If you're a fan of the Ultima Underworld games, then you will definitely want to give this one a go. There's even a demo out there if you want to try it first. While this may not take place in the same setting as the Ultima series, it was inspired by the UW games and has a similar atmosphere to it. It also has elements of Thief like leaning, stealth, etc. It even has the voice actor who did Garrett! The graphics are decent for the era but not cutting edge. Music and sound effects are ok too, but aren't very memorable. There are some bugs and other issues but,,, I recommend installing Arx Libertatis to eliminate some bugs and add QoL features. It will likely set off virus alerts. I was skeptical, but I submitted it to Malwarebytes and they said it was free of viruses and would update to remove the false positive. Controls take a bit to get used to. You need your weapon out to use mouse look as far as I can tell. There is a decent mini map and you can fully customize your character rather than choosing a class. Skills are typical wizard, warrior, thief. Wizard is pretty OP. Speaking of which, the magic system is interesting. It requires you draw the runes for the spell you want to cast in order. You do so with your mouse on the screen. I can be a bit tedious, but you can pre-draw up to 3 spells, so that helps. Ark Libetratis definitely makes this easier by making the drawing not need to be as precise. Story line is decent, but nothing unforgettable. Quests and puzzles are decent. The main thing lacking is a bit of polish. I think a remake would do this game a lot of justice. It isn't perfect, but it is fun if you like games like Ultima Underworld. A word of warning - it can affect some people with motion sicnkess, but at least with Arx Libertatis, not sure about vanilla, you can change visual settings like FOV.
Why 1 star? In Win 11 this game gives me a black screen and a spinning blue circle and no amount of reinstalling fixes it. It freezes up so hard I can't even break out with Ctrl+Alt+Delete, even though I have that set to be on top of other applications. The only recourse I have is to forceably power down the machine. I recommend avoiding until this is fixed. I will keep trying and update my review if things change. Game Rating (3.5 Stars): Unlike a lot of the other ratings, I actually think this was a decent game for the time. Live-action cutscenes, graphics made from a combination of photos and art, pushed content limits, the music is decent, sound effects are alright, the storyline isn't bad for the time, and the acting is no worse than its contemporaries. While easier than most of the period, it does have the "Sierra adventure" signature of confusing you on how to progress and easy deaths (at a certain point), but hey, that's how most of the advenutre games from long ago were - less-than-forgiving. If you are a fan of horror and like old (1980's - 1990's) adventure games from the likes of Sierra and LucasArts, then I would recommend this game. No, it isn't a 100+ hour adventure like modern games are, but it's an alright game and falls somewhere between an adventure game and a visual novel in terms of interactivity.
As others have mentioned, lockpicking won't work. I'm playing this on Windows 11 and can't get past the first part of mission 1 where you need to pick a lock. You enter lockpicking mode, but are unable to do anything and are returned to the game several seconds later. IMO, this issue should be fixed before continuing to sell it. It's unplayable. As for the game itself, it has better graphics than the first two, but isn't as fun. The story in it is meh. I see what they were going for, focusing on the Keepers in the main plotline, but it doesn't feel as connected to the world lore as the original two. The gameplay is alright. I prefer the older games because the levels were bigger and better designed. There are a few new features, like guards with torches, snuffing candles with your fingers, etc. Some of those are welcome additions, and the better graphics do help you see around the levels better. I experienced an issue with the graphics where when exit, your Window's resolution is changed, sometimes to a resolution you didn't even use (I ended up in 640x480). The other two Thief games on GOG don't have that issue. My overall rating is 3 stars (1 star unti this version works). This game is average. If you're a Thief series fan, then I would recommend it if you can find a working version. If you've never played the series before and are ok with older graphics, then I highly recommend playing the first one and if you like it, the second. Save this one for later.
I would give this a 5 star if it were only a rating for the gameplay, fun factor, graphics/sound for the time, level design, etc. Unfortunately, there are so many bugs in the game that it can frustrate even the biggest fans of the series and tactics games. Let's start with the good. The music and feels like a Fallout game. Sound effects and voice acting are good, though you miss out on the talking heads from the previous two games. The graphics and animation are a big improvement and the areas feels a lot more detailed. The level design is truly amazing. You have hostage situations, alarms enemies can pull, stealthed enemies, ambushes, sandbags you can duck behind, ladders you can use to climb a building and snipe... it's great! The combat has also greatly improved. You can choose AI for your characters on how they react (or don't), whether they stand, squat, or lay down, all of which have different benefits. Overall, if you like Fallout and like Tactics games, you'll LOVE this game... but there are many flaws - read on. Now with the bad. You have the standard map to move from area A to B, and the random encounters are numerous and annoying. The difficulty is very unbalanced. Even on easy, your best characters can easily be wasted in 1 or 2 shots. The randomness of the combat damage is so ridiculous, that one lucky shot will end the game. Needless to say, this is one of those games where you will want to save every time you make a good move. Path finding is also bad. Now the buggy. The game can start locking up. You'll noticed it when your keyboard fails to respond quickly. Best you can do is save, exit, restart. This happens for me every level or two. Mysterious things can happen like radiation, NPCs dying, etc. with no explanation. This can kill a mission. Enemies can also spawn in objects and be stuck. There's more, but that's a few. I'm out of characters, so I'll wrap this up by saying great game, get it, but be aware of the bugs or you'll pull your hair out
Another installment from the wonderful age of Sierra adventure games. This one follows King Arthur in his search for the grail... with a twist. It feels like a short game, but it is definitely interesting and the manual even includes some history about myths and legends, which are the basis for many of the puzzles, so have your manual handy. The background art is nice and fitting, and the character art is diverse. The sound effects are there, but don't expect much. The music is well done for the time. The controls are like most standard adventure games, although this one is a combination of mouse (or keyboard) navigation and commands issued by typing them on the keyboard. Now for the bad. The action... is... AWFUL! No really, it's almost more guessing than even trial-and-error. I salute Sierra for trying to add this aspect, but honestly I think it detracts from the game. And a word of warning... the final action sequence, a fight, is one of the most rage-inducing, frustrating moments of any game I have ever played. There seems to be no pattern, logic, etc. to the combat. You can change the difficulty, but in my experience it made no difference. Be prepared to spend hours, yes, hours restoring your saved game and retrying to win the battle. Oh, and once you are in an action sequence, you can't restore, quit, etc. You can only sit through minutes of agony, or close the program and restart. Despite the awful action, I still recommend getting this game to any fan of Sierra games, or point-n-click (or command typing) adventure games. You'll have fun, but just keep in mind what you're getting into, and don't let frustrating action sequences detract from your quest to find the grail.
