If you grew up in the '80s or are a diehard fan of Rare, you'll no doubt be familiar with its predecessor Ultimate Play The Game. Established in the small market town of Ashby-De-La-Zouch, in the heart of the UK, the company was responsible for a string of hits for 8-bit home computers, including the haunted castle-set adventure game Atic Atac.
Atic Atac debuted on the ZX Spectrum in 1983 and was later ported to the BBC Micro that same year. Since then, it has received an unofficial remake for PC in 2006, was reissued officially as part of Rare Replay in 2015, had a port released for C64 in 2020, and even inspired an excellent fanmade tribute called Melkhior's Mansion.
Recently, though, a hobbyist developer named 9bitcolor has released yet another modern way to experience this classic title, with the programmer publishing a new fanmade remake for the ZX Spectrum Next (as spotted by IndieRetroNews!). This is based on the earlier Atic Atac remake from 2006 and includes original graphics from John Blythe, music by Matt Simonds, and AI cover art from Mark Leither.
Here's a description of the game:
"Now that you have been trapped in the evil haunted Castle, your object is to find the hidden Golden Key of A.C.G. and escape via your only exit, the main doors. Features the Knight, Serf, and Wizard; full 8-way movement; working trapdoors; secret passages; the Frankenstein; Mummy; Dracula; [...] & other gubbins."
You'll find the instructions you need to install the game on the project page. Worth noting, though, is that it currently doesn't work in emulators.