And yet another DRM-free RPG. Nice release! Thank you, GOG!

Bought. The Wizardry Series was one of my favorite RPG's. I can still remember scenes from some of them.

The closest game to this I played was Legend of Grimrock, and I gave up on that game after a few hours because I absolutely hated that starvation mechanic - same reason why I stopped playing Lone Survivor, as well, and I know both are good games.

Do you have to feed your characters every now and then so they won't die in this game, too?

It's at times like these that I feel I'm doing myself a great disservice by having never played a Wizardry game or even a clone.

I played Wizardry 5 on the SNES; never beat the thing. Now I'm feeling kind of nostalgic; maybe I'll fire it up again.

No, there's no food.

I've never played the older Wizardry games either (just the last one, and it wasn't grid-based), but in recent years I've come to play several of these Japanese Wizardry clones. Some are, as I've come to understand, very close to the original Wizardry games like Elminage and Class of Heroes, some have the same heart but give a more modern spin on them like Etrian Odyssey.

It takes a specific kind of person to get into them, I think. In this day of instant gratification games, most people don't want to dig into a game like this. The first dungeon is always the toughest at will humble you. Reading the manual is always a good idea, but many mechanics will still feel obtuse (on the other hand, if you already have experience in Wizardry or clones, you'll feel right at home). Spending time on rolling a good party and checking out some party creation guides before even booting up the game is highly advisable.

The initial treshold is high. Once you pass it though, they become so addicting it's silly. The reason is that unlike in easy RPGs, every single level-up, new weapon, or progress in the dungeons actually means something. And because after the initial difficulty you can expect to make slow but constant progress, the game is constantly rewarding you. That's what makes it fun and addictive.

Of course I'm generally speaking of these Japanese Wizardry clones, not this particular iteration since I haven't played it yet... But I've really, really come to enjoy them, and Elminage: Original (the PSP game) was one of my personal favorites. I'm playing Etrian Odyssey III at the moment, and having a ton of fun. So, if this type of genre is something you are interested in, just understand that they are delayed gratification games. Don't expect to 'get it' after one hour. Is it worth the bother? Absolutely.

I only ever used MALOR when I had the bloody level entirely mapped, as a shortcut to avoid mobs. Can't imagine anyone would use it for exploration *shivers*.
Wizardry 1-3, good times. I should finally buckle up and restart Wizardry 5, never finished that one.

And of course, the moment you get careless and/or cocky during that slow death march, the game will fuck you. Goddamn poison giants horde loitering on the entry point of one of the lower levels of Wizardry 2.

Very happy about this release. The moment I heard that Ghostlight intended to publish their games on GOG, this game was the one I immediately thought of. It's absolutely perfect for the service, since games resembling old-school RPGs are quite successful here.

Even though it's already been out on Steam, I really think it has a chance to be quite successful here. And if it does end up being successful, that would certainly give Ghostlight even more incentive to continue releasing titles here...maybe even Way of the Samurai 4. :)

Has anyone gotten this to work in WINE? Comments from the Steam forums suggest it's possible, but it seems like it needs .dlls from WMP9/10 which I can't seem to get.

I wouldn't blame them if they did... I mean it is at least 13 years old.

I've at least added it to my wishlist for now. Thank you for the detailed information!

I see. Thanks.

If a game can run on older systems based on XP, GOG has its reasons to test and support it. :-)
GOG officially supports XP anyway.