Wizardry: Proving Grounds of the Mad Overlord

Genre: First-Person Dungeon Crawler / Turn-Based RPG

Players: 1

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Review:

Wizardry: Proving Grounds of the Mad Overlord, originally released in 1981 on the Apple II computer and since ported to numerous other platforms, is unquestionably one of the most important and influential videogames of all-time. This game, along with the original Ultima (also released in 1981) created the groundwork that virtually all videogame RPGs that followed would build on. It was directly cited as one of the main inspirations in the creation of Dragon Quest, Final Fantasy, and Shin Megami Tensei, just to name a few.

The original game used simple lines to depict the game’s labyrinthine dungeons, showed your party listed by their names only, had no music, and was highly primitive by today’s standards. But for its time, it was revolutionary. It pioneered game mechanics we take for granted today, such as character creation, dungeon exploration, and spellcasting systems.

In this release of the game in 2024 on PC, PlayStation 4, Xbox One, and Nintendo Switch, developer Digital Eclipse has shown their usual reverence for the source material while brushing up various elements of the game to be closer to modern standards. However, showing their work, Digital Foundry has provided players with a small window showing the original game running alongside their actions, both as a reminder that what they’re playing is still built on top of the framework of the original, and also giving them the option to change over to the classic version, if for some bizarre reason they want to.

That the presentation in this release of the game is leaps and bounds over the original game goes without saying – after 43 years, it would be shocking if it wasn’t. However, even so, this remake looks and sounds excellent, with nice-looking 3D dungeons, well-animated 3D enemies, and decent 2D character art for your party. This is joined by a wonderful orchestral soundtrack befitting this game’s medieval fantasy theme, with excellent songs like Dragon Slayer, Gilgamesh’s Tavern, Adventurer’s Inn, Temple of Cant, Heroes in Training, Thieves Dagger, Dungeon Bestiary, Boltac’s Trading Post, Wrath of the Wizard, and my favorite of the bunch, Lord of the Castle, the game’s town theme.

Unfortunately, the updates to the gameplay here are far more modest, and this is where the game starts to run into problems. The core First-Person Dungeon Crawling gameplay still works, and has even received modern updates like automatic map-making. The problem is that Wizardry was, and remains, painfully punishing, and in ways that are not at all satisfying.

Your fate in this game always seems tied to a random number generator, and its results can vary wildly. This is not just for things like combat, but even game mechanics that people tend to take for granted these days are tied to randomness here. Whenever you defeat enemies and earn treasure, it’s random whether the treasure box is trapped, and then it’s random what type of trap. If you have a class capable of disarming traps, there’s a random chance they’ll detect the correct type of trap, and then it’s random whether they’ll succeed in disarming it, if they even deduced the correct trap.

When (not if), the trap inevitably activates because the game decided you got a bad roll, there’s a random chance the trap may do enough damage to kill a party member, especially if your party members are already damaged. At that point, you need to trudge back to town, where you need to spend a lot of coin for a random chance to revive them. If that fails, you can spend a lot more coin for another random chance… and if that fails, perma-death.

In games that involve random chance, there’s usually some sort of way to mitigate or avoid that outcome, but not so in Wizardry. You can’t just avoid chests that may be trapped, because all chests may be trapped. You can’t just avoid chests altogether and buy your gear, because all money is received from chests or by selling things found in chests. If you get gear from a chest, it needs to be identified, and every time you try there’s a random chance it won’t work and you’ll be out what you spent… and this can happen over and over and over again, until you’ve spent all your money to get absolutely zero results.

I don’t have a problem with difficult RPGs. The Etrian Odyssey series of First-Person Dungeon Crawlers, a series I love, is generally regarded as being particularly difficult. But Wizardry isn’t just difficult, it is constantly playing dice with your fate, and there seems little you can do about it – eventually you will lose. The game even encourages you to not get attached to your party members and just hire new ones to replace the pile of bodies that you leave in your wake. Which either means they start back at level one or you’ll be spending even more gold.

Because of this, I recommend that most players stay away from Wizardry: Proving Grounds of the Mad Overlord. Yes, even though it is one of the most important videogames ever made. Yes, even though it has received a wonderful makeover from a development team who clearly worked hard to preserve the original game while updating it for the modern era. Everything about this game is wonderful… except the game itself, which is a frustrating, torturous ordeal.

tl;dr – Wizardry: Proving Grounds of the Mad Overlord is a remake of the highly-influential 1981 Turn-Based RPG and Dungeon Crawler by the same name, updating the presentation and some gameplay elements. Unfortunately, far too much of the game relies on randomness that is not only punishing, but apparently impossible to mitigate or avoid. Because of this, and despite the clear amount of love and reverence this remake has for the original, I do not recommend this game. The parts of it that have been carried over from the original have aged exceptionally poorly.

Grade: C-

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This game has been nominated for one or more of eShopperReviews 2024 Game Awards:

Runner-Up: Best Port/Remake, Best Music, Best Song – Lord of the Castle by Winifred Phillips, Most Overrated

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