Return of the (sorcerer) king, and in glorious fashion
Wizardry the granddaddy that inspired essentially every RPG after it. Its history has a lot of weight to it, to the point where we can play Dragon Quest and see that yeah, this is where this aspect or that aspect of the game came from.
Wizardry is great from the aspect of preserving game history. Not only is it fully remade in 3D, but it’s done so on the backbone of the original Apple II version, using that original code. The game even includes that version and the console iteration within it, allowing players to switch back and forth.
There are plenty of quality of life improvements that help the experience, too. All of the permutations can affect how we play the game, letting us jump around in difficulty, what items we lose in death, and even seeing that original UI.
Beyond the visuals and the QOL stuff, it’s still just a super solid dungeon crawler. It’s that original game; it’s always been built well, and always supplied questing and drama in some of the purest ways. It’s also approachable for a new player who’s never played a super hard dungeon crawler, so the barriers have been brought down for anyone who may have missed it decades ago.
But it’s definitely a labor of love. The devs know that it’s not the kind of project that may sell a ton, and it’s not out to make a statement. It’s just like, “Yeah, let’s remake this really cool game that everybody who’s a game designer loves, you know?”
Wizardry: Proving Grounds of the Mad Overlord has always been good, and this version of Wizardry is that love letter that we’ve been waiting for.
This review was based on a Steam code sent to SideQuesting by the publisher. It first appeared on The SideQuest LIVE on May 29, 2024. Images and video courtesy the publisher.
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