Conquests of Camelot: The Search for the Grail

Conquests of Camelot: The Search for the Grail was a 1989 Adventure Game produced by Christy Marx and Peter Ledger and distributed by Sierra Online. It produced one sequel, Conquests of the Longbow: The Legend of Robin Hood.

You play Arthur, King of Camelot, on a quest to find both the Holy Grail and three of his knights, who have gone missing: Sir Galahad, Sir Gawain, and Sir Lancelot. The gameplay is atypical of '80s Sierra, with many arcade elements aside from their regular puzzles.

The game can be bought from GOG.com.

Tropes used in Conquests of Camelot: The Search for the Grail include:

• Adaptation Expansion: Or, compilation with liberties, as the creator admits.
• All Myths Are True: So you'd better offer sacrifice to Jesus and Mithras, then get looking for that "cup of Christ"/"vessel of the goddess", so you can fight the Muslim Saracen guardian in the Temple of Aphrodite.
• All There in the Manual: The Liber Ex Doctrina.
• Armor Is Useless: Played straight until the very end of the game, where the thief stabs you in the back if you let him live, but your armor protects you. Notably though, the many violent deaths you can potentially suffer all avoid hitting you directly in your armor.
• Berserk Button: A few of them, for the Mad Monk.
• Bittersweet Ending: If you play successfully, you manage to heal Camelot, but the last graphic is King Arthur sadly watching Lancelot and Guinevere talking in her rose garden as Merlin says: "but your heart may never be healed."
• Black Knight: As himself.
• Portcullis Of Divine Retribution: Do NOT piss off Mithras or that Christ-God fellow.
• But Thou Must!: Do you HAVE to sail to Gaza? Nah. Go anywhere in the world you like. Just don't expect to make it there.
• Copy Protection: The Liber Ex Doctrina. Without it or a substitute, you won't get past the ice pond.
• Crossing the Desert: To get to Jerusalem.
• Deadpan Snarker: Occasionally Merlin. Fall to your death in a dry riverbed? Wadi shame.
• Defrosting Ice Queen: The Lady of the Lake. Arthur manages to get her help by giving her crystal heart back to her. It's also suggested that her moods rely on the weather, and when the icy lake melts in the spring, she's much more benevolent.
• Driven to Suicide: The last way you can die in the game.
• Fetch Quest: Welcome to Jerusalem.
• Flower Motifs: An entire challenge is based on the Language of the Flowers. Gwynhyver's rose is also an important reoccuring symbol.
• Forbidden Zone: The Forest Perilous.
• Genre Shift: The many arcade scenes were rather unusual for a Sierra game.
• Good Adultery, Bad Adultery: On the one hand, Lancelot and Guinevere's love affair places a curse of pestilence over the Kingdom of Camelot. On the other hand, one of the tasks that Arthur must complete is to help a man cover his tracks so that his wife doesn't find out that he's been cheating with a prostitute.
• Guide Dang It: The riddle stones. So an iceberg is lighter than what it's made of, huh? I guess maybe.
• Have a Nice Death: Sierra game, remember?
• Hollywood Mirage: Whilst in the desert, Arthur sees puddles of water that disappear as he gets near. More seriously, he is also haunted by images of Lancelot and Gwenhyver embracing each other.
• Human Popsicle: The Lady of the Lake keeps Lancelot frozen in a large ice-cube.
• Karmic Death: After a thief steals the Holy Grail right when you find it, you're prompted to chase him down. When you catch up to him, he begs for his life. Spare him, and he'll stab you in the back when you walk away. Your chain mail will save you from his audacious attempt on your life and the Holy Grail zaps the poor sap into a pile of bones.
• King Arthur: Duh.
• Lost Forever: Don't leave Camelot until you have everything. The jerks at the portcullis will NOT let you back in.
• Just Desserts: The false guide. Also the thief, eventually.
• Non Sequitur: You kill the mad monk. Naturally, he shouts, "In Vino Veritas!".
• Rule of Cool: You won't find this exact account of King Arthur finding the holy grail. So what?
• Sex Equals Death: Fatima offers herself to Arthur, but will strangle him with her veil if he succumbs.
• Solve the Soup Cans: Standard Sierra trope.
• Unwinnable by Design: You don't HAVE to save Gawain, Lancelot or Galahad. Only if you don't want to, you know, vaporize at the end of the game.
  • Just try leaving Camelot without the rose. Or gold, silver and copper coins.
• Unwinnable By Mistake: In order to cross the frozen lake without falling in, you have to use the rose. There is exactly one rose in the game, and if you don't have a plot important item, you'll be sent back across the lake to get, so that you can return later. But there's absolutely no indication of the safe path across the lake the second time because you don't have a rose...
• The Vamp: Subverted with Fatima. She tries to seduce Arthur, but it's a Secret Test of Character. When he refuses her, she helps him with the next step on his journey. And if he doesn't refuse her, she strangles him with her veil.
• What the Hell, Hero?: Courtesy of Merlin. Usually related to your death.
• Worthy Opponent: The Black Knight and the Saracen.