardinal directions using the arrow keys or the W, A, S, D keys. The mouse is used to interact with objects and the environment. Left-clicking on an item in the inventory screen selects it; right-clicking examines it. The inventory is accessed by pressing the I key and holds a maximum of twelve items. The player can combine two items by dragging one onto another in the inventory window. The game uses a point-and-click system for puzzle solving. The player must click on interactive hotspots, which are indicated by a cursor change from an arrow to a hand icon. The game includes a map screen, toggled with the M key, which shows the explored portions of the current island and marks the location of discovered landmarks. A health bar is displayed at the top of the screen; it decreases when the player touches environmental hazards such as quicksand, lava, or deep water. Health is restored by consuming food items found in the environment. The game has no combat system; all challenges are environmental puzzles and logic-based riddles. The player can save progress at any time by pressing the Escape key and selecting the save option. The game ends when the player successfully places all four keys into the central vault door, triggering a final cutscene.