Planetfall
Floyd's sacrifice
Steve Meretzky's Planetfall combined Infocom wit with genuine emotional impact, featuring a robot companion whose fate became gaming legend.
Planetfall was Steve Meretzky’s first Infocom game and demonstrated that text adventures could provoke real emotion. Players crash-land on an abandoned planet and meet Floyd, a childlike robot companion who wants to play. What follows combines puzzle-solving with something rarer: an emotional connection to a character described only in text. Floyd’s fate became one of gaming’s earliest tear-jerking moments.
Fast facts
- Developer: Infocom.
- Author: Steve Meretzky.
- Genre: interactive fiction / text adventure.
- Parser: Infocom Z-machine.
- Companion: Floyd the robot.
- Sequel: Stationfall (1987).
Floyd
Gaming’s first beloved robot:
- Personality: childlike enthusiasm, loves games.
- Utility: can reach places player cannot.
- Emotional core: players grew attached through text alone.
- The scene: Floyd’s heroic moment remains famous.
Infocom craft
What made it special:
- Wit: Meretzky’s comedic writing.
- World-building: mysterious abandoned complex.
- Puzzle design: logical challenges.
- Feelies: included fake ID card and other physical items.