The Eternal Dagger

Reception

SSI sold 18,471 copies of The Eternal Dagger in North America. In 1987, Computer Gaming World's Scorpia noted its gameplay closely resembled its predecessor, with only a few altered spells and battle options. She appreciated that a single character represented the entire party, but found dungeon combat frustrating due to the extra step of positioning party members for attacks. Scorpia believed the game lacked the balance of the earlier title, as magic became far more effective overall. Combat felt tougher, with a large gap between the quick combat option and tactical combat, and monsters took much longer to defeat. She also criticized the new fatigue system, which reduced weapon skill when party members went without rest, slowing travel and pacing. Scorpia concluded the game was not as good as its predecessor and advised patience. In 1993, she repeated that The Eternal Dagger was inferior to the earlier game, calling it "only for the patient" despite an interesting plot idea. Steve Panak, writing for ANALOG Computing, faulted the game's overly complex setup and difficult command structure, yet said the time needed to finish both it and its predecessor was "50 hours well spent indeed." In 1988, Dragon #129's "The Role of Computers" column by Hartley, Patricia, and Kirk Lesser gave the game a rating of 11/2 out of 5 stars.