Despite showing its age, Ravenloft: The Stone Prophet still scratches that old-school AD&D itch. It's an atmospheric, first-person 'blobber' that takes place in an Ancient Egyptian-inspired gothic horror setting. If you enjoy classic CRPGs or just want to explore an underutilized setting, this game needs to be on your list.
Forgotten Realms Unlimited Adventures came out in 1993 and it still has yet to be surpassed. It's a testament to just how good it is that almost a quarter century later the game still has an active modding community. FRUA, in short, is the epitome of the Gold Box engine in nearly every way. It is the most graphically advanced Gold Box game and includes all the later developments like dialogue options and overland travel. If you go through the slight hassle of installing UA Shell (which I strongly advise that you do) you'll open up a whole new world of classic AD&D modules with images and midi files that will tap into every nostalgic funny bone in your body. This is about as good as pen-and-paper roleplaying gets on the PC. Any fan of 1st of 2nd Edition will get countless hours of enjoyment out of the tons of high-quality adventures already released for this game and new ones are coming out all the time!
I'll admit, I didn't appreciate Conquests of Camelot the first time I played it. This was back in 1994 when I had purchased a highly discounted copy from the bargain bin of a local computer store (remember those??). I was a huge fan of Sierra games and I wasn't disappointed as soon as I opened the box. All of you who remember playing those classic point-and-click adventure games back in the day probably recall the consistently amazing 'feelies' that Sierra would stuff into the box. Conquests of Camelot was no different and I dare say that it's Liber Ex Doctrina was one of my favorites ever. I inserted disk after disk through the lengthy installation process and couldn't wait to dive into this game. I loved anything Arthurian and this was the first time I'd get to experience the legend in an adventure game! Alas, I was too young to appreciate the wonder that is Conquests of Camelot. You see, this game came out at a strange time in 1990. Only two years later, improved Super VGA graphics and updated point-and-click UIs would make its CGA graphics and text parser look positively archaic. As a superficial teenager, this felt like a huge step back. I couldn't get past the 'oldness' of the game and quickly lost patience. And there it remained for a good, long while before I returned to it again in my mid-30's -- and absolutely loved it! As other reviewers have noted, the game is not for everybody. It's clearly dated in both graphics and gameplay and some puzzles can be unintuitive. However, the love the Christy Marx put into this game really shines through. The attention to detail makes this one of the most immersive Sierra titles that I've ever played. It's still one of the best Arthurian PC games on the market and uses a non-traditional sub-Roman setting, although the characters and themes will all feel familiar. If you have any interest in Arthurian legend or classic adventure games in general, I cannot recommend this title highly enough!
