To me, the biggest sin a video game developer or publisher can do is to keep a variety of different and previously successful franchises and leave them to rot out without a proper home. I always found a holder of these discouraging practices to be Activision, as they quietly silenced Sierra after the accusation of all their licenses a couple years back. But as cult classics like Singularity and Prototype may have not found their footing, Activision surprisingly revived the Sierra name during the start of the current generation, with one of the headlining titles being a new King’s Quest.

Although many gamers may have been too young to truly experience King’s Quest, it has found it’s influences big and small, with one example being the inspiration for Neil Druckmann, the creative director of The Last of Us and more recently, Uncharted 4: A Thief’s End. King’s Quest has proved to be an underrated title in terms of video game history, compared to such behemoths as Pong and Super Mario 64. Nevertheless, nobody expected the reboot to redefine mechanics quite like the original. And while I agree with some terms of this, the new Kings Quest still retains this feeling, yet in a much subtler way that is inherently present in this episode.

Gameplay:

Although locations are small, thankfully they aren’t underground (I don’t want to be triggered with Chapter 2 flashbacks)

Going off of the frankly misplaced and mis-paced King’s Quest: Chapter 2- Rubble Without A Cause, I was disappointed to see that the sense of adventuring has been yet again lessened. However, this time it feels more necessary, instead of being weakened by bloaty pacing and a tedious nature. This more or less has to do with the development of the story, but I’ll elaborate more on that later.

On the other side of the gameplay spectrum are puzzles, which unfortunately feel sidestepped, both in difficulty and in order of appearance. It’s almost like The Odd Gentlemen still can’t go back to the perfect balance they had achieved in the first episode, but these negatives are really an effect of how heavily the story is influenced in the game.

Story & Design:

In Once Upon A Climb, Graham is tasked with figuring out which one of two princesses are to be his future wife. It’s a novel concept, but it’s written in a way that’s evocative of the best animated motion pictures. During this perplexing scenario, Graham also finds himself at the center of a majority of other issues, but best of all, none of it feels like filler or tests the players patience.

Another aspect of Once Upon A Climb’s story that is incredibly well executed is the balance between seriousness and comedic nature. There’s examples of puns of course, but also elements of actual emotional vehicles that could impact more passionate players. Better yet, all of this feels natural and not overly melodramatic.

Presentation/ Visuals & Audio:

Character and costume design isn’t oversimplified, or uninspired (With the same going for environments)

In addition to these great facets, King’s Quest Chapter 3 is also supplemented by some great visuals. They pop, but not in a way that is cheesy or sacrifices certain parts of the game. Better yet, certain designs fit new characters a lot more now that The Odd Gentlemen has found their footing, and this falls just the same way with the game’s voice acting. Hagatha was a true highlight for me, and I assume this will be the same for many other players.

Conclusion:

When the first episode of King’s Quest, I saw it as a franchise reboot with potential to redefine episodic gaming with it’s longevity and presence of puzzle precursors. Not only does the third episode do this nearly just as well, but washes away the bad taste I got from my mouth from the second. Hats off to the Odd Gentlemen on this one.

King’s Quest Chapter 3 gets a 9/10 (Very Good)

We’d like to thank The Odd Gentlemen for sending us a code!

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