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20,000 Leagues Under the Sea

Last updated: January 22, 2026

Overview

20,000 Leagues Under the Sea is a first-person adventure game developed and published by Coktel Vision in 1988, based on Jules Verne’s classic 1870 science fiction novel of the same name1. The game places players in the role of Professor Arronax, a scientist who becomes a prisoner aboard the legendary submarine Nautilus, commanded by the enigmatic Captain Nemo2. As an adaptation of one of literature’s most celebrated adventure novels—Verne being “next to Agatha Christie, the most translated author of all time”—the game attempted to capture the wonder and danger of undersea exploration during the Victorian era3.

The game is notable for its real-time gameplay mechanics, which require players to be in the right location at the right time to progress through the story1. This design choice creates a tense atmosphere that mirrors the uncertainty of being held captive aboard a mysterious vessel, though it also introduces significant challenges including the possibility of rendering the game unwinnable and mandatory waiting periods4. Most of the adventure takes place within the confined spaces of the Nautilus itself, primarily across three rooms: the living room, the control room, and the library1.

The source material, regarded as “one of the premiere adventure novels and one of Verne’s greatest works,” has inspired numerous adaptations across all media5. Verne’s prescient descriptions of the Nautilus “accurately describes features on submarines, which at the time were very primitive vessels,” lending the story a scientific credibility that continues to resonate with audiences5. Coktel Vision’s 1988 adaptation represents one of the earliest video game interpretations of this seminal work, predating the many hidden object games and interactive novels that would follow in later decades.

Story Summary

The narrative begins on July 5th, 1867, when the government decides to launch the famous ship “Abraham Lincoln” to pursue what has been identified as a giant sea monster terrorizing merchant vessels across the world’s oceans2. Professor Pierre Arronax, a renowned marine biologist, joins the expedition along with his faithful assistant Conseil and the skilled harpooner Ned Land. Their mission is to track down and eliminate the mysterious creature that has been attacking ships without warning6.

The expedition takes a dramatic turn when the hunting party discovers that the “monster” is actually the Nautilus, an advanced submarine far beyond any technology of the era. Professor Arronax, Conseil, and Ned Land are captured by Captain Nemo, the brilliant but vengeful genius who created the remarkable vessel7. Nemo is described as “vindictive and vengeance-driven,” a man who has “done with society for reasons that seem good to me” and therefore does not “obey its laws”8. He takes the three captives aboard in an effort to win them to his side in his quest for revenge against the surface world7.

As prisoners aboard the Nautilus, the three men experience the wonders of underwater travel, exploring ocean depths “deeper than any man has gone before” and witnessing the strange beauty of the undersea world9. However, they must also navigate the complex personality of their captor. Nemo’s philosophical musings reveal a tortured soul: “Do you know the meaning of love, professor? What you fail to understand is the power of hate. It can fill the heart as surely as love can”10. Despite his bitterness, Nemo expresses hope for humanity’s future: “There is hope for the future. And when the world is ready for a new and better life, all this will someday come to pass, in God’s good time”11.

The game follows the captives as they explore the submarine, interact with its mysterious captain, and ultimately seek to escape their underwater prison. Players must carefully manage their relationship with Nemo, as angering him results in being locked in their quarters while precious time passes4. The story incorporates encounters with various ocean dangers, including the famous giant squid, described by Nemo as “most tenacious of all sea beasts”9.

Gameplay

Interface and Controls

20,000 Leagues Under the Sea is played entirely through a point-and-click interface, using keyboard input for interactions4. The game presents a first-person perspective as players explore the confined spaces of the Nautilus submarine1. The control scheme was described in contemporary documentation as utilizing a gamepad, though keyboard remained the primary input method for most platforms1. The adventure features an illustrated text presentation style with stylized artwork depicting the Victorian-era submarine and its occupants1.

Structure and Progression

The game’s structure is defined by its real-time mechanics, meaning events occur regardless of player action and being in the correct location at the precise moment is essential for success1. This design creates both tension and frustration, as players must learn through trial and error when and where key events will occur.

Most of the adventure takes place aboard the Nautilus, which consists of three primary locations1:

  • The Living Room: The main social area where interactions with Captain Nemo and other characters occur
  • The Control Room: Where the submarine’s navigation and operation can be observed, though manipulating instruments angers Nemo
  • The Library: A repository of knowledge that may contain clues essential to escape

The real-time nature means the game features mandatory waiting periods, and there are various possibilities to render the game completely unwinnable4. If players anger Nemo—for example, by manipulating the ship’s instruments—he locks them in their room while valuable time passes4.

