Alternate Reality: The Dungeon

Alternate Reality: The Dungeon, the second installment in the Alternate Reality series, is a role-playing game released by Datasoft in 1988. Philip Price originally created it, but after he was unable to finish the project, Ken Jordan and Dan Pinal completed the game. Philip Price composed the music.

In terms of gameplay, The Dungeon picks up where its predecessor left off: the player remains an alien captive in an alternate reality, now venturing into a dungeon with survival as the primary goal. Unlike The City, which focused on exploration and building strength, The Dungeon follows a more linear path. Players can visit shops like inns and smithies, and may choose to join one of six guilds operating within the dungeon. A notable change is the introduction of item weight; carrying too much slows the player and drains endurance.

On the technology side, unauthorized copies of The Dungeon triggered an anti-piracy measure: two "FBI agents" appeared early in the game and attacked with "the long arm of the law." These agents were unbeatable and overpowered, killing the character before gameplay could proceed. A bug also caused these agents to appear when attempting to transfer a character from The City, making it impossible to complete such a transfer without mailing in the disks for a fixed version.

Reception in 1987 saw Computer Gaming World praise The Dungeon's design and mechanics as superior to The City. Reviewer Scorpia, however, called it "a big improvement over City, but it is still ultimately unsatisfying." While graphics had improved, especially on 8-bit systems, the game lacked a sense of accomplishment. Scorpia noted that starting from scratch was nearly impossible, and the game arbitrarily punished players—for example, with the unbeatable Devourer that ate items if the player carried too many, and stat reductions when playing from a backed-up save. In 1993, Scorpia reiterated that The Dungeon was "better than the first, but not by much." Both The City and The Dungeon were reviewed in Dragon #135, where The City earned 3 stars and The Dungeon received 3 stars.