Anyone who played adventure games in the ‘80s and ‘90s probably has a list of favorite series and one-off titles from the era, like Quest for Glory or Day of the Tentacle. However, one franchise towered above the others in those days: King’s Quest. Sierra’s flagship product from designer Roberta Williams set the genre standard with gorgeous visuals, rewarding puzzles, and accessible storytelling that players of all ages could enjoy. Even though the last official entry released in 1998, many fans have yearned to return to the adventures of King Graham and the rest of Daventry’s royal family. That time has finally come; it’s time to dust off your blue adventuring cap and step into Graham’s boots once again. Developer The Odd Gentlemen (supported by Activision’s newly revived Sierra branch) is bringing back this timeless and revered series in a way that honors the past and brings something compelling to a new audience.
(This article originally ran in issue 262 of Game Informer)
A Classic Returns
Considering The Odd Gentlemen’s previous work on titles like The Misadventures of P.B. Winterbottom, the fact that this quirky and clever studio is making an adventure game is already exciting. Dealing with a well-established property like King’s Quest adds a special level of challenge to the project, since the team wants to respect the previous entries while still exploring new territory. “This isn’t a reboot, and it’s not necessarily a sequel,” says creative director Matt Korba. “It’s a reimagining. Everything that exists in the past games is still canon. These stories exist between those stories.”
Over the course of five episodes, the new King’s Quest lets players experience Graham’s previously unknown adventures. “We’re definitely not retelling the old games,” Korba says. “We’re nodding to them and respecting them, but this isn’t King’s Quest I HD.” The new scenarios deal with some of the blank spots in the King’s Quest timeline. How did Graham become a knight in King Edward’s court? How did his young love with Queen Valanice develop?
“It’s great, because when [Sierra] created the games, they left a lot of really cool breadcrumbs for what could have been side stories,” says The Odd Gentlemen vice president Lindsey Rostal. “It was like, ‘Hey, let’s pick this up and start to develop these components.’”
These tales from the past are framed by Graham’s present; he is now a very old man, and he is recounting his adventures to his granddaughter, Gwendolyn. She’s an energetic youngster who eats up the stories of Graham’s exploits, and she is eager to have her own exciting stories to tell. The two characters are situated on opposite ends of the adventuring spectrum – Graham’s days are almost done, and Gwendolyn’s are just beginning – but their shared enthusiasm creates a special bond.
Gwendolyn visits Daventry every summer, and spends much of the time in her grandfather’s bedchamber listening to – and learning from – his stories. This premise provides a unique opportunity to tie the past and present together; each episode has narrative threads in both time periods, usually linked by common themes. In the first installment, Gwendolyn (daughter of Alexander and Cassima) has signed up for a fencing tournament with her cousin Gart (son of Rosella and Edgar). Gwendolyn has doubts about her ability to succeed – doubts that Gart encourages. So Graham tells Gwendolyn about how he overcame the odds to become a knight.
Each episode follows this core formula, with Gwendolyn seeking advice and Graham doling it out by telling a story. However, in the first episode, players get an additional sequence at the beginning that eases them into the reimagined universe.
Into The Well
| The Slave Name |
Graham’s son Alexander was raised in captivity, bound to the service of an evil wizard. During that time, he didn’t know he was a prince. He didn’t even know his real name – instead, he was called Gwydion. Gwendolyn is Alexander’s daughter, and her name is inspired by the one her father once carried. Though you might think Alexander would prefer to forget everything about that time in his life, the truth is the complete opposite. “Why would he name his daughter after his slave name?” says creative director Matt Korba. “Because, for him, getting through that is a moment of pride." |
Instead of a bunch of cutscenes and tutorials, your King’s Quest adventure begins with Graham walking up to a well in the woods. Fans of the original should recognize the scene immediately, and the narration of old Graham sets the stage for the much younger Graham players are controlling: “I had not been back there in years, but it was the last place left to look.”
Despite the team’s desire to avoid retelling familiar parts of Graham’s adventures, this opening sequence is an exception. It reinterprets Graham’s acquisition of the magic mirror from the dragon in the well from the first King’s Quest. If that isn’t significant to you, don’t worry. “We want to make sure that if you’ve played all of the King’s Quests and you’re the biggest fan – like I am – you are going to appreciate this and get the hidden nods,” Korba says. “We also want to be sure to make a game that, even if you haven’t played any of them, you can still enjoy this as your first one.”
Players guide Graham down the forest path and toward the well. Like many modern entries in the genre, you control the character directly, and interact with objects in the environment with the press of a button – you won’t be using a text parser or cycling between “walk” and “talk” icons. “We wanted to boil everything down to a one-button context, so that the puzzles come out of the depth of the gameplay, not necessarily the weird interface,” Korba says. Even though the way you interact with it has changed, King’s Quest is still a pure adventure game in the classic sense, emphasizing puzzles, exploration, and storytelling. You won’t see any technical platforming sequences or action-heavy combat encounters.
After lowering the rope and climbing into the well, Graham sneaks through a series of tunnels in a vast underground cavern, the snores of the dragon thundering from within. Mattresses litter the environment along the way, and even hang from the ceiling by ropes. As if echoing the player’s thoughts, Gwendolyn’s voice interrupts, “Wait a minute! Beds hanging from stalactites?” Graham assures her that all will be explained. In fact, later in the episode, players return to the well as an even younger Graham, and see the origin of several things – stray arrows, forgotten skeletons – that might have seemed too convenient or conspicuous the first time through. Most episodes will stick to a single phase of Graham’s youth rather than time-hopping, but this helps tread both new and familiar ground for the first episode.
The puzzles in this section aren’t too complicated, considering it is the player’s introduction to the mechanics. Graham encounters a few switches that need to be turned and platforms that need to be lowered, but the most rewarding moments come from your non-essential interactions. When Graham walks by a bed, you can choose to have him jump in. Via narration, old Graham explains that this is an urgent situation, and no time to hide under the covers. However, if you continue to jump in the bed, old Graham admits that he did take a brief nap on an abandoned bed in the depths of a cave.
At one point, Graham chooses between two switches to open a door – one with a skeleton lying nearby. Even though the correct answer is obvious, the temptation to pull the lethal switch is tempting, and the results are predictable and amusing. “Obviously, death was a big part of the originals, and we want to keep that in,” Korba says. “We’re not going to have anything where you’re playing the game for six hours and then get stuck, but we really like the deaths.”
If you kill Graham, the framed narrative structure makes it easy to jump back in. Old Graham explains the situation like, “That’s what would have happened if I did that,” or silences Gwendolyn’s protests with excuses like, “I just wanted to see if you were paying attention.”
Next: Dealing with morality and exploration in King's Quest