Guess where I've got my nickname from? And guess what I've never played until now, 25 years later? Yes, it's Thandor! Back in 2000 I was looking around for a permanent nickname. The internet was fairly new (using dial-up since 1998 if I recall correctly) and everyone had fancy nicknames. Also on LAN party's a nickname was favourable!

At the time I was reading the German magazine PC Action for years (since 1996) and the January issue of 2000 came with a whopping 3 CD's which included their 'regular' CD, a full version of Die by the Sword and an additional bonus demo-CD. As I was reading this I thought: "hey, let's use the name of this game, it sounds fancy!". So that's how I claimed and/or stole my name .

The funny thing however is that I've never played the game. I recall having problems installing the demo version of Thandor (which was on the bonus CD). Since it's more than 25 years ago that Thandor was released I decided to give it another try and write about it.

What is Thandor?

Thandor is a real time strategy game made by Innonics, a German software house/game developer. JoWood was the publisher. The graphics are all in 3D which was the new buzz back in the day. In PC/Action 12/1999 (archive.org - 1999 12) you can read a 'Vorschau' (preview) and in PC/Action 01/2000 (archive.org 01/2000) you can read a review of one of the last beta versions. Of course it's compared to C&C 3 and Earth 2150 which were competing games. The review summarised with 80%.

The game was first released in Germany. On thandor.de (archive.org - thandor.de) you can read that the English version was shown at the E3 on May 15th, 2000 and a new big box was created for the international market on June 16th.


PC Action 12/1999, Thandor.net demo CD

Revisiting the demo CD

First of all I wanted to know if the demo version did actually work or not. It turns out it doesn't work on Windows XP (throwing 'not a valid Win32 application'-error). By looking at results on-line it seems that Thandor isn't very compatible with modern operating systems. There are updates, tricks and tips to get it working but don't set your expectations high for Windows 11.

The full version

Of course I've got to have the full version! It's the German version of Thandor in its original box. It has the same issues as the demo version (which is: version 1.0 not working on Windows XP). Nonetheless I dug on-line and got it working. Also found an English ripped version that works fine on my Compaq nc4200 running Windows XP.

Thandor (German version) box and contents.

What's the game like?

Not bad! The first missions are too easy but after all they serve as an introduction to the game. I think in general it's very playable. The build menu is somewhat weird as you select a building to build, but can select the finished building in a different menu/tab. On the flip side I do appreciate you can queue the construction of buildings and units even if you don't have the credits at that time. It will automatically build when enough credits are available.

The 3D-engine looks nice for an early 3D RTS game. The graphics are ok-ish but are somewhat plain and uninspiring. I do like the crispy texture filtering. Sharp graphics are always good .

Something to get used to is the way the units move. If you select multiple they chaotically move towards their destination. They do get there, however not very subtle.

In retrospect I think I like the game better than when I would've played it 25 years ago. Back then Command & Conquer Red Alert and Warcraft II were still luring across the corner. Those games are really that much better! For me the release of Warcraft III (which is 2,5 years later!) would totally blow away games like Thandor. In the time-frame of Thandor (2000) I didn't really fancy the then new RTS games anyway (for example Command & Conquer Tiberian Sun / Red Alert 2 and Earth 2150). I guess waiting 25 years finally paid off!


Thandor in-game screenshot.