Xenos Solution

About this Xenos solution

This solution is for Xenos on the TRS-80 Model I/III. It combines a town reference, scoring notes, and a step-by-step walkthrough. Walkthrough by Jim Bakman.

Foreword

The point of the game is to stop an alien invasion. The story takes place in the extremely small town of Purgatory, New Mexico. You are the only person in town, not counting the three or four aliens you will encounter.

The Town of Purgatory

There are several main areas to explore: a gas station, a junkyard, Harvey's Bar and Grill, Bob's Hardware, a hotel, the sheriff's office, Slim's Groceries, and a bank. A highway runs through the town to the east and west. To the east on the highway is an alien that will attack on sight — if it hits you, you will be poisoned and die several rounds later. The best bet is to run away. Aliens turn to dust when you kill them.

Gas Station (1 room)

Here you will find a locked gas pump and three items you can take: a Skeleton key to the bathroom on the outside of the gas station, a Crowbar, and a car Jack (PUT JACK ON something to use it).

Bathroom — side of gas station (1 room)

This door is locked and needs the skeleton key to open. Inside you find a sign that reads "When you are through, please return the key."

Junkyard — behind gas station (1 room)

Here you will find a Jeep with no engine, a flat tire on the Jeep, and a new tire.

Sheriff's Office (1 room)

This building is locked and needs the brass key to open (see the Hotel for the brass key). Inside you'll find a locked Gun Cabinet — which needs the Small Key to open — and a desk with three drawers:

Top Drawer: A Small Key for the Gun Cabinet; a Steel Key for the Bank; a Red Key to Slim's Groceries (no known use).
Middle Drawer: A Wanted Poster.
Bottom Drawer: Empty.

Harvey's Bar and Grill (1 room)

Here you will find a Radio (it broadcasts news about a UFO landing), a bottle filled with a brown substance (poison or whiskey), and water in a sink.

Storm Shelter — west side of Harvey's, under the sand (1 room)

Here you will find a stick of dynamite (STRIKE FUSE to use it).

Slim's Groceries (1 room)

Here you will find food.

Bob's Hardware (2 rooms)

Here you will find an empty aquarium and a shovel guarded by a snake. The shotgun from the Sheriff's office does a real nice job on the snake. The shovel is needed to uncover the storm shelter on the west side of Harvey's Bar and Grill.

Bank (2 rooms)

Here you will find a locked vault that can be blown open with the dynamite from the storm shelter. The vault contains money. You don't get any points for blowing up the vault, and the dynamite doesn't seem to work anywhere else.

Hotel (3 rooms, one hallway, two floors)

Here you will find a master key to the hotel and two hotel rooms upstairs. The brass key to the Sheriff's office is in the dresser in the room with the red door.

Scoring

You earn 10% for each of the following tasks:

Turning on the radio in the Saloon to hear the broadcast about the UFO landing.
Opening the middle drawer of the Sheriff's desk.
Opening the gun cabinet with the small key.
Killing the snake with the shotgun.
Digging in the sand and discovering the door to the storm shelter.
Seeing the dead alien.
Blowing away the boulder blocking the ship's entrance.
Gaining alien knowledge via the white cube.
Setting the alien ship to blast the mother ship.
Returning to Purgatory after the mother ship has been destroyed.

Xenos Walkthrough

This walkthrough is courtesy of Jim Bakman (jbakman@earthlink.net), who solved the game way back when and created this for people like me who needed the help.

Xenos is an older game (1979), yet the parser is actually somewhat flexible. On the TRS-80 Model I emulator version, the parser will pick out the word it did not understand and give you a chance to in-line edit it.

The basic story: you are called in to investigate a possible UFO landing that has caused the citizens of the nearby town of Purgatory to evacuate.

A Note on the Spaceship Rooms

Once aboard the alien ship, you navigate a series of rooms by pushing a colored button to create an oval portal, then stepping through it. The pattern repeats throughout — push a button, enter the oval, repeat.

✶ ✶ ✶

Part 1 — Grab Something Important First

[Beginning at the western edge of Purgatory, we can either head into downtown for the sights, or grab something quickly that we'll need much later. Let's do the latter.]

West

North

North (Score +10%)

Get Cube

Get Rod

[And now, back into town.]

South

East

Part 2 — Get a Breaking-and-Entering Tool

[No doubt Purgatory is full of nifty things. Let's get a crowbar so we can see more of the town, then head into downtown.]

East

Open Door

South

Get Crowbar

North

East

Part 3 — The Saloon

[The desert is hot and our character wants to learn more about the situation. How about hitting up the local tavern?]

