I’ll fully admit that Gary Gygax is at least as much to blame. Dungeons and Dragons further cemented elves and dwarves as humanlike PC races. Perhaps the title of this story should name both deceased authors. I’ll fully admit that both of their works have affected my life greatly and I have a good deal of respect for each.

But nowadays, when talking about fantasy settings – not only video games – just about every one has elves and dwarves, and many have orcs. Not only the games based on Dungeons and Dragons (Pool of Radiance, Baldur’s Gate, Neverwinter Nights, Temple of Elemental Evil) but also many other fantasy RPGs: the Warcraft franchise, the Elder Scrolls series, the early Ultima games, and Dragon Age: Origins.

Why? Why do so many creators of fantasy worlds fall back on the generic Tolkien standard? We need more videogame fantasy settings like that of George R.R. Martin’s Song of Ice and Fire, where the only non-human race is The Others, a mysterious and perhaps undead race. Like the late Robert Jordan’s Wheel of Time series, where the only non-humans are magical creations and abberations like Gholams and Trollocs.

Non-human races certainly aren’t an essential component of a good FRPG, as shown by games like Final Fantasy and Torchlight. And if you’re going to include non-human races, why not make them original ones rather than elves and dwarves? They’re a tired cliche.

This game is part of the Retro Remakes project. I remember playing The Hobbit on my Commodore 64. I never really got any further than the goblins’ cells, but that’s largely because I had no walkthroughs back then, and I suck at adventure games. If you like adventure games, or retro games, give it a shot.

Download The Hobbit