"King's Quest 6: Heir Today, Gone Tomorrow" - Game Review

Over the course of gaming history, there are a number of games that stand out as the stepping stones for the games we have in the here and now. “Destiny” would not exist without “Halo: Combat Evolved”, the development necessary to bring us the “Fallout” franchise would not have happened without the development of the “Elder Scroll” series years before. Even games like “Half-Life” wouldn’t be the same without the likes of “Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic” to predate it.

It is interesting coming across some of these “origin games”, especially when you can relate your life directly to said game’s existence. I remember when I was little (6 or 7, maybe) and I would visit my grandparents in Washington. While there, when we weren’t tending to their goats and chickens or working to solve the weekly crossword puzzle, my grandma would play a fascinating PC game called “King’s Quest VI: Heir Today, Gone Tomorrow”. The game had quirky characters, complex puzzles, romance and dastardly magicians. It even possessed a labyrinth and the fearsome Minotaur from Greek mythology. The graphics where pixilated and sometimes choppy, but Sierra Entertainment had made a solid adventure game that was ahead of its time. It makes sense that this third-person game set precedence for all modern open-world RPG’s.

Sierra Entertainment, founded in 1979, was a revolutionary game developer that released a number of iconic and ground-breaking games, especially in the late 80’s and early 90’s. The developers behind “Crash Bandicoot” and “Spyro”, Sierra has had a fairly solid line of popular games that were crucial to our modern gameplay. Bought out by ActiVision in 2008, Sierra still is a legend among gaming developers.

“Heir Today, Gone Tomorrow” is the 6^th instalment in Sierra’s “King’s Quest” series. Released in 1992, the game follows the adventures of the royal family of the made-up country of Daventry. The first 5 instalments introduced the character King Graham and his family.  The first game chronicles Graham’s elevation to King of Daventry, and the subsequent games introduce his son Alexander, his daughter Rosella, and his wife, the Queen Valanice.

“King’s Quest 6” focuses particularly on Prince Alexander and his quest to becoming a king all in his own right. Waking up on the shore of The Isle of the Crown, just one in a small grouping of islands known as “The Land of the Green Isles”, your journey starts off hard and fast when you discover that the princess you came to court is sequestered in mourning for her recently deceased parents. Princess Cassima was first seen in the previous game, where King Graham rescued the two of you and allowed for her return home. As you parted previously, she has asked you to come visit her, and this apparently was you making good on her invitation. Through your investigations you discover that in Cassima’s absence, a dark character by the name of Vizier Abdul Alhazared has taken control of the kingdom. He has systematically destroyed the Isle’s trust and unity while planning to force Cassima to marry him, becoming the undisputed King of the Land of the Green Isles. You take it upon yourself to explore the islands and learn more about the state of the kingdom. As you do, you help people along the way, fulfill a prophesy, and set the Land of the Green Isles back on the road to recovery.

A precursor to current games like “Skyrim” and “Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic”, “King’s Quest 6” and its sequels and predecessors helped introduce the concept of an Open World RPG. Click on pretty much any item in the game and the narrator (yes, the game has a narrator) will give a description of the item and a short explanation as to why Alexander can’t or won’t interact with it. Along with the concept of open-world, “King’s Quest” also is one of the first games to have alternate endings based on your choices in the game.

The most intriguing thing that I find, however, is the puzzles and overall complexity in the games. Classified as what I would call an “intellectual adventure”, “King’s Quest” not only asks you to be observant and intellectual, it demands it. Sierra had the clever idea of making the game’s large playbook that was included with purchase of the game part of its copyright. In other words, until the advent of Google and internet resources, the game has some segments that are simply impassible without the poems and clues hidden within miscellaneous information on the people and lands you interact with in the game. Even now, playing it with the aid of Google and sites such as IGN.com and GameBoomers.com, I would never have solved some of the puzzles presented to you during gameplay, or had known where to get certain ingredients or items needed to finish the game.

I remember my grandmother spent hours and hours and days and days playing this game when I was little. She not only spent hours playing, but she had the playbook she consulted constantly and even had a pad full of notes on the events and items in the game. The “Save” button was our favorite feature, and we got more than a little sick of the cut scene of Alexander being hauled off to the Gates of the Dead. But even with this frustration , it is an awesome game and I strongly recommend it, especially for retro gamers. While I have not found a hard copy of the game that plays on modern OS’, GOG.com has downloadable copies of the game compatible with Windows XP and all the newer OS’. You can purchase sets of 3 “King’s Quest” games (1-3, 4-6, and then 7 & 8) for approximately $10 each, or the entire series for just under $20.

A classic in every sense, and a great memory to either look back on or to make with your current family, I strongly recommend “King’s Quest” for any gamer, PC oriented or not.