Total Eclipse was released in 1988 by Incentive. It was the third game to use their lauded 'Freescape' engine, after Driller (1987) and Dark Side (1988). The Freescape engine was able to create true 3D landscapes which gamers explored freely in a first-person perspective.
Total Eclipse was set in and around an Egyptian pyramid, which was divided into rooms each full of traps and puzzles. The player was equipped with a gun, used to shoot targets, and was also able to 'activate' certain objects, such as doors and buttons. The player was up against the clock, represented by a slowly progressing eclipse - the position of the sun and moon are displayed in the status bar, and when the sun is totally eclipsed, the game ends. This takes exactly 1 hour to happen, and the game clock moves in real time. The goal of the game was to reach the top of the pyramid, collecting 4 magical 'Ankhs' along the way, before the time limit elapsed.
The true 3D engine, improved since the earlier Freescape games, was fairly revolutionary and the scope of the game was well beyond what was generally expected of CPC games at the time. Critics were duly stunned and it received excellent reviews.