Drak

From the farthest regions, a group of people: men, women, children, and elders had a vision.

Upon the highest rocky peaks, the secret of knowledge awaited patiently.

Their quest for knowledge had brought them thus far and they knew, from the ancient writings, that the scarce accomplished of the Drak were always grandly rewarded by the gods.

On a rocky platform a warrior stands tall. With the help of his numerous resources, product of his many quests: a healthy and muscular body, he begins his ascension to the top.

On the last effort, he pulled himself up and faced the wrath of the wind. Snow carried by the winds sticks to his face and mixes with his perspiration as it melts. He wipped his brow with a shaking hand caused by the climb. Without any concern for the perspiration burning his eyes, he gazes at the horizon.

At that moment his sight is set on the final challenge. The acquisition of knowledge. He must now rely on his wits because henceforth the conquest of the Drak has begun!

Drak was the first Canadian game I ever played (and it remained the only one for three years, till I played Slime Forest; meanwhile, quite a few have joined it), and it is one of the most ambitious Tetris clones there are.

Drak was created in 1995 by Enypsox, later Nostalgy. The company does not exist any more. It added some sort of story in the form of a weirdly interpunctated legend you are confronted with at the beginning of the game, whether you want it or not (the text at the top of this page), pretty impressive VGA graphics, and lots of different blocks with sometimes rather weird behaviour.

Drak requires but a 286 to run, rather moderate for 1995. A sound card might be nice, on the other hand, I'm not sure you really want to listen to that music. There were some more versions, the latest being 2.00 from 1997. You can download three of them at the link below. The shareware version has ten levels, the full version a hundred, but with the company gone you probabely can't upgrade any more.

Drak supports a joystick, though playing Tetris with a joystick is a rather strange experience. As strange as the message on startup: Joystick finded!