Posted on: September 27, 2023

Early Access review

rcstaats

Games: 84 Reviews: 7

Nice, fun throw-back in 3D form

I was really surprised when this game showed up. I had not heard any buzz about it. Wizardry was the first game I played on a personal, portable computer (Apple ][ ), and I have many happy memories of it. The new 3D version is true to the original game. Death is frequent and brutal, and you need to exercise some significant party management skills. Your hands sweat as you try to get out of the Maze before a random encounter kills off one of your prized party members. The controls are a bit clunky at times. For example, in the original game, I remember being able to swap equipment between players, but I have not found a way in this new version. There were also some wanky mechanics where the Maze shifted before my eyes. It was the second level; so it is highly probably a bug rather than some magical effect. I have only been down to the second level, and then, I had to start over because of a random encounter gone wrong (party was *extremely* unlucky), but that is also the way the original game was. All in all, for a game in development, it is already a lot of fun. I look forward to continued play and see the improvements as they are developed.

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Posted on: July 24, 2024

hatlock

Verified owner

Games: 698 Reviews: 4

Forget the hate, this game's great

Let's be honest, this is one of the greatest remaster/remakes of all time. In it's current state, the game has so many options to relive the old school experience or shave off all of the pointy (razor sharp, rusty, poisoned, level draining) edges. In the end, what made this game truly shine stand out. It was great, it's still great. Wizardry 1, already inspirational, can now show off it's great ideas and immense fun without players needing to know all of its rules and idiosyncrasies first. That said, you need to engage in the game's systems, understand each monster's peril, carefully manage your resources. What this game takes out: -Needing to create your own game guide while you play (it can still be very useful to draw your own map, but now you can cast a spell to confirm if you are correct and reveal your mistakes) -Needing to grind up a recovery team when things go wrong in the dungeon -Rerolling characters to get decent stats If you liked those things, guess what, the options are still there! What the game puts in: Basically everything from the previous definitive version (the SNES "Nintendo Power" version) including: -Better in game map -colorful enemy sprites and animations -thieves and ninja can hide from the backrow (basically allows them to attack from the back row every other turn) Things that weren't in that version: -lots more QOL features (all optional!) -sweet mini view of what the original game looked like in the bottom right corner (best feature) -mouse controls! (but the keyboard ones are very good) -Your highest party level is noted to help you recruit a recovery team (all of the financial pain of a party wipe, the thrill of the recovery, but none of the grinding). -better DUMAPIC usability and bestiary

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Posted on: August 19, 2025

jrivett

Verified owner

Games: 52 Reviews: 1

A good start

I played the Wizardry series a lot when they were released, and completed all of the games multiple times. I'm also currently playing Wizardry I in an Apple II emulator. The main problem I have with this remake is that it's WAY more difficult than the original game. My entire party has been wiped out during the first encounter, on the first level, in the first room entered, multiple times. There's no difficulty setting, but somehow the developers made the monsters WAY tougher. My other observation is that while the graphics and audio are nice, the UI is weirdly clunky and inconsistent. The original game is literally easier to use. I'll stick with it, but so far it's been frustrating.

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Posted on: October 21, 2023

Early Access review

Moopybuns

Verified owner

Games: 817 Reviews: 1

The Classic Reborn in Early Access

Wizardry Proving Grounds of the Mad Overlord is back now with modernizations and better introductory improvements to the original. This remake contains a great soundtrack, impressive enemy models as well as 3d environments, and an overall classic dungeon crawler experience. The old-school Wizardry grind of overcoming the maze floors and defeating tough enemies with initially stacked odds is a satisfying experience to overcome. Misplays and overestimation will cost you dearly and party wipes are crushing. Sometimes the game is just brutal. The series is infamously known for this difficulty, and this title stays true to all this. Wizardry is a game franchise that makes you play smart but also take chances for better and for worse. Hopefully the developers will give more options for newcomers as the old school faithfulness likely won't align with modern sensibilities. The poor newcomers that come to this expecting some typical RPG are bound to get rocked hard even with the custom difficulty options. The UI needs some adjustment for better facilitation of party and menu management. Faithfulness and Opportunity for this remake seem to be at odds with each other, which as a new title I hope it overcomes. I had fun though, and now I just want more Wizardry. This game is in early access and definitely still needs tweaks/polish for accessibility and player input, as to be expected. As both a restoration, reimagining, and/or remake it faces some challenge on what it will ultimately be but it has plenty of promise. Knowing what you’re getting into really makes it or breaks it. More updates are on the way for additional features and tweaks. I'm look forward to what comes next. P.S. Please Add quicksaves/loads and rebindings. If you know you know.

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Posted on: April 24, 2024

Early Access review

Tom Bakers Ar*e

Verified owner

Games: 204 Reviews: 12

Utterly phenomenal

Played the original 40 some years ago on my old Apple IIc ... this version is just breathtaking and really makes me weep with joy every time I play. So pretty. And built right on top of the original Apple II codebase to boot ! Wow .... just wow.

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