Cutthroats

Overview

Cutthroats was the 13th game released by interactive fiction pioneers Infocom.

Development

The game designer/programmers (or as Infocom called it, "implementors", or "imps") for Cutthroats were Michael Berlyn and Jerry Wolper. Berlyn handled the game design and text writing, while Wolper handled the more technical programming duties. It is the third game in the "Tales of Adventure" series.

Story/Gameplay

You live on a small seaport Island called Hardscrabble -- hardly the hip place to be. Working as a professional scuba diver, you have the chance to salvage a sunken treasure from one of four shipwrecks, earn the respect of all the old farts and become wealthy beyond all imagination.

The player plays as a scuba diver whose uneventful night is interrupted by an old shipmate, Hevlin. Hevlin gives the player a map to two legendary shipwrecks, and then is murdered immediately upon leaving the player's home. The player pursues one of the shipwrecks and the treasure within... knowing that the mysterious murderer(s) is no doubt on the same expedition.

In an unusual element for Infocom, it is randomly determined for each playthrough which of the two shipwrecks the player will attempt to recover. Gameplay is similar, but not identical, depending on which shipwreck is pursued. The São Vera is a Portuguese ship from the Age of Exploration. The S.S. Leviathan is an American ship that combines elements of the real-life R.M.S. Lusitania (sunk by a German U-boat) and R.M.S. Titanic (name, size, etc.)

(Note that the game's packaging refers to four shipwrecks. It's likely that a more ambitious original plan was determined to be unworkable. Infocom normally shied away from branching storylines, due to the very strict memory limitations of computers at the time. Moonmist would later be a rare exception.)

Despite Infocom's traditional inclusion of "feelies" which provide backstory, it's still unclear where exactly Hardscrabble Island is supposed to be located.

"Feelies"

As had become traditional for Infocom, Cutthroats's packaging contained collectibles (or, as they were referred to, "feelies") to help set the mood of the game. Cutthroats's "feelies" were:

• A "letter" that sets up the story and the other "feelies", similar to that in Berlyn's previous game, Infidel.
• "True Tales of Adventure", a 9-page-long "magazine" targeted towards underwater explorers like yourself. This magazine was also first introduced in the "feelies" for Infidel. These are the only explicit connections between games in the "Tales of Adventure" series.
• "Four Shipwrecks of Hardscrabble Island", an 11-page-long booklet that describes the São Vera, the S.S. Leviathan, and the two other shipwrecks that are not available options in the game (the H.M.S. Intransigent and the Fianna).
• A brochure from "Outfitters International" that also includes a price list and a tide chart. This serves a copy protection purpose.