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This is definitely a surprise! I hadn't heard a word about this. The very ancient and very classic (afaik, it's the very first party-based dungeon crawler video game) Wizardry: Proving Grounds of the Mad Overlord has just been rereleased with modern graphics. It's still in Early Access, but in this case that largely means that some of the graphics and animations might be improved. The core of the game is the original Apple II compile (which, amusingly, means no mouse support; the devs have it on their list of things to add).

What that means?

- It's purely an old-style hack and slash dungeon crawler game with much prettier graphics (the dungeon corridor isn't ray-traced anymore)
- It is *extremely* difficult and unforgiving
- Controller dexterity won't help you; it's purely a "press key to attack and the computer performs a skill check to determine if you hit" combat
- You *will* get lost in the dungeon if you don't create maps

Given tastes these days, I suspect that this is largely for nostalgia, or for someone who's interested in looking at a classic piece of video game history.

Huh.

I don't know how to feel about this. PGotMO was my very, very first computer game in the way long ago. Yes, on an Apple IIc.

The graphics aren't terrible, but if its 'authentic' game play that's going to be really rough. There are a lot of game mechanics and conventions that just don't feel good anymore.

Voss wrote:
Huh.

I don't know how to feel about this. PGotMO was my very, very first computer game in the way long ago. Yes, on an Apple IIc.

The graphics aren't terrible, but if its 'authentic' game play that's going to be really rough. There are a lot of game mechanics and conventions that just don't feel good anymore.

Yup. A lot of game play elements that were perfectly fine back in the day are things that many players will refuse to deal with these days.

On a related note, there are the known bugs from the Apple IIe version. These are apparently on a "we'll review them on a case by case" standard.

However, on a closer inspection, it appears that they have made a few allowances. There's a mini-map available by default. The number of bonus stat points is preset based on race. Age works differently. And a few others things (one of which is apparently from the NES release). But you can also turn all of those options off (which is a good idea with the bonus stat points, since the highest default any race gets is '12', and not the '29' you can potentially get if you're patient with the rerolls...) and play in Classic mode.

There are also a few things that will work differently. For example, the devs have noted that since creatures have unique sprites in their version, they can't really hide the identity of them (something that the original apparently did until you had fought a given creature type a few times). So they're introducing a bestiary, instead, which will fill up as you repeatedly fight each kind of monster.

There are bugs, of course, even with the basic code. Presumably this is because it's running on Windows now, and not an Apple IIe. Hopefully they'll be resolved soon. The worst bug appears to reset the options and characters seemingly at random. Any options you've set get undone. Any custom party members get deleted. And the pre-made characters have their stats and levels reset. Not good.

The devs have said that they don't yet know whether they'll release the two sequels. I imagine that will depend on the sales.


One thing that should be noted - the MSRP right now is $30, and it's available on Steam and - of course - GOG (which has it on sale right now). Version 1.0 is scheduled for sometime in 2024, and they have stated that the price will increase as they get closer to release. That seems a bit steep to me, but it's what they're asking for.