Puzzles and Mechanics

The puzzle design revolves around observation, timing, and managing Captain Nemo’s temperament. Players must watch Nemo’s mood carefully, as his emotional state directly affects the options available to the player4. The game requires careful attention to the passing of time and the movements of characters within the submarine.

A critical gameplay element is the complete absence of a save function, meaning players must complete the entire adventure in a single session or restart from the beginning4. This design choice significantly increases the difficulty and makes the various ways to render the game unwinnable particularly punishing. Players must develop extensive knowledge of the game’s timing and event triggers to successfully complete the adventure.

Reception

Contemporary Reviews

Contemporary critical reception for the 1988 Coktel Vision release was limited, as the game received minimal coverage in English-language publications. The game was primarily marketed in European territories, particularly France and Germany, where Coktel Vision had a stronger presence2. The alternate regional titles—“20000 Lieues Sous Les Mers” in France and “20000 Meilen unter dem Meer” in Germany—indicate the game’s European focus2.

Modern Assessment

Modern retrospective assessments have been mixed, with the game’s real-time mechanics and lack of save functionality drawing particular criticism. MobyGames users have given the game a critics score of 54% based on multiple ratings4. The real-time gameplay, while innovative for its era, is now seen as more frustrating than immersive, with the various dead-end scenarios and mandatory waiting periods detracting from the overall experience1.

The game is classified in databases under the Adventure genre with Licensed properties and Spy themes, suggesting it was marketed broadly rather than to a niche audience1. Its first-person perspective was noted as distinctive for the era, though the illustrated text presentation limited the visual immersion compared to contemporary graphical adventures1.

Aggregate Scores:

  • MobyGames: 54% (8 ratings)4

Development

Origins

The game originated as Coktel Vision’s attempt to adapt one of literature’s most beloved adventure novels for the home computer market. Jules Verne’s original 1870 work, with its detailed descriptions of submarine technology and underwater exploration, provided rich source material for a video game adaptation5. The novel had already proven its adaptability through numerous film versions, most notably Disney’s acclaimed 1954 production starring James Mason as Captain Nemo7.

Production

Coktel Vision developed the game simultaneously for multiple platforms common to the European computer market of the late 1980s: DOS, Amiga, Atari ST, and Amstrad CPC4. The French developer chose to create an adventure that emphasized atmosphere and story over action, utilizing the point-and-click interface that would become their signature across many titles.

Development Credits:4

  • Developer: Coktel Vision
  • Publisher: Coktel Vision
  • Music: René-Guy Tramis (original compositions), Johann Sebastian Bach (classical music)4

Technical Achievements

The game’s most notable technical achievement was its real-time engine, which tracked the passage of time and triggered events regardless of player input1. This created a dynamic narrative experience where the world continued to move forward, forcing players to adapt their strategies to the game’s internal clock rather than proceeding at their own pace.

Technical Specifications

All Platforms:4

  • Business Model: Commercial
  • Input Devices: Keyboard
  • Players: 1 Player (Offline)
  • Save Function: None (game must be completed in one session)

Technical Issues

The lack of a save function was the most significant technical limitation, requiring players to complete the entire adventure without interruption4. The real-time mechanics introduced multiple scenarios where the game could become unwinnable, forcing complete restarts. These design decisions, while potentially intentional for difficulty purposes, created significant accessibility barriers for players.

Easter Eggs and Trivia

  • The game’s musical score incorporated compositions by Johann Sebastian Bach alongside original music by René-Guy Tramis, lending classical atmosphere to the Victorian-era setting4
  • The game was released under three different regional titles reflecting its multilingual development: the English “20,000 Leagues Under the Sea,” French “20000 Lieues Sous Les Mers,” and German “20000 Meilen unter dem Meer”2
  • Coktel Vision would later become known for the Gobliiins series and various educational titles, but this adaptation represents one of their earlier literary license projects1

Legacy

Sales and Commercial Impact

Sales figures for the 1988 release have not been documented in available sources, though the game achieved sufficient distribution to appear on four major platforms of the era4. The game’s primary market appears to have been continental Europe, particularly French and German-speaking territories, where Coktel Vision maintained stronger retail relationships.

Subsequent Adaptations

The Jules Verne source material has inspired numerous video game adaptations beyond the 1988 Coktel Vision release:

1995 - Educational Adaptation: Orange Cherry Software developed an educational title published by SoftKey International for Windows 16-bit systems12. This version was “a digitized version of the novel of the same name by Jules Verne” that added “multimedia features such as narrated text, word definitions and interactive fishing which leads to an encyclopedia entry”12. The game portion consisted of multiple-choice quizzes testing knowledge of each chapter12.

