The Amberstar box cover.

Amberstar was the first installment in Thalion Software's never-finished Amber Trilogy, a computer role-playing game franchise. Although considerably more advanced, the game had many similarities to Thalion's earlier game DragonFlight, and was by many fans thought to be a "sequal" to this game. Screenshot Chambers of Shaolin (Atari ST) Thalion Software was a computer game company during the time of the Atari ST formed by a group of demo coders of the time. ... Computer role-playing games (CRPGs), often shortened to simply role-playing games (RPGs), are a type of video or computer game that traditionally uses gameplay elements found in paper-and-pencil role-playing games. ... Meanings of franchise: Full rights of citizenship given by a country or a town, especially suffrage (political franchise) In a wider sense: any right or privilege granted by constitution or statute. ...

The game was set in the fictional world of Lyramion and begins with the player situated at the graves of his parents. As the player sets out for adventure, it becomes apparent that en evil entity named Lord Tarbos, who was imprisoned a thousand years earlier, is about to be released again to be free to wreak havoc upon Lyramion. The player - helped by the various adventurers who join the party along the way - must recover the thirteen missing pieces of the Amberstar, the talisman that banished Lord Tarbos initially, to defeat the demon once again.

The game featured (for that time) considerably advanced graphics and a very atmospheric musical score by Thalion's Jochen Hippel. This, together with features such as a huge game world, a well-devised storyline and advanced automap features, provided for a very solid game. However, as with most of Thalion's other releases, the public interest was somewhat limited, ultimately leading to Thalion's demise (and the interruption of the Amber Trilogy). Jochen Hippel is a musician from Kirchheimbolanden in southwest Germany. ...

Amberstar was succeeded by the sequal Ambermoon, which unfortunately became the last game in the series. Furthermore, only the German language version of Ambermoon was ever officially released. The English version is available on an unofficial basis on the internet, however, it suffers from several serious bugs.

Amberstar at the Thalion Webshrine