La Abadía del Crimen

Amstrad CPC, MS-DOS, ZX Spectrum, MSX1987

  1. JP—
  2. NA—
  3. EU—
  4. RU—

La abadía del crimen was only ever released in Spain, in Spanish; "The Abbey of Crime" is just an English translation of the title. The legal way to play it today is the free 2016 remake The Abbey of Crime Extensum on Steam, an extended remake rather than the original 8-bit game.

La abadía del crimen is a Spanish adventure game from November 1987, created by programmer Paco Menéndez and designer Juan Delcán, who was then an architecture student. It first appeared on disk for the Amstrad CPC 6128, followed by versions for the ZX Spectrum 128, MSX and MS-DOS PCs. Spanish Wikipedia credits Academia Míster Chip as the original publisher, with Opera Soft acquiring all rights in early 1989.

The game adapts Umberto Eco's novel The Name of the Rose, but the developers could not get permission to use its title, so they took the provisional title Eco himself had used. For copyright reasons the novel's William of Baskerville became the historical William of Ockham. The player controls Fra William, can also steer the novice Adso, and the story unfolds over seven days divided into canonical hours.

The abbey is shown in isometric perspective, to music by Bach and pieces from the Anna Magdalena notebook. A free extended remake, The Abbey of Crime Extensum, came to Steam in 2016.123

Names and releases

RegionTitle on the boxPlatformDatePublisherSrc
ES La abadía del crimenAmstrad CPC 6128 disk original; Spanish Wikipedia credits Academia Míster Chip as the November 1987 publisher, with Opera Soft acquiring all rights in early 1989. English Wikipedia lists Opera Soft as publisher. Amstrad CPC November 1987 Academia Míster Chip 1
ES La abadía del crimenYear of port not separately confirmed; English Wikipedia lists 1987 for the game. MSX 1987 Opera Soft 2
ES La abadía del crimenYear of port not separately confirmed; English Wikipedia lists 1987 for the game. MS-DOS 1987 Opera Soft 2
ES La abadía del crimenZX Spectrum 128 only. ZX Spectrum 1987 Opera Soft 2

Also known as: The Abbey of Crime WW2The Abbey of Crime Extensum WW3La abadía del crimen Extensum ES1

Version differences

  • ContentAmstrad CPC 464/664

    The 64K versions for the CPC 464 (tape) and CPC 664 (disk) cut much of the map, mostly corridors that do not matter to the plot, plus some graphic detail such as the crosses on the abbey windows. The CPC 6128 disk version is the complete original.1

  • ContentZX Spectrum

    On the ZX Spectrum the game was made for the 128K model only.1

  • AudioPC

    The PC version adds a short passage of Schubert's Ave Maria during mass, on top of the Bach pieces and Gwendal's "Crystal Palace" heard in every version.1

All differences (4)

Translations

  • Spanish Official

    Opera Soft1987Amstrad CPC · originalReleased · complete

    The game was made in Spain and released in Spanish.1

Where to play legally today

  • Steam Free

    The Abbey of Crime Extensum

    2016 extended remake (Windows, Mac, Linux), based on the 1987 original

    Checked: 2026-10-133store.steampowered.com

Best version

The Amstrad CPC 6128 disk version is the original that the other versions were ported from; the 64K CPC 464/664 releases are cut down.1

Reception

It was only a modest commercial success but became a cult classic of the Spanish 8-bit era. Retro Gamer named it among the ten best ZX Spectrum 128 games, and a commemorative stamp set marked its 30th anniversary in 2017.1

In lists

Sources

  1. 1es.wikipedia.org
  2. 2en.wikipedia.org
  3. 3store.steampowered.com

Checked: 2026-10-13Text reviewed: 2026-10-13

Spotted a mistake? Write to atlas@old-games.net.