King's Quest: Snow Place Like Home Is Out In Two Days

The penultimate chapter of the five episode King's Quest by The Odd Gentlemen, Snow Place Like Home, is arriving on the 27th of September.

King's Quest Episode 3 and Michonne Episode 3 Released

I'm back from PAX East. I'll post about my experience at the show in a bit, but for now, I'll catch up on some of the releases that have happened lately.

The Walking Dead: Michonne, the miniseries by Telltale Games that reveals what happened to the character of Michonne during the period when she left the group in the comics after the events of All Out War, is now complete, with yesterday's release of episode 3.

Also receiving its third episode yesterday was King's Quest, the official ninth game in the series, by The Odd Gentlemen.  This episode, Once Upon A Climb, tells the story of how Graham saved his future wife Valanice, who is also Gwyndolyn's grandmother.

King's Quest Chapter Two Is Out Now

Most of you are enjoying the latest resurgence of the LucasArts adventures, courtesy of Double Fine. However, for those of you who are interested in their biggest competitor during their adventure heyday, Sierra has been having a bit of a resurgence of its own.

Today, it finally continues with the release of the second chapter of The Odd Gentlemen's King's Quest, Rubble Without A Cause. The first chapter was inspired by the original King's Quest. This chapter is said to be inspired by King's Quest III.

 Although, the gameplay in King's Quest itself is heavily inspired by Telltale Games. However, it bests their current games as it manages to blend choices and consequences together with traditional inventory based puzzles in a way that we all wish Telltale would manage.

Choices-and-Consequences Adventure Review: King's Quest Episode 1

It has been a long and bumpy road for fans of the King's Quest series. The eighth official King's Quest game has been known to have been in development at five different studios over the span of more than a decade. Each time, the game was cancelled before it ever had the chance to ever enter full development. Fans need wait no longer, as The Odd Gentlemen has finally brought the series back in the first official official King's Quest game in seventeen years. Luckily, it manages to be worth the wait. It delivers both a worthwhile sequel to the series, while simultaneously working as a reboot, both in story and game play.

After it was announced that Telltale lost the license to make a King's Quest game due to Activision having plans to publish one themselves, it seemed like the next game might go the route of modern Telltale games. The announcement came in 2013, after Telltale had a run away success with The Walking Dead, so that seems to be a market that Activision would want to tap into. The result is a little bit Telltale, a little bit classic Sierra, and a whole lot of fun. The humor in this was said to be inspired by The Princess Bride, and there's definitely a lot of that, as well as other irreverent comedy such as Monty Python.

It actually takes the Telltale formula to the perfect level in my opinion, mixing in the right amount of quick time events and action sequences with classic adventure game puzzles and choices and consequences. That being said, further episodes will be the true test of how the consequences play out in the season to see if it reaches the levels of games like Dreamfall Chapters. The choices and consequences are brought to light as old King Graham, voiced perfectly by Christopher Lloyd, mentions that his younger self had a choice between several options, each of which would have consequences. The quick time events are sparse in this game, as they are relegated to things such as pushing a button rapidly to chop down a tree or row a raft, rather than just arbitrary things like summing up strength. The amount of button pressing repetition is never excessive, and the quick time events mostly only take place in the first part of the game. Once Graham begins his quest to become a knight, the game is mostly a classic inventory based puzzle adventure game. There are a few areas with quick time event action after this, but they aren't as commonplace as they were earlier in the game. The game also has first person shooting sections, with a bow and arrow, that are handled really well. Sometimes these shooting sections even happen in the heat of the action, which adds to the tension in my opinion. The inventory and puzzles makes up the majority of the episode, and the puzzles are not the type where the solution is right next to the object, either. The areas to explore are rather large, and the solution might be location far away from the problem, which bridges classic Sierra with the modern adventure game formula together excellently.

The game is double the current usual five dollar price of episodic adventure games, but it's also about twice the length of a usual episodic adventure. Completing the episode will take approximately four to six hours, depending on how long it takes to solve the puzzles in the game. King's Quest ends up being the type of game that should both please most fans of Sierra's classic adventure games as well as changing things up enough to bring new gamers to the series. The story is exactly what I was hoping, as it's clearly both a sequel, as well as a prequel in parts, and a re-imagining. The set up of old King Graham telling his granddaughter stories of his life works well for the game, as it gets to tell new stories never told before. For the stories that it does revisit, such as Graham's quest to get the magic mirror from the dragon, any changes to the story can be chalked up to Graham embellishing a bit to keep his granddaughter excited.

The presentation is spectacular. In addition to the excellent casting choice of Christopher Lloyd as King Graham, the supporting cast members are excellent as well. King Graham's granddaughter is voiced supurbly, as are the eclectic people that Graham meets in Daventry. The voice of the short knight in particular is wonderful, thanks to the inspired casting choice of Wallace Shawn. The Princess Bride style humor is certainly helped by having his presence in the game. The art style is wonderful as well. It takes a bit of getting used to, especially in the characters, as, along with the shift in tone in regards to the humor, the art style for the series is a huge departure from the most games in the series. It goes for a more cartoonish style, having more exaggerated movements and depictions than even King's Quest VII. However, since this style works with the silly humor of the game, after a while even fans of King's Quest should find themselves immersed in the world. The music certainly helps as well. King's Quest has always had a great soundtrack, that helps set the medieval themed fantasy world of the game quite well. This game is no exception, really helping with this entry's more cinematic style of presentation.

