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/ Genres / Adventure / Borrowed Time

Borrowed Time

PC Booter - 1985
Also available on: Amiga - Apple II - Atari ST - Commodore 64

One of the earliest and still the best murder mysteries ever made, Borrowed Time is a gripping story set in 1939. You play Sam Barlow, Private Eye, who must save his life from a death threat while investigating a case that has many twists and turns. Good writing, interface, and on-screen tutorial feature round off this forgotten classic in which you can die in many creative ways.

The puzzles are not hard, but the fact that you'll be shot dead for no apparent reason whatsover (until you restore numerous times to find out) really bog down what is otherwise a good gumshoe game.

Review By HOTUD

Comments and reviews

Mika 22 Oct. 2023

The Museum of Computer Adventure Game History has a pdf of the manual as well as the hintbook at https://mocagh.org/

1
Steve Hoyland 16 Aug. 2021

I was always pretty good at text-based adventures - In fact I wrote a couple of my own In BASIC/Machine Code In the 1980's for AMSTRAD CPC 464/6128 and SPECTRUM 128/+2......but I've given up on this one after just half-an-hour of frustration! The keywords are rather unusual as well, with many of the more regular commands found In such games unavailable. Can anyone help this old guy get through the opener? I'd be very grateful, thanks!

2
TheSlimeGod 26 Jan. 2016

I had this on either c64 or Apple IIe way back when .. and it seemed like a really great game that I desperately wanted to get into but yes, the constant death was tedious and I gave up. Plan on giving it another shot now to see if I can get through it 25 years later!

4
Mika 09 Jul. 2014

Yeah I remember how the surprise death would always piss me off. It actually made me stop playing and trying to figure out the game. Although I suppose it _is_ called Borrowed Time hehe.

I also remember I had this game on a bootable floppy. It was such a mission to copy for my friends :-D

2
Justyn 29 Sep. 2009

This game is basically a text adventure with graphics to look at as well. You can hide graphics too by pressing Enter. I didn't like how the game made you make correct decisions all the time. There is constantly bad guys chasing you where if you make a wrong move they catch you and you die, and you have to start over.

I like being able to explore in a game and look at every item and investigate as much as I can. This game will not let you do that too much. If you make just a few wrong moves, they catch you, and its game over..

5

No comment nor review for this game at the moment.

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Downloads

PC Booter version
Game file
United Kingdom English
377 KB
Quader's Release
United Kingdom English
10 MB
Commodore 64 version
Game file
United Kingdom English
157 KB
Amiga version
Game file
United Kingdom English
886 KB
Atari ST version
Game file
United Kingdom English
928 KB
Apple II version
Game file
United Kingdom English
329 KB

Extras

Manual Manual 1
Extra file
PC Booter 4 MB English English

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