1997 - Crayola 3D Coloring: IBM and Crayola released an educational coloring program based on the novel for Windows 3.1, Windows 95, and later systems13. The software allowed children to “color 20 images and watch them come to life as 3D pictures” using “63 Crayola crayon colors and 18 fun textures”14. The program could print scenes “plus a title page in color or black & white to create your own storybook”14.

Technical Requirements (1997 Version):14

  • Minimum CPU: 486DX 66MHz (Pentium 75MHz recommended)
  • RAM: 8MB minimum (16MB recommended)
  • Resolution: 640x480 SVGA, 256 colors minimum
  • Storage: 10MB hard disk space
  • Media: CD-ROM (2x drive or better)

2002 - The Secret of the Nautilus: Cryo Interactive developed a more ambitious adventure game adaptation, released in Europe and by DreamCatcher Interactive/The Adventure Company in North America15. The game sold approximately 117,000 copies globally by 200415. Reviews were mixed, with critics noting “small hotspots, and timed sections let the game down” according to Four Fat Chicks, while Süddeutsche Zeitung observed that “while the game would attract fans of Jules Verne, they would become dismayed by the game’s combination puzzles”15. The game’s characters were “based on original 19th century engravings from Jules Verne’s novel” despite being set in the 21st century15.

Review Scores (The Secret of the Nautilus):15

  • Metzomagic: 3/5
  • Spazio Games: 7.5/10
  • Bonusweb.cz: 67%
  • 4Players: 62%
  • GameOver: 69%
  • Adventure Archiv: 60%
  • Just Adventure: C (Ray Ivey), B (Robert Freese)

2009-2010 - Captain Nemo Hidden Object Series: Mzone Studio and Solilab developed a hidden object adventure game published by Anuman Interactive and various regional publishers including S.A.D. Software (Germany), Game Factory Interactive, and Russobit-M (Russia)16. The game was released for Windows (November 18, 2009), Macintosh (2009), iPhone (2010), and iPad (2010)16. Designer Christophe Leclerc helmed the project, with music composed by Dan Foster16. The game used “original illustrations by Alphonse De Neuville and Edouard Riou,” the artists who illustrated the original 1870 novel16.

The hidden object game received mixed reception, with Common Sense Media noting it was “exceedingly difficult and liable to cause a lot of frustration for younger players (and possibly older ones as well)” while being “one of the more difficult hidden object adventures we’ve seen”17. Gamezebo gave it 50/100, with the reviewer stating “While there are some aspects of this hidden object game I did like, the negative points outweighed the positive, and I ultimately found myself not having any fun”18. The underwater scenes were criticized as “so poorly executed and so overly filled with junk that it felt more like I’d stumbled into an underwater dumping ground than a classic adventure tale”18. Kinthdom’s review stated “I cannot recommend this game due to how poor the game” and noted issues with “translation errors throughout game,” “poor screen compatibility with modern monitors,” and only supporting 4:3 aspect ratio19.

2018 - Steam Release: The Captain Nemo hidden object game received a Steam release on March 15, 2018, published by M.INDIE20. Steam user reviews were Mixed, with 67% of 43 reviews being positive20.

Minimum Requirements (Steam Version):20

  • Processor: 1 GHz
  • Memory: 512 MB RAM
  • Graphics: 512 MB

2011/2013 - Extended Edition: An Extended Edition was released featuring “New puzzles, New scenes, New objects, New mini-games, New characters, An improved interface, brought to life with the collection of key objects, An improved gaming experience, A longer life span”21. The iOS version was released February 4, 2013 by Microids21.

2016-2017 - Living a Book Interactive Novel: Living a Book, Inc. released a mobile interactive book adaptation for iPhone (December 23, 2016), iPad (2016), and Android (2017)22. The developers described their approach: “At Living a Book we believe that books are to be lived, to generate intense emotions and unforgettable memories in the reader. We created a new concept of reading, they’re not just books or Chat stories, nor games, we call them PATHBOOKS”22. The application featured “the complete original Book by JULES VERNE with great special features” including “Interactive book with choices and multiple endings. A masterpiece of literature even more intense”22.

Collections

The original 1988 Coktel Vision version has been preserved through abandonware archives, with Internet Archive listings providing DOSBox-compatible versions playable on modern Windows systems7. The various subsequent adaptations remain available through digital storefronts including Steam20 and mobile app stores.