Open Saloon Door

North

Get Bottle

Open Bottle

Fill Bottle with Water

Turn on Radio (Score +10%)

South

East

Part 4 — The Hotel & Sheriff's Key

[Perhaps the sheriff has some information, though his office is locked. Let's go find the key...]

East

Open Hotel Door

North

Read Sign

Get Master Key

East

Open Red Door With Master Key

North

Open Dresser

Get Brass Key

South

West

South

Part 5 — The Sheriff's Office

[...and then we'll open the sheriff's office and enter.]

West

Open Sheriff's Door with Brass Key

South

[Hey, there could be lots of neat things in here, but these pesky locks are in the way. No problem — we have a crowbar.]

Open Top Drawer with Crowbar (Score +10%)

Get Small Key

Open Cabinet with Small Key (Score +10%)

Drop Small Key

Drop Master Key

Drop Brass Key

Drop Crowbar

Get Shotgun

Part 6 — Bob's Hardware & the Snake

[Nifty. Now let's go explore the town. First, the local hardware store.]

North

East

Open Bob's Door

North

Shoot Snake with Shotgun (Score +10%)

Get Shovel

South

Part 7 — The Storm Shelter

[Remember the hotel sign, and how it mentioned a storm shelter near the bar?]

West

North

Dig Sand with Shovel (Score +10%)

[We've found the storm shelter. What's inside?]

Open Door

Drop Shovel

Go In

Get Stick

Get Out

South

Part 8 — Into the Desert

[We have a shotgun, a stick of dynamite, and an alien-kicking attitude. Let's head into the desert. First, a west-to-east tour of Purgatory to reach the other end of town.]

East

[Once at the end of town, it's time to enter the desert. The idea is to reach an alien ship hidden in a nearby canyon. Wandering out there is a prospector who will give you a clue, and also another alien that will try to claw you — if you see the alien, don't bother shooting it. Just stay on the move. The desert is a maze. If you make a mis-step, head back into town and try again. If you collapse from heat, drink your water.]

East

North

West

North

West

South

West

North

West

Part 9 — The Alien Ship

[Wow, look! The alien ship! Complete with a boulder blocking the entrance! We can take care of that...]

Strike Fuse

Drop Stick

East (Score +10%)

West

[Nothing like alien technology. However, we brought along a couple of alien bits of our own.]

Put Cube in Hole

Put Rod in Hole

Push Yellow Button

Enter Oval

[See the note at the beginning about abbreviations. The idea behind this series of rooms is to push a button to create an oval, then step through it to another room. Between every room of interest is an "airlock" room with only buttons in it.]

Push Blue Button, Enter Oval

[Huh, what's this? Another cube?]

Get Grey Cube

Push Blue Button, Enter Oval

[This is TSOM solution, a kind of healing drink. If you're in the desert and dying of heat, you can drink this.]

Get Vial

Push Blue Button, Enter Oval

[What we're doing here is not clear in context, but it is useful later.]

Put Grey Cube into Hole

Get White Cube

[And now, we'll wander through a bunch of useless rooms.]

Push Red Button, Enter Oval

[Hmmm. See Hole. See Cube. What to do now?]

Put White Cube in Hole (Score +10%)

Push Blue Button, Enter Oval

Push Yellow Button, Enter Oval

Push Blue Button, Enter Oval

[Oooh, the fire control. While I am tempted to blow up the earth on general principle, we're here on a mission.]

Push White Button

Point to Mother Ship (Score +10%)

Part 10 — Escape

[Now to get out of here. We can keep going Red-ward and find another exit, one trapped within a landslide. Getting crushed by rocks isn't my thing. So, we're going back to the entrance.]

Push Red Button, Enter Oval

Push Yellow Button, Enter Oval

Push Red Button, Enter Oval

Push Yellow Button, Enter Oval

East

[Hey, we're out! Now to get out of the canyon and back to civilization. Feel free to blow away the little critter with the shotgun now.]

East

South

West

South

West

South (Score +10%)

✶ ✶ ✶

And so, you have solved Xenos.

Recap of Points

10% of your mission is completed for each of the following tasks:

Seeing the dead alien.
Turning on the radio in the Saloon.
Opening the top drawer in the Sheriff's office.
Opening the shotgun cabinet in the Sheriff's office.
Shooting the snake with the shotgun.
Finding the storm shelter.
Blowing away the boulder blocking the ship's entrance.
Gaining alien knowledge via the white cube.
Setting the alien ship to blast the mother ship.
Returning to Purgatory after the mother ship has been destroyed.