Legends of Amberland: The Forgotten Crown Review
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In case you were thinking about picking up Silver Lemur Games' old-school dungeon crawler Legends of Amberland: The Forgotten Crown but weren't quite sure if it was any good, you can now check out a detailed RPG Codex review of this Might and Magic-inspired RPG. Here's their conclusions:
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.
