Review by: Chris Harding
Published: December 14, 1998

In terms of label recognition, the King’s Quest series has few equals. For years the plight of all adventure games was to be compared to it, and to some degree this was even the case for Sierra Online’s other titles. With seven games under her belt, five of which were truly remarkable, it’s no wonder that designer and Sierra co-founder Roberta Williams has offered up another installment of this storied adventure. After the last one, King’s Quest VII: The Princeless Bride, was released in 1994, which many including myself consider to be the worst in the series, questions were raised about the property’s future, and especially the direction it was headed. Like the line of Star Trek movies each of the King’s Quest games have been compared against the other, and although there are some minor debates here and there, like those movies most people agree on what’s been good and what’s been bad about the series.

While not nearly the staple it was years ago, any game bearing the King’s Quest name still packs a serious punch, and with one of the largest and most experienced companies behind it, King’s Quest: Mask of Eternity is truly one of the biggest releases of the year. Like so many other games today, King’s Quest has gone 3D. I don’t know if it’s a move to capture the droves and droves of Tomb Raider fans, or whether it’s just a sound game design decision, but with the plethora of games along this same line, the competition is fierce. To classify Mask of Eternity or any of the competitors I allude to as Tomb Raider wannabes would be a grievous error on my part. While there are certainly similarities in the action-based gameplay, the focus for a game like Mask of Eternity is in scope, story and premise, whereas each of the three Tomb Raider games focuses solely on action. But the similar perspectives and action sequences are sure to draw some surface comparisons, and in that vein they are valid.

The differentiating factors for this type of game, or the things that make one better than the other, are more complex than they have ever been. The traditional adventure game that combined exploration with puzzle solving seems to be a dying breed, with developers having to cross genre lines to make their games stand out. Mask of Eternity is