The Nightmare (1982) is a horror-themed strategy-adventure game published by Epyx for the Atari 8-bit. Blending psychological horror with dungeon-crawling elements, the game casts players into a surreal haunted mansion that represents the dark corners of their own subconscious mind. Trapped behind an iron door with no clear way out, players must navigate the four-story mansion using joystick controls, uncovering mystical artifacts and gathering keys to unlock the path forward. The ultimate goal is to retrieve the elusive “mind’s eye” from the ominous Tunnel of Death and return it to the door that sealed their fate. The experience unfolds under an eight-hour in-game time limit—symbolizing one full night of sleep—adding urgency to the quest for mental clarity and escape. The gameplay blends exploration, puzzle-solving, and combat. Powerful items such as a silver cross, a magic staff, and enchanted rings bolster the player’s stats and offer advantages in battle. Monsters stalk the mansion, drawn to the player’s presence. Combat uses a dice-roll system influenced by the character’s gear and accumulated power-ups, forcing players to weigh the risk of engaging versus fleeing. While graphically simple and rendered in stark black and white, The Nightmare leans into its eerie theme and psychological framing to create an unsettling atmosphere. It stands as one of Epyx’s more experimental titles from the early 1980s, offering players a cerebral blend of strategy and survival rooted in the symbolism of dreams—and nightmares.

A playthrough of the Atari 400 version of this game (loading times and disk noises included) gives some insight into how this game worked.  The manual is available at this link.  The Nightmare, Crypt of the Undead, and Escape from Vulcan’s Isle were written by the same developer, and it might be fun to re-release them collectively, or to somehow integrate and connect all of them into a single playing experience.