Leather Goddesses of Phobos (1986)

Leather Goddesses of Phobos (1986) developed and published by Infocom, written by Steve Meretzky for DOS, Amiga, Commodore 64, Apple II, and many more. A tongue-in-cheek text adventure game with a fine balance of crude humor; the opening warning should tell you everything you need to know about its tone. You begin in a grimy bar in Sandusky Ohio, and choose your gender by deciding which bathroom to enter to relieve yourself. All of a sudden, tentacled aliens beam in and abduct you; they are in the service of the titular Leather Goddesses of the Mars moon Phobos, and you are among the last specimens they need to experiment on before they can commence their invasion of the Earth, with the goal of renovating it into a pleasure dome. Despite what you may think, this is actually the unfavorable outcome. So, you awaken in a cell in a prison-lab hybrid, and must puzzle your way to victory, accompanied by a dim-witted companion who changes depending on your choice of sex. This game is not afraid to kill you, and you can lose in the first location if you wait around too long. It was initially conceived as a joke game around the Infocom offices started by Steve Meretzky, but people liked the idea so much that he was encouraged to develop it into a real project by Activision’s president, Jim Levy. Meretzky had previously developed A Mind Forever Wandering, another interactive fiction title that severely criticized Ronald Reagan’s politics; when that game failed to stir up any controversy, he figured the waters were safe enough to write a raunchy, pulp sci-fi space opera. It certainly has a lot of charm, and, surprisingly, never feels sexist or low-brow. Quite an enjoyable title, but be warned, this game released with several other physical items in-box that are needed to solve some puzzles, so a guide is necessary for some sections.