King's Quest

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King's Quest

King's Quest - AMI - USA.jpg

Amiga - USA - Re-release.

Developer Sierra On-Line
Publisher Sierra On-Line
Published 1984-05-10
Platforms Amiga, Apple II, Apple IIgs, Atari ST, DOS, Macintosh Classic, Master System, PC Booter, PCjr
Genres Adventure, Graphic adventure, Passive puzzle, Puzzle
Themes Adventure, Cartoon, Fantasy
Series King's Quest
Distribution Commercial

King's Quest is a graphic adventure puzzle video game developed and published by Sierra On-Line, for the PCjr on 1984-05-10, and later ported to several other platforms. It is the first in the King's Quest series and the first game to utilize Sierra's Adventure Game Interpreter engine. It is a pioneer of the PC graphical adventure genre, a genre that remained hugely popular for another decade in the industry and spawned many rivals, most of whom made better games than Sierra. After a sequel was released, Sierra re-released King's Quest in 1987 with the title King's Quest I: Quest For the Crown with new box art and a slightly improved program.

Personal

Own?Yes. MS-DOS port on Steam.
Won?Yes, without a full score.
FinishedAround 2000.

I first played King's Quest after it was re-released in the King's Quest: Collection Series in 1997. Having already played King's Quest VI, I remember being very unimpressed by the low-quality graphics and sound. Over the span of a couple years, I worked at the game long enough to beat it.

Review

Video Game Review Icon - Enjoyment.png Video Game Review Icon - Control.png Video Game Review Icon - Appearance.png Video Game Review Icon - Sound.png Video Game Review Icon - Replayability.png
3 3 3 2 3

Best Version: DOS (SCI Remake)

— This section contains spoilers! —

Good

  • The game has a fair amount of charm, incorporating various fairy tales.
  • Though very dated now, the game is a pioneer in the PC-based adventure game. Hundreds of games have used this game's concept of a single screen as a room and walking off-screen into the next room.
  • The AGI engine was well-made and served to make about another dozen Sierra games.

Bad

  • There are far too many ways to die!
  • By using fairy tales as a basis for several of the puzzles, the answers were often too obvious.
  • Some of the monsters aren't really puzzles they just get in the way, like the wolf, troll, and thieving gnome.
  • The jump, duck, and swim buttons are annoying, and I'm glad they got rid of them in the sequels.
  • The wrap-around world layout is dumb. It basically means the world is a tiny torus floating in space.
  • Although it was acceptable for the day, the graphics are not very professionally drawn. There is even the occasional uncolored pixel that was overlooked.
  • There are a couple of ways to put the game in an unwinnable state, most of which are caused by the gnome, but I've always just reloaded if he every robbed me. Another way that's built right into the game is with the ability to drop items. Dropped items cannot be picked back up again, so they usually make the game unwinnable. They wisely removed this ability in later versions of the game.

Ugly

  • Too many of the puzzles are just walking hazards. That's not adventure, that's keyboard dexterity. And, since you can save anywhere, the only purpose they serve is to slow the game down.

Media

Box Art

Documentation

Maps

Screenshots

Videos

Review - PushingUpRoses.
Review - Hungry Goria.
Longplay, DOS.

Play Online

Apple II, Master System, MS-DOS

Representation

Strong female character?FailThere are a couple women, but they're ancillary characters.
Bechdel test?FailThe women never talk to each other.
Strong person of color character?FailEveryone is white.
Queer character?FailThere are no queer characters.

Links

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