The first episode of King's Quest managed to deliver on it's premise well. It feels both like a sequel and a re-imagining, both in story telling and gameplay. The premise of having old King Graham tell his granddaughter stories of his past adventures works well for a choice based adventure game. Quick time events are present, but they aren't overused. After the prologue, most of the game play consists of classic inventory based puzzles. The puzzles are fun, and offer a bit of a challenge. The voice work is supurb, the music is top notch, and the humor never falls flat. It's a huge change in tone, both in humor, and in art style, which is overly cartoonish, even more so than The Princeless Bride. However, the tone change works well for the series, and the art style compliments the humor excellently. This episode manages to set a grand return for King Graham and his family. Hopefully the upcoming episodes manage to meet the high standards set by The Odd Gentlemen's King's Quest premiere. If it does, this could potentially end up being one of the best entries in the entire series.

Final Verdict:

4½ out of 5

King's Quest Episode 1: A Knight to Remember Is Out Now

The long, tumultuous journey to develop a King's Quest 9 is finally over, as fans can now play the first episode of the five episode King's Quest by The Odd Gentlemen.  It's out now on PSN and for Windows through Steam. It will be out for Xbox 360 and Xbox One tomorrow.

King's Quest Chapter 1: A Knight to Remember Coming In July

The first episode of the upcoming episodic King's Quest game, developed by The Odd Gentlemen and published by Sierra, is going to be released in late July for PC, PlayStation 3, Playstation 4, Xbox 360, and Xbox One.

King's Quest Voice Cast Announced

The voice cast has been announced for King's Quest, and they've got a great lineup. The voice actors signed on include Christopher Lloyd, Tom Kenny, Wallace Shawn, Josh Keaton, Maggie Elizabeth Jones and Zelda Williams.

The first episode of The Odd Gentlemen's King's Quest is scheduled to be released in Fall 2015.

King's Quest Developer Diary

The Odd Gentlemen has posted the first developer diary that takes a look behind the scenes of the creation of their new episodic King's Quest game, which will see the release of the first episode later this year.

While we're on the subject of the new Sierra, the puzzle platformer Shiftlings was released earlier this year, following the release of Geometry Wars 3 late last year.  The formerly Sony exclusive shooter, Velocity 2X, will be published by Sierra for Xbox One and PC this summer.

King's Quest Reveal Trailer

The reveal trailer for The Odd Gentlemen's upcoming King's Quest game is here. The game, which is set after the events of Mask of Eternity, has King Graham telling his grand daughter about the adventures he had when he was younger. It is scheduled to be published by Activision's newly revived Sierra label in Fall 2015. The other game that was announced to be published by Sierra when the revival of the brand was revealed, Geometry Wars 3, was released late last month.

New King's Quest Developers Met Roberta and Ken Williams

The developers of the new King's Quest, The Odd Gentlemen, met Roberta and Ken Williams, founders of Sierra and, in the case of the latter, the creator of the King's Quest series. Matt Korba, the creative director of the new King's Quest, posted about the trip, which you can read by following the link, or by reading below:

"King’s Quest has been part of my life, and the lives of The Odd Gentlemen team since we could type, move a mouse, and discovered the puzzle solving powers of pie. King’s Quest is part of us, now more than ever. Its history and its legacy are something we respect and are mindful of. Roberta and Ken Williams created King’s Quest 30 years ago, and we are blessed and humbled to carry on the Sierra legacy. It was very important to us to get the original creators’ approval. We wanted to make sure our vision aligned to what the core of the classic games were.

Last week we flew to Seattle to meet Roberta and Ken. I was extremely nervous. Would they like it? Did we have the right balance of gameplay and storytelling? Would the art style emotionally resonate? As soon as the Williams stepped into the room my anxiety subsided. It was one of the most magical experiences of my career. Roberta and Ken are wonderful people, full of joy, and true sages of adventure game knowledge. We showed them our concept art, the story progression, and finally presented the game.

The room was filled with smiles, laughs, and wows. I even got to have a very intimate conversation with Roberta about what Sierra was trying to achieve and where The Odd Gentlemen as a company is headed. As a designer it was amazing to hear advice from Roberta who has always been an inspiration. Through the meeting we discovered how aligned our creative ideals are.

We left the meeting very energized about the game we are making and then received this email:

To Matt and Lindsey, Bill and Scott,

I, too, wish to thank you for a lovely morning yesterday reliving – to some extent – my old life as a Sierra game designer. I admit that I was a bit skeptical at first, and also somewhat nervous because I haven’t been in the computer game industry (notice I call it computer game industry rather that the video game industry; that shows how far back I go!) in too many years to contemplate! But you guys blew me away with your ideas, your creativity and the beauty of the newest King Quest game. But best of all, I could see that you truly are the ones to take King’s Quest into the 21st century and reintroduce it to a whole new generation. You totally have it down!

I can’t wait to see how it develops, I can’t wait to play it myself – and I truly can’t wait to see how it blows away the competition!!

Best to you

– Roberta

We can’t wait to show you what you showed Roberta and Ken Williams. Here are some pictures from the day, and you can always follow @theoddgentlemen on twitter for the latest updates.

-Matt Korba Creative Director, King’s Quest"

Activision Is Bringing Sierra And King's Quest Back

The Sierra website is back online because Activision is bringing Sierra back as their indie label.  Even better, they have announced that The Odd Gentlemen, the developers of the puzzle game The Misadventures of P.B. Winterbottom, are developing a new King's Quest title.  When Telltale Games announced that their King's Quest title was canceled because Activision revoked the license, they stated that Activision had their own plans for the series.  Hopefully, this time King's Quest IX actually comes into being, as fans have been waiting patiently to discover what the Graham clan have been up to after all these years. We'll soon find out if King Graham and his family will have better luck this time, as the game is scheduled to be released in 2015.