Of all the dungeon crawler games that followed the template set by Wizardry (grid-based, first-person perspective), Might and Magic is probably the second most important one in terms of renown, forging its own path from the very first game by basically using the ideas from Wizardry but offering something different and unique.

Where Wizardry was a dungeon crawler, Might and Magic games were basically world crawlers that emphasized exploring a large overworld at the expense of in-depth and intricate dungeons. Might and Magic does have them, but they are often simple structures with few vertical levels and really there to throws lots of monsters at you, not get you lost in them.

Another important aspect of Might and Magic is how often the series reinvented itself and yet managed to remain true to its roots. For Legends of Amberland its 1991’s Isles of Terra, the third Might and Magic game, that functions as the major inspiration.

If you start playing Legends of Amberland and if you have actually played Isles of Terra before, the beginning of the game will be eerily reminiscent of its inspiration. You start in the North-West corner of the world, slowly going south then circle east and then the whole world opens up to you. I’m not sure if the creator of Legend of Amberlands was completely aware of how much he reproduced the feeling of playing Isles of Terra for the first time, but he really nailed it.

There are not many games made in the mold of the Might and Magic 3, only it’s two sequels, a fan-game based on them (that became a semi-official part of the series) and the second and third game of the Yendorian Tales series. Which is kind of a shame, as they are so unique. Like the first two Might and Magic games, they are turn-based, unlike all the Wizardry-type games that are really phase-based. But unlike the first two games you can see single enemies or groups of them move around on the world-map, following you (up to a certain extend) until you meet them in melee combat.

I don’t remember if it was that way in the originals, but in Legends of Amberland you can by smart maneuvering, both outside and in the dungeons, often influence whether you meet enemies in groups of two or three, or just kill them one-by-one. Especially difficult enemies are often better faced alone, as their attacks in groups stack not in your favor.

Now, the specific games that Legends of Amberland is based on had both ranged and melee combat, but Legends of Amberland streamlined that away to just the melee combat phase. I always loved getting in as many ranged hits in Might and Magic 3 as possible before meeting the enemies head-on.

If all this makes it sound as if the game is a somewhat simplified clone of its almost 30 years older predecessor, then it’s true to some extend. But Might and Magic 3 was developed by a mainstream developer with a team fully focused on game development (the equivalent of an AA-team or even AAA-team in its time) versus an indie-developer doing this in his spare time.

In many ways the direct comparison with the originals does Legends of Amberland no favor, there are not animated intro or ending sequences, no puzzles, cities are menus instead of locations themselves and in general, the game feels like it lost a bit of gameplay complexity and slimmed down. Another perspective is that its developer realized he had limited resources and focused on the things he could achieve.

Which is making another world crawler in the Might and Magic 3 mold where you explore a large (though not massive) world, kill many different monsters (recently updated from 32×32 to 64×64 pixels), collect loot and try to solve the game’s main quest (find a hidden crown to call down mighty forces to end a monster invasion.

It’s not innovative or deep, but its execution of the specific gameplay loop invented by Isles of Terra is really well done and just as good now as it was then. Just don’t go in expecting a Wizardry-like with intricate dungeon design or a game with a deep story-line. This is all about crawling around an overworld and clearing out dens of monsters. Simple but good.

Been watching this one for a while and was excited to see it hit EA this morning. Played a couple hrs this evening and want to provide some initial thoughts. I'll try to be as detailed as possible, since it looks like I'm the first to drop a review.

So without further ado:

This is a dungeon crawler with a classic feel. It has an overworld with towns and dungeons to find, and a pretty open progression path a la M&M 3 ~ 5. I LOVE the retro graphics, and enjoy the music/sounds as well. The game plays very smoothly, controls are responsive & convenient, but unfortunately not re-mappable yet in the EA.

There are more character slots than many comparable titles (7 total), which I feel takes some of the strategy out of choosing from the 6 classes. I chose 1 of each + an extra Wizard personally. Maybe it would be easier if there was 1 more class (Druid, Ninja?) and we could just roll with 1 of each. Admittedly, I haven't had enough time to really experience character development, progression mechanics, builds, talents/attributes, etc. I will say there are a fair amount of equipment slots (~ 8 including accessories), and itemization/loot seems decent so far. I'm not sure if there are unique/epic pieces of gear for late-game and/or if there are plans to implement anything like that long-term? Would love to hear from the dev on this topic though.

