King’s Quest: Quest for the Crown
| Developer: Sierra On-Line | Graphics: |
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| Publisher: Sierra On-Line | Sound: |
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| Year: 1987 | Difficulty: |
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| Genre: Adventure | Lastability: |
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| Number of players: 1 | Rating: |
6/10 | |
The first instalment of an iconic and prolific series (nine official games to date, with the first six ported to the Amiga and the last one released in 2010). King’s Quest debuted in 1984, accompanying the launch of the IBM PC Junior.
It’s one of the earliest graphic adventure games (as opposed to text-based ones like Zork) and was probably the most famous of its kind until the rise of the point-and-click genre, led by titles like Maniac Mansion.
The King’s Quest series played a major role in establishing the reputation of American studio Sierra On-Line (later Sierra Entertainment, now defunct).
The story: you are a valiant knight tasked with retrieving three legendary relics to save the kingdom of Daventry—and maybe win the favour of a frail old monarch lacking an heir.
You’ll guide this noble knight using either a joystick or arrow keys through a whimsical, fairy-tale-inspired world sprinkled with humour. The garish backgrounds look like a child’s scribbles … let’s call it the quaint charm of an old-school game. Then there’s the curious sense of perspective—I’d bet good money everyone fell into the water trying to cross that first bridge.
Actions are triggered by typing commands into the keyboard—in English. For example: “climb tree”, “pick walnut”, “say hello to fire-breathing draggg…” whoosh!
Not the easiest system, especially as it requires identifying useful objects on-screen, figuring out their names, spelling them correctly, and substituting synonyms if the program doesn’t recognise your first attempt! Personally, I can’t get very far in this type of game, but I did enjoy wandering aimlessly, testing my middle-school English vocabulary, and interpreting pixel art (oh, look, a goat!).
The world is small, and you’ll spend a lot of time wandering in circles trying to figure out what to do, even though several puzzles have multiple solutions. King’s Quest demands patience, sharp observational skills, and at least a decent grasp of English. The slow walking speed, sudden deaths, and frequent retries aren’t exactly encouraging.
The game was re-released in 1990 for PC-DOS (and in 1991 for the Amiga) in a “high-resolution 320x190 16-colour” version (already considered ugly at the time of its release). This version featured slightly less grating music and a rudimentary but functional mouse interface (it didn’t eliminate typing in English but at least let you identify objects on-screen). The trade-off? Four disks to swap constantly—unless, of course, you installed it all on a hard drive.
Starting in 2001, two fans began distributing a remake of the remake, adding another layer of modernisation (redrawn graphics, voice acting, and, most importantly, full mouse control). They continued polishing it until 2010 (version 4). Unfortunately, I’ve yet to see a French translation.
In 2015, a new game (branded “Sierra”!) was released, mainly aimed at nostalgic fans. Split into episodes, sold at prohibitive prices.
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