Below The Root

Below The Root is a video game in the adventure genre developed by Dale Disharoon, Inc. and published by Windham Classics originally released in 1984. It is currently playable on DOS, Apple II, Commodore 64.

Below The Root is based on Zilpha Keatley Snyder's fantasy book series 'The Green-Sky Trilogy'. Following the events of those books, the Kindar and Erdling societies have been united. However, unease and mistrust still linger. An old woman, D'ol Falla, has heard the words 'The Spirit fades, in the Darkness lies'. A quest proclaims, 'The Light is dying. ' Choosing one of five available people (of varying ages and Kindar or Erdling ancestry) who she believes can help, D'ol Falla assigns the quest to discover what these words mean and how to quell the racial and political tensions that are building between the races.

Below The Root is a platform adventure game. Choosing one of five characters (each very different from the other), the player explores the wooded lands of Erdling and the subway lands of the Kindar. As an adventure game, objectives are mainly achieved by talking to people (although each character is treated differently by the others) and finding the right items to use in specific situations, but there are also the challenges of level design in a platformer.

Each character can obtain different objects to help them move, as well as psychic abilities such as pensing (telepathy), kiniporting (telekinesis) and grunspreking (plant manipulation). Violence is abhorred among the Kindar and Erdling and violent actions tend to damage the player's reputation. The Kindar or Erdling factions can kidnap the player character if he wanders into the wrong areas, throwing him into a local 'prison house' from which he must escape. The player must constantly eat to conserve their energy, however Erdling characters do not eat meat.

It is possible that we have multiple downloads available when different versions exist.