I played this game with my friends on their computer, which I believe was a Tandy T1000. The PC Squeaker music intro brings back a rush of memories. You see, my friends lived down the street and their computer was located in a room that was once a carport. In the summer this room was hot, in the winter it was cold. We frequently would play in this room during the winter and I recall having to hang out in the house while the kerosene heater fired up and got to operating temperature. So the music takes me back to the smell of kerosene, the sound of the floppy drive chugging and chirping and “schk, shck, shck, shck”ing. Whew, this was a pretty intense hit of nostalgia.
Well, back to the game. So the game starts out with the protagonist standing atop a mountain looking out at some distant scenery. The man servant of an evil wizard who, I will add, was genuinely creepy to me as a child; as I’m sure he was to our hero.
We didn’t make it too far through this game because apparently you need some sort of booklet with spells to be able to progress, but we did spend countless hours exploring the many ways the opening of this game can go wrong.
As I am watching this play through I realize that there is SO much stuff here that we simply never thought to try. Even an Easter egg that breaks the fourth wall and references Kings Quest IV. I love things like that!
I recall several of these moments with fondness, catching the cat and plucking some of its hair. Walking down the path being careful not to fall off (which you can totally do) and finally escaping the clutches of the evil wizard. There was a sense of peril because unlike most adventure games of the era there are several ways you can die in this game.
We would always get excited by the tension of the initial interactions in the house. The wizard popping up and chasing you around the house. In this video the player is deftly maneuvering to avoid all of that – but if you get a chance you should definitely attempt it because of all the comical ways this game can go wrong.
Watching the scene where Gwidyion is purchasing things from the shopkeeper I am suddenly sad I never lived in a time where I could go to a shop and buy goods that were ‘the best in the land’. With all of our fancy googling for reviews and return policies and industrialized commerce some of the magic has been trained from the local shopping experience… don’t you agree?
Pressing onward, I remember the town and the Three Bears house, which I did not recall that I remembered until I happened upon that moment in the video. Beyond here the game is unfamiliar.
From this point this is an inordinate amount of spell crafting. There was zero chance we were happening upon those spells without the guide. I had no idea there were bandits, pirates and shape-shifting.
It was quite an enjoyable watch-through, though I can tell you that it would likely have been a monumental task were I to have needed to figure out all of these puzzles on my own. The game completes by your character rescuing your long lost sister from a three headed dragon with some Thor potion, then being escorted by a gnome to the castle where you reunite with your long lost parents.
Having not played the other King’s Quest games I can assume that the king is a former main character from a previous game. Tossing out his adventure hat to his children.
The developers then broke the fourth wall again and pitch their other games in the series, games from other series and “for the adults” their new PG-13 rated adventure game “Leisure Suit Larry”… I never really played much of any of those games but I’m aware of what they are and I’ve gotta say it’s a pretty brazen move to put in an advertisement like that at the end of a game for “kids”. Though, I guess to be fair I was never in danger of seeing it as a kid.
Nostalgia, and a bit of retro gaming enjoyment are the name of the game here. If you are a fan of adventure games, retro games or games where you pluck hair and feathers from almost every animal you see (or all three?) this is definitely a must-play(/watch).
Till next time – I wish you peace and health!
-NG
