Space Quest II (PC) Playthrough

Playthrough of Space Quest II: Vohaul's Revenge, Sierra On-Line's 1987 graphic adventure game for MS-DOS. The game is completed with 250/250 points.

01:07:47 - Typing "CHEAT" immediately ends the game with 255/250 points.

Released on November 14, 1987, Space Quest II: Vohaul's Revenge is the direct successor to Sierra On-Line’s debut space comedy. Developed by Mark Crowe and Scott Murphy—the "Two Guys from Andromeda"—the title serves as a technical and narrative bridge between the early experimental era of adventure games and the more refined entries that would later define the series.

The game follows the series’ protagonist, Roger Wilco, a career janitor who has fallen from grace following his heroics in the previous installment. The plot centers on the return of Sludge Vohaul, a scientist who seeks vengeance against Wilco for thwarting his previous plans. Vohaul’s scheme—launching an army of genetically engineered insurance salesmen to infest the planet Xenon—solidifies the series' transition from standard science-fiction parody into a more absurdist, satirical tone.

Built on the Adventure Game Interpreter (AGI) engine, the game features a resolution of 160 x 200 (stretched to 320 x 200) with a 16-color palette. While the graphical fidelity is modest by modern standards, the hand-drawn backgrounds and character animations show a marked improvement over its predecessor, offering more detailed environments and expressive death sequences. The input method utilizes a hybrid text-parser and keyboard-controlled movement system, requiring players to type specific commands to interact with the world.

Space Quest II is widely recognized for its high difficulty and unforgiving design philosophy. The gameplay is characterized by trial-and-error puzzles where progress often requires the player to die first to understand a trap’s mechanics. Many hazards give little to no visual indication before triggering, and the game employs a strict "take everything" logic. A notable challenge is the potential for "dead-end" states, where a player may reach the finale only to realize they are missing an item from the very beginning of the game.

This title remains an essential historical artifact of the Golden Age of adventure gaming. It successfully expanded the lore of the franchise and established Roger Wilco as a recurring underdog icon. However, its reliance on pixel-perfect movement puzzles and obscure item uses makes it a challenging entry for those unaccustomed to the "cruel" design standards of 1980s computer games. It is a definitive example of how humor and high-stakes peril were used to overcome the technical limitations of early home computing.