The game’s source material has generated extensive related publications over more than 150 years:

  • Original Novel: “Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Seas: An Underwater Tour of the World” by Jules Verne, originally serialized March 1869-June 18705
  • Illustrated Edition: Deluxe edition published November 1871 featuring 111 illustrations by Alphonse de Neuville and Édouard Riou5
  • Educational Adaptations: Various annotated editions for language learning, including “Russian Reader: Elementary. 20000 leagues under the sea by J. Verne, annotated” by Kristina Malidovskaya (CreateSpace Independent Publishing Platform, 2016)23

Critical Perspective

20,000 Leagues Under the Sea occupies a curious position in adventure gaming history as an ambitious but flawed early adaptation of classic literature. While Coktel Vision’s real-time mechanics were innovative for 1988, attempting to create tension through temporal pressure, the execution proved more frustrating than immersive. The lack of save functionality and multiple dead-end scenarios reflect design philosophies common to European adventure games of the era, which often emphasized difficulty over accessibility.

The game’s legacy is perhaps better measured by what it inspired than by its own merits. The subsequent decades saw numerous attempts to adapt Verne’s novel for interactive media, from educational software to hidden object games to interactive novels. Each approach revealed different facets of the source material—its educational value, its visual splendor, its narrative complexity—while struggling with the same fundamental challenge: how to translate Verne’s expansive oceanic adventure into an interactive experience.

The 1988 release also demonstrates the ongoing appeal of Verne’s prescient vision. His descriptions of submarine technology, underwater exploration, and the philosophical questions raised by Captain Nemo continue to resonate with audiences across all media. As Steve Biodrowski noted regarding the 1954 film adaptation, works based on the novel prove “far superior to the majority of genre efforts from the period (or any period, for that matter), with production design and technical effects that have dated hardly at all”24. This timeless quality ensures that 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea will continue to inspire adaptations for generations to come.

Downloads

Download / Preservation

Digital Stores (Later Adaptations)

References

Footnotes

  1. Adventure Gamers – 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea – release date, developer, publisher, gameplay perspective, themes ↩ ↩2 ↩3 ↩4 ↩5 ↩6 ↩7 ↩8 ↩9 ↩10 ↩11 ↩12 ↩13 ↩14 ↩15 ↩16

  2. LaunchBox Games Database – 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea – platform information, regional titles, gameplay description, story premise ↩ ↩2 ↩3 ↩4 ↩5 ↩6

  3. Common Sense Media – Book Review – Jules Verne translation statistics ↩

  4. MobyGames – 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea (1988) – technical specifications, credits, ratings, gameplay mechanics, real-time description ↩ ↩2 ↩3 ↩4 ↩5 ↩6 ↩7 ↩8 ↩9 ↩10 ↩11 ↩12 ↩13 ↩14 ↩15 ↩16 ↩17

  5. Steampunk Fandom Wiki – 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea – novel background, submarine descriptions, literary significance ↩ ↩2 ↩3 ↩4 ↩5

  6. Tropedia – Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea – story premise, gameplay details ↩

  7. Internet Archive – 20000 Leagues Under The Sea (Film) – Disney film description, Captain Nemo characterization ↩ ↩2 ↩3 ↩4

  8. IMDB – 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea (1954) – Captain Nemo dialogue quotes ↩

  9. Disney Fandom Wiki – Giant Squid – Captain Nemo quotes, Walt Disney quotes ↩ ↩2

  10. DVDizzy – 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea Review – Captain Nemo dialogue on love and hate ↩

  11. Once Upon a Time Fandom Wiki – Captain Nemo hope dialogue ↩

  12. MobyGames – 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea (1995) – educational game description, quiz mechanics ↩ ↩2 ↩3

  13. Internet Archive – Crayola 3D Coloring – preservation information, DOSBox compatibility ↩

  14. Internet Archive – IBM/Crayola Version – technical requirements, storyteller credits, feature description ↩ ↩2 ↩3

  15. Wikipedia – The Secret of the Nautilus – sales data, review scores, development information, regional releases ↩ ↩2 ↩3 ↩4 ↩5

  16. MobyGames – 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea: Captain Nemo – release dates, developers, publishers, credits ↩ ↩2 ↩3 ↩4

  17. Common Sense Media – Game Review – difficulty criticism, age rating ↩

  18. Gamezebo – 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea Review – review score, underwater scene criticism ↩ ↩2

  19. Kinthdom – Captain Nemo Review – technical issues, translation errors, screen compatibility ↩

  20. Steam – 20,000 Leagues Under The Sea: Captain Nemo – release date, user reviews, system requirements ↩ ↩2 ↩3 ↩4

  21. Metacritic – Extended Edition – release date, new features ↩ ↩2

  22. MobyGames – Living a Book Version – release dates, developer philosophy, platform information ↩ ↩2 ↩3

  23. Internet Archive – Russian Reader – educational publication information ↩

  24. [Consolidated Research Sources] – Steve Biodrowski quote on genre efforts ↩

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