King’s Quest III

To Heir is Human

KQ3 Box

KQ3 Box

“The release of this product in 1986 was quickly met with loud protests from gamers claiming that this King’s Quest wasn’t really a King’s Quest at all. Because it focused on a young slave named Gwydion and his attempts to escape his evil master, players didn’t grasp the connection between Gwydion and King Graham of Daventry until they finished the game some months later. (This was before Sierra began offering hint books or a hint line.)”

“It was here that a programmer named Al Lowe, the future designer of the Leisure Suit Larry series, learned the internals of adventure game programming. An exciting feature of King’s Quest 3 was automatic mapping. This feature was widely promoted on King’s Quest 3’s introduction … however, it was not included in future King’s Quest games [except for the new King’s Quest 8], since players’ feedback indicated that it reduced the challenge. This mapping feature was later built into Roberta Williams’ Mixed-Up Mother Goose adventure game for children, where it was better appreciated.”

“Step into the tattered shoes of Gwydion, a young slave whose existence has been spent serving the powerful and evil wizard Mannanan. But now your usefulness to him is ending, and a landmark birthday approaches — you are certain that Mannanan will choose to end your miserable life that day. With nothing left to lose, you must finally dare to learn the wizard’s magic spells, explore the world outside the tower you’ve called home, and finally challenge the wizard himself to save your own skin, and discover the awesome secret of your own past!”

— All Paragraphs Quoted Directly from Sierra Documents