This game is very similar to the previous incarnation, Crusader: No Remorse. This game added a few interesting features, but is otherwise very similar. A large increase in difficulty hurts the fun factor. Let's look at some of the features: As with the first, the music is excellent. The sound effects are great, and I would say the live action video is better in this one. Unfortunately, they are plentiful and often come at very bad times mid-battle, etc. And often they are before areas where you die, so reloading and having to skip an FMV 10 times is not fun. The story feels like more of an add-on than a stand alone. You have more weapons and more ways to kill the enemy. You also have a lot of new objects to damage and destroy. The graphics are excellent for the time. The controls are improved from the previous incarnation, but are still not good. The character is slow enough that even if you have a quick reaction time, you can still be easily killed through no fault of your own. The challenge is way up from the last one, adding one hit kills into the first levels for even the lowest difficulty level. The levels are more devious, which would be fine, but the enemies are more plentiful and seem to spawn all over the place, and with the way the screen "jumps" instead of scrolls, makes for many nasty surprises that lead to a lot of frustration and reloading. While this game was a great concept for its time, the mechanics of the engine are so poor that it really isn't worth plaiyng unless you grew up with it. Being repetitively shot while you are slowly turning to meet your foe, or insta-killed by a robot the second you walk into a room, etc. gets old fast. If you are willing to push through rocky gameplay, then you can enjoy the sights and sounds, which really are amazing. I would HIGHLY recommend getting Crusader: No Remorse first, as I find it reasonbly less difficult and a better entry point to the series. Again, so much potential, but wasted with a bad engine.
This game is really a mixed bag for me. On one hand the asthetics, concept, story, setting, etc. are really interesting. On the other hand, the game mechanics and controls are some of the worst in the industry. Let's start by looking at the good. Disclaimer: This game came out in 1995, so I'm rating it by those standards. Audio: The music. Not only does it fit the game, it is also very good. The sound effects are also well done. The story is interesting enough to keep you wondering where things will go next. Visuals: The cut sequences are well done for the era and the budget, both the live action and the 3D. The level design does a good job not being too repetitive, and makes good use of a limited amount of objects. Better yet, you can destroy or seriously damage most of the objects in the game! Combine that with the ability to deliver different death animations to your enemies, and you have an added level of realism. Conceptual: The story is standard, but interacting with different characters and going on different missions adds depth. To sum it up, its like sci-fi Diablo without the RPG elements. Now onto the bad... Controls: These cripple the game and are easily some of the worst in any mainstream game. You turn slow, you ready your weapon slow, sometimes your character fails to react, and I don't feel that all of the controls are intuitive. Game Mechanics: Again, horrible. The movement is choppy and you don't scroll screens, rather the screen "jumps" to the next location... surprise, there's a robot right in front of you that instantly kills you! The 3D layers can be difficult to see properly, and thus jumping is a major problem, not to mention the strange stutter when you fall. Enemies are shooting you, but you can't shoot them back. Auto-aim fails often and/or you can't shoot the small target you want. The concept was great, but this game didn't have the technology to match its ambition. I would avoid this game unless you really love older games.
This is one of my favorite strategy games. It's humorous and cartoony atmosphere adds a lot to the overall experience. You play as an evil "Keeper" who has to build rooms to attract creatures to your dungeon and make sure their needs (food, gold, sleep) are met so they don't become unhappy and leave. It's really addictive and the difficulty isn't too hard in single player mode. I give this game a solid 5 stars. However, on my Windows 10 Home machine I experience frequent crashes when the game goes on for too long (30+ minutes). Sometimes it simply crashes to desktop and I get a popup error. Other times my entire computer freezes, forcing me to reboot. It never crashed like this when I first got the game when it came out. The game is still playable though, but I would recommend saving often if you hit the 20 minute mark.
