Soon, dungeon crawling fans on both consoles and PC will have the chance to return to where it all began. After a successful year of Early Access, Digital Eclipse’s remaster of Wizardry: Proving Grounds of the Mad Overlord will see its full PC release on May 23 and will be coming to PlayStation, Xbox and Switch on the same day.
This new project is a full, 3D remaster of Wizardry: Proving Grounds of the Mad Overlord for the Apple II, originally released in 1981. The game was the very first party-based dungeon crawler, pioneering many of the genre’s conventions and kicking off what would eventually go on to become a decades-spanning series.
The soon-to-be-released remaster has been built directly on top of the same game code used in the original Apple II version, meaning that players will be able to enjoy the same game all these years later. This new version of Wizardry isn’t without its improvements and enhancements, though. The developer, Digital Eclipse, has given it the full 3D remaster treatment, replacing static icons, images and text descriptions with beautiful environments and flowing animations.
Players can still turn on and enjoy the original Wizardry’s interface as they play.
Wizardry: Proving Grounds of the Mad Overlord features a large selection of options for customizing one’s experience. These include interface tweaks, quality-of-life improvements and button shortcuts. All of these can be turned on or off, depending on how much of the original gameplay players want to deal with.
As players gather their party and venture through the labyrinth in search of the evil Wizard Wedna and the amulet he stole, players can make use of a new in-game bestiary that keeps a record of every combat encounter and offers strategic advice upon repeat engagements. Additionally, players can enjoy a new soundtrack from composer Winifred Phillips featuring classic themes from Wizardry’s past.
Those who can’t wait to check it out can still jump in on the early access version via Steam or GOG. Otherwise, there’s just a little less than a month left to wait until the full release on May 23 for PC, PlayStation, Xbox and Switch.