World lore is simple, but in a purposeful and charming way. From your first step, you're free to explore randomly and with limited central purpose, like an old Bard's Tale game. You will catch whiffs of quests from snippets of dialogue, for example a guy in an inn says "my mom used to tell me the Great Librarian knows how to find the Enchanted Forest" (paraphrasing). Some, but not all of these will be automatically added to your quest log. For the rest, if you're like me you'll be taking notes on scratch paper to keep track of it all, which is cool!

On the other hand, note that story beats are cliche at best, and dialogue sometimes contains grammatical errors. There is even unfinished dialogue, like an NPC literally saying "the developer has not finished implementing me yet!" :) Although to be fair, he calls this out plainly in the EA notice on the store page.

The mini-map is very helpful. You'll find dungeons dotting the countryside, classic stuff like monster dens and bandit hideouts to explore, kill enemies, pull levers, and loot treasure chests. These locations fit the theme of the game perfectly and support the quest system as detailed above. Main towns and dungeons are also labeled on the map, although I think the ability to label custom markers would be nice too! Note that enemies are visible on the overworld prior to engagement. For me at least this is a huge pet peeve (I hate random battles), so thanks dev!

Finally, only normal difficulty is available right now in EA, but so far the balancing has been pretty good imho. Not too intimidating/impossible like some other crawlers e.g. Grimoire, but you still need to be careful. It's more a war of attrition and resource management, like knowing when to rest and restock, which like many other aspects of the game harkens back to the classic titles which influenced it. I suppose some hardcore players may think it’s too easy though, if difficulty is critical to your gaming experience.

Overall, so far this seems like a quaint and traditional DRPG experience. It's fun and fresh, albeit somewhat simplistic and a little pricey for what it offers in terms of content/polish. It's worth it though if you enjoy the genre, and especially if you want to support an indie dev who is, for a change, NOT defecting to an Epic store exclusive.

Hope this helps. Feel free to ask questions too, and I will also try to update when I get time to play some more.

Enjoy!

A very entertaining dungeon crawler. It is modeled after the games of old (Might & Magic, Wizardry, etc). As it is a newer game, the UI is a lot more user friendly than the previously mentioned games.

The game is turn based and you move on a grid system. You get seven adventures in your party. Combat only happens when you engage with an enemy (no ranged attacks). There are four races and a good number of classes to choose between. Be mindful of your statistics, but if you need to you can reset the points you allocated before. Keep track of your food supplies, as you need those to rest (no hunger system thankfully).

There are several difficulties to play through, offering a decent amount of replayability. If you like these kinds of games, you will most likely do even more playthroughts to test out different party combinations.

This is a fun game and the developer has put a lot into the world and gameplay. I strongly recommend it and hope the dev expands on it. A lot can be done with this engine. Anything from DLC, expansions, and sequels. If you like tactical RPGs where you control a party, grab this game. It's worth the price and the dev actually listens.

These are the concluding thoughts I had. Full review can be found here:

https://rpgcodex.net/content.php?id=11228

There's an expression that says, pretty is as pretty does. It means superficial outward appearances are not the measure of something’s worth, and it's what it accomplishes that counts. Legends of Amberland is a computer roleplaying game that does what it sets out to do. Obviously the game will appeal especially to fans of the third through fifth installments of Might & Magic. While in some areas Legends of Amberland falls short of those masterpieces crafted by Jon Van Caneghem more than twenty five years ago, in other places Silver Lemur’s effort shows flashes of brilliance.

For an independent production, the scope of the game world is admirable. Exploration and character development is addictive. At the higher difficulty levels, a completionist playthrough would probably take about thirty hours on a first try.

From a technical perspective, the game is solid. I did not experience any game-breaking bugs. It performs smoothly and the interface makes it possible for a new player to jump right in. Of course I would always recommend the established classics to someone willing to explore the roots of the genre in the early 1990s, but there is a case to be made that we now have a new alternative for introducing dungeon crawlers to beginners.

Amberland's unbridled potential offers room for improvement in future adventures by constructing more devious dungeons and improving itemization, should the game's developer decide to go in that direction. I was certainly left wanting to know more about Amberland and perhaps have a hand in determining its fate.

In its final form, The Forgotten Crown serves as a memorable homage to tradition and old school design.

