43 years later, an early pioneer of the RPG genre that inspired Final Fantasy and Dragon Quest gets a remake using the original source code
May. 24, 2024The Wizardry: Proving Grounds of the Mad Overlord remake is “built directly on top of the original 1981 game’s code”
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The remake of Wizardry: Proving Grounds of the Mad Overlord, one of the first and most influential RPGs ever made,just launched on Steamafter a few months in Early Access and 43 years after the original.
A quick history lesson: Released way back in 1981, Wizardry: Proving Grounds of the Mad Overlord is ostensibly the first-ever team-based RPG, going on to directly inspire some of thebest RPGsever made like Final Fantasy and Dragon Quest. It’s since received numerous sequels and ports, but never a full-fat remake until now.
I say “full fat,” but it’s worth delineating between this and something like, say, Final Fantasy 7 Remake, which of course is a dramatically different game from the original at a foundational level. Here, we have a remake literally “built directly on top of the original 1981 game’s code,” just with modernized visuals, sound, and UI, as well as touched-up party management, navigation, spellcasting, and combat systems. In its “commitment to accuracy,” developer and publisher Digital Eclipse even built in the option to switch to the original Apple II interface.
Wizardry: Proving Grounds of the Mad Overlord starts you off by letting you assemble your party from an assortment of five races, three alignments, and four starter classes. From there, you’re off to your first dungeon in search of Werdna, an evil wizard in possession of a magical amulet whose rightful owner is the Mad Overlord Trebor.
The original game has a reputation for being brutal and unforgiving, and while Digital Eclipse says the “well-known difficulty of the enemies has not been altered,” the remake does have plenty of quality-of-life improvements that should make it a good deal more approachable.
It’s never a bad time to peruse our list of thebest PC gamesto play right now.
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After scoring a degree in English from ASU, I worked as a copy editor while freelancing for places like SFX Magazine, Screen Rant, Game Revolution, and MMORPG on the side. Now, as GamesRadar’s west coast Staff Writer, I’m responsible for managing the site’s western regional executive branch, AKA my apartment, and writing about whatever horror game I’m too afraid to finish.
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