Tag: Apple II

Atari acquires the rights to the RPG that has shaped all RPGs

Atari has acquired the rights to multiple iterations of the Wizardry franchise. Holding the licenses for Wizardry: Proving Grounds of the Mad Overlord (1981), Wizardry II: The Knight of Diamonds (1982), Wizardry III: Legacy of Llylgamyn (1983), Wizardry IV: The Return of Werdna (1987), and Wizardry V: Heart of the Maelstrom (1988), as well as “many other video games, rights, and other intellectual properties related to Wizardry.” This could well translate into new games for the franchise as well as series, movies, comics, or any other kind of productions. Wizardry, one of the most […]

Atari has acquired the rights to multiple iterations of the Wizardry franchise. Holding the licenses for Wizardry: Proving Grounds of the Mad Overlord (1981), Wizardry II: The Knight of Diamonds (1982), Wizardry III: Legacy of Llylgamyn (1983), Wizardry IV: The Return of Werdna (1987), and Wizardry V: Heart of the Maelstrom (1988), as well as “many other video games, rights, and other intellectual properties related to Wizardry.” This could well translate into new games in the franchise as well as series, movies, comics, or any other kind of productions.

Wizardry, one of the most influential video games in history

In fact, Atari is not new to the world of Wizardry. In 2024, they published a remake of Wizardry: Proving Grounds of the Mad Overlord, developed by the studio Digital Eclipse, which updated the graphics and mechanics of the game to make it more accessible to new generations of players. Something very necessary given the difficulty and roughness of a game originally released in 1981 for the Apple II.

The importance of Wizardry cannot be overlooked in any case. The franchise is of great significance to video games, as it shaped what RPGs would become thereafter. Dragon Quest, Final Fantasy, and Baldur’s Gate are direct heirs of Wizardry, as their creators have explicitly stated more than once, but anime also has a clear heritage from this game, as its popularity was such that it has influenced numerous cultural productions outside of video games, including the pioneer of high fantasy in Japan: Record of Lodoss War.

On the other hand, it seems that things are not so clear. Drecom, the company behind the rights to Wizardry in Japan and which has been in a decades-long struggle for the rights with its original creator, Robert Woodhead, claims that Atari has not acquired the rights to Wizardry. Therefore, it seems that there will still be discussion about how all this will translate into the future of the franchise.

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The remake of Wizardry has arrived, a game from the Apple II era without which your favorite video game wouldn’t exist

Wizardry: Proving Grounds of the Mad Overlord receives a remake from Digital Eclipse that offers us a more refined version of this classic.

These days, remakes, remasters, and re-releases are very common. There comes a point where the sheer quantity of rehashed content can become uncomfortable because it can overshadow the quality of what is being published, as seen in the recent Nintendo Direct. Sometimes, what doesn’t need a remake overshadows what truly deserves this treatment. What does deserve this special attention, a fresh perspective, and careful work is the case of Digital Eclipse’s latest project.

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Digital Eclipse is a studio specialized in bringing retro titles to life. They create compilations of games from consoles that are no longer available for sale, but they also work on remasters and reimaginings of titles that have been forgotten or become obsolete for various reasons. Their latest release falls into the latter category, and it happens to be one of the most important games of all time: Wizardry: Proving Grounds of the Mad Overlord.

Originally published for the Apple II in 1981 by Sir-Tech Software and designed by Andrew Greenberg and Robert Woodhead, it is considered the progenitor of RPGs. One of the most influential games of all time, it shaped the foundations of what we now understand as an RPG.

In early access, Digital Eclipse believes that the full game will be released by the end of 2024. Promising regular updates every two months, this version of Wizardry is built on top of the original Apple II version. This means that with just a key press, you can switch between the original Apple II version and the modernized version, allowing you to compare the changes between both versions in real-time.

If you want to enjoy this absolute classic of video games that has shaped the medium, you can purchase it on both GOG and Steam for €28.99. Furthermore, Digital Eclipse plans to increase the price as the game’s release date approaches, so it’s a good idea to keep an eye on it while it’s still in early access.

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