It's a dungeon crawler that really tries to be like a Might and Magic game, mostly Isles of Terra and the Xeen games, except it manages it only in the most superficial ways. The screen layout is similar. Areas have descriptions, but unlike Might and Magic where you got a bunch of mostly useless, but cool lore, these are usually just a line or two of description that doesn't add anything. The world is large, but there's nothing to find. There's fountains, but they all do the same stuff. There is food you use for resting, but you have a free warp over the overland area, so you can restock at any moment for negligible cost. You fight at most three enemies in a group at a time, but there is absolutely nothing interesting about them. You get titles from completing quests.

The start of the game is sort of promising, since you start right next to an area that has enemies too strong for you, but it's almost immediately downhill. The cities are just a screen with buttons for shops and a few people you can talk with that don't say anything interesting. You still have to talk with them because there's 2 or 3 people in towns that are sort of important. All the dungeons are amazingly empty and uninteresting. Might and Magic's dungeons might have been designed to annoy and infuriate, but these are just tedious. The are no unique features. All loot comes from chests no matter where you are. There's books you can read for +50 xp which is negligible even when you get to the first dungeon that has them. There's crystal holders that give you secondary currency (just like gems in Might and Magic except lame). There's switches and a few traps and that's all. The engine appears incapable of zero thickness walls, so the dungeons are stretched out and it makes them appear even more empty and boring. The enemies are all uninteresting. You're just mashing buttons and sometimes heal. They have literally no intelligence and move completely randomly. It's completely possible to walk past a boss and loot their treasure without them ever stumbling into the party and attacking. The writing tries to be funny, but it's too lazy and uninspired to be anything but embarrassing.

There's a few glimmers of good ideas, but they're not used well enough. Some of the titles you earn from quests give actual bonuses which is nice. Just nice because the bonuses are too small to matter except in one case. The Arcane system that makes spells scale off a special derived stat is nice to allow spells to grow in power and keep up with melee when it comes to damage dealing and it also helps make full caster classes better than hybrids. However, the spells are either healing or damage with party-wide buffs (of which exactly two are worth their mp cost). The basic idea is good, it's just that nothing is done with it. The equipment system is potentially nice with encumbrance being the main factor of who can equip what, but there's so little variety in equipment you never really get to think about what to use. The staff a wizard starts with that gives 30% bonus to Arcane is literally the best weapon for them in the entire game.

And to add to it all, the game might be the ugliest looking game I have ever played.

You're much better off playing Swords of Xeen instead. It's similarly empty, but it still has loads more things to do, better selection of spells, more interesting quests and much better graphics. Yes, this game is so bad that Swords of Xeen is superior to it in everything.

If thou are like me and enjoy looking for a lever in a dungeon which is approximately the same color as the last 10000 tiles you have looked for then this game is made for you. Classic take on the Wizardry/ Might&Magic formula which is a hell of a drug combined to nostalgia. Highly recommended

Might and Magic light is a great description. "casual" old school RPG. Just 5 hours in and diggging it.
7 person party makes me feel all warm and fuzzy as the more the merrier in my book. Helps cut down on class decisions anyhow.


Save often, no autosaving here. I just lost a good hour+ of progress by being stupid. I came right here to write a positive review, grab a snack and jump back in. That should tell you something.

It is 1990. I am 13 years old. It is 1am on a school night, and I know I'll be screwed in the morning if I don't stop playing. Knowing the following day will be 7 hours of suffering in junior high either way, I continue to play on....

This is the same feeling I got playing "Legends of Amberland" for the first time. The game strives to be in the vein of Might and Magic III-V, but I'm getting way more of a Final Fantasy I or Dragon Warrior vibe, or other similar NES era RPG's. Those games were fairly complex when they came out, and those of us discovering RPG's for the first time back then had played nothing else like them. These days, those types of games are fairly simple compared to your Pathfinder and Divinity RPG's, but it's so refreshing to just jump in and play. Character creation isn't a chore, but it's deep enough where you can evaluate the different races/backgrounds and maximize class benefits. Exploration is fun and fairly open world. You can wander in to any cave/town/castle you see, and there's nothing stopping you besides tough creatures that can wipe your party out. You can more or less avoid combat on the map if you're careful as you can see the enemies ahead of time. The game prides itself on no level-scaling and no grinding, but don't worry..there seems to be PLENTY of encounters for even the most battle addicted adventurers.

