Eye of the Beholder is a 1991 PC (DOS / Windows) game from Westwood Studios, catalogued here for 5 defining game mechanics.
PC (DOS / Windows)1991Complexity 65/1002D FirstpersonCult classic
Eye of the Beholder is a role-playing video game for personal computers and video game consoles developed by Westwood Associates. It was published by Strategic Simulations, Inc. in 1991, for the MS-DOS operating system and later ported to the Amiga, the Sega CD and the Super NES. (via Wikipedia)
The game mechanics of Eye of the Beholder
Real Time Action CombatCombatCombat resolves continuously in real time; player inputs compete directly with enemy behavior each frame.
Inventory ManagementResourcePlayer holds a collection of discrete named items with defined slot limits; deciding what to carry is a meaningful choice.
Key LockProgressionA specific named item in inventory unlocks a specific named obstacle in a one-to-one correspondence; item is consumed.
Level Up StatsProgressionDefeating enemies or completing tasks accumulates points; reaching thresholds permanently increases player stats.
Environmental PuzzlePuzzleSolution requires interacting with fixed world objects in a specific sequence or configuration.
Each mechanic links to how to build it in Godot, with the retro games that share it.
Study the source
Open-source engine (GPL-3.0). ScummVM's Kyra engine supports Eye of the Beholder I and II, running the original DOS game data files. https://github.com/scummvm/scummvm