In
a recent surprise, the Anonymous Game Developers over at AGD Interactive
announced they were about to release their take on King’s
Quest 3: To Heir is Human. I thought they were done with remaking
old classics for various different reasons. King’s Quest
3 is one of my favorite games. In terms of storytelling in the
adventure genre, this is the first time Roberta Williams got it perfect.
I was excited about seeing their take on it and they gifted me with
a review copy.

The Setup
For those of you
who have played the original King’s Quest 3, in this
game you’ll enter the shoes of Gwydion, a slave of the evil
wizard Manannan. Gwydion is coming up on his 18th Birthday and has
never known a life beyond service to the wizard. He is starting to
wonder if there is life beyond his meager dwellings. Can you help
Gwydion escape the evil wizard and discover the true secret of his
identity?

Along
the way you’ll learn some of the wizard’s magic and battle
with pirates, spiders, tricky mountain paths, the Abominable snowman,
and the three-headed dragon that has terrorized your homeland. So,
strap on your bottomless backpack and start exploring the countryside.

Game Extensions
When AGD Interactive
recreated King’s Quest 2, they took a lot of the disparate
plot elements and tied them together in a story taking inspiration
from the original King’s Quest 2, but also from some of the
future games by bringing in plot elements from future games. King’s
Quest 3 Redux is not the detraction from the original that KQ2+ was,
however it is not a one-to-one recreation either. I always worry when
someone starts to mess with important influences from my childhood.

The
game expands on the relationship between Gwydion and Manannan. It
is a subtle addition, but very strong and adds depth to the story
not in the original implementation. Gwydion’s time on the pirate
ship is also expanded and he gets to play cabin boy, mirroring much
of the chores he did for the evil wizard. I found this a nice parallel
that, even when Gwydion is moving forward with his adventure, he is
still held back.

One of the biggest challenges
of the original game was creating the magic spells. There was a lot
of typing and if you had a single typo or were not exact, things could
end disastrously for you. This game makes it a little easier while
also retaining some sense of frustration. It’s still pretty
easy to die in the heat of spell-making, although the point-and-click
interface is much preferred over the frustrating typing approach.

A
few of the changes didn’t ring true to the original game. In
the middle of the game there is a whole new section which feels out
of place, stylistically, with the original game. It’s nice to
come across some new puzzles and settings, but this feels very much
like it was tacked on at the last minute. This side adventure does
allow you to get an inventory item that is important at the very end
of the adventure.

Sound and Graphics
The graphics
are beautifully done for a free game. They won’t match the standards
of some of today’s game blockbusters, but they are a great upgrade
from the original. The animation and cut scenes are simple but effective.
Most of the game plays out through the puzzles and exploration of
the land.

The
background music fits the game nicely and adds to the ambience in
such a way that you’d only notice it if it were gone. I do give
a bad mark for the voiceovers. The voices struck me as grating at
first, but I quickly adjusted and after five minutes into the game
I wasn’t bothered anymore.

Final Thoughts
The games coming
out of AGD Interactive are great fun and they are an enjoyable way
to spend a few nostalgic hours. I am thankful for the work they do
to help me relive some fond childhood memories. They obviously have
a lot of care for the original subject material. However, why not
focus your time on creating something else? Instead of drawing so
heavily on the past, I’d like to see them focus on creating
new characters, in new locations, with different challenges. Focus
your talents on creating some new, original, adventures for us to
enjoy instead of hanging out at remake alley.

System Requirements:
None Available