At the time of writing, I don't seem to be too deep in to the game. I have a few quests in my log, and I'm having fun just exploring at my leisure. There are no timed quests, no real-time combats, and seemingly no modern political agenda or anything off-putting. Just a simple, classic, fantasy RPG to get you through your leisure time.

Criticisms? The menus are a bit cumbersome at first, especially when you're in a town and trying to shop. There's no way to compare your current equipment with what is being offered in the shop. You have to go back and forth between screens, and doing this over and over again with a party of seven can get tedious. The way gear and damage/resistances work is also a bit different. The items don't have a set damage amount (no D&D style dice rolls, like 1D6, 2D4, etc) the items just have "percentages" of damage and other benefits when you hover over the icons. Once you get used to the oddities, it's pretty smooth sailing.

There's no doubt that Silver Lemur Games has put a lot of thought and love into "Legends of Amberland" and they (or is it just "he", as in a solo dev?) will make an even better sequel based off what is presented here, and the amount of player feedback implemented into the game. The future is looking bright in Amberland, and I am looking forward to discovering quite a bit more of it.

Enjoyable little dungeon crawler, especially if you loved the classics like Might and Magic.

The game definitely reminds me a lot of M&M3 through 5, with its charming DOS-like graphics, grid movement, and stationary NPCs. Exploration is fun, and the world is huge with many opportunities for exploration.

The combat is fun. Each character attacks in turn, and you can use magic or your special ability. The enemies start easy, but then get more challenging as the game progresses. Resource management is key, and you will be resting often, especially in the harder dungeons. You can definitely feel your characters getting stronger, but as the game progresses, you'll note that they will surely need to be.

I liked the ability of going back to town to restock and train, and hearing the various snippets of lore from the NPCs made things more enjoyable as well. There is a wide variety of locations to explore, from castles, towers, and caves, and I appreciated the different appearances of each.

The music was also really well chosen. It's relaxing and unique, not like music I've heard in most games.

I'd like to see the Wizard's spells balanced better. A strong Knight or Warrior can do great damage constantly, while he can unleash his spells a few times before becoming exhausted and need to rest. His personal ability is helpful, but he still feels underwhelming compared to the strong melee fighters.

Aside from that, I think the shops' prices start out fair, then become way too costly as you progress, with resale value effectively nonexistant.

This game is a nice journey through and through, and I look forward to see the finished product and how it will be polished and enhanced.

Very laid back and old-school game. The combat isn't overly involved but it can be tactical enough to enter the Cathartic Zone. And by Zone I mean that particular feel where you mow through hundreds of enemies with your mind just sort of going through the motions with minor adaptations and yet its cathartic and stress-relieving. This game also has 'mowing the lawn' of a map which has no bonuses but I'm compelled to do it anyway because I'm undiagnosed with the Zone affliction.

Some pros! I like the portraits. Much better than running with a squad of porn-stars like I had in M&M6. I liked the itemization of equipment as it helps greatly with exploration when something actually good and useful might be out there. Hidden dudes that up my stats just for finding their shack in the middle of nowhere, yes more of that. An open world where I need to figure out what can bend me over like a random black dragon in a cave, excellent.

Some cons! Dungeons could use hidden walls, more involved traps, puzzles beyond opening gates. Abilities seemed weaksauce for being only once per rest. Spells were cool but could also use more variety with class distinction. Also need a more involved hotkey system for quickcasting some favorite spells. Basically my cons are just to have more content as what is here can feel like a first rough draft.

My suggestion for a sequel is to have more utility spells with a world built for it. M&M6 is king in my eyes because it defined magic for me. I got a Fly spell and I could teleport with beacons and I didn't get them until I worked quite a while for them. Beyond just buffs and damage, utility is the true magic candy. Let me find a random bum in a shack that teaches me spells to uncover hidden walls, buried treasure, walk on water, swim under water, breathe water, summon items/minions, go invisible, reflect spells, status effect enemies, grow trees, create gas clouds, etc.

Anyway, good game and worth the price if you like this sort of stuff. I 'finished' the game but have tons of unexplored stuff yet so still playing. And congratulations to anyone who read all the way to the end of my review because you are a warrior and an upstanding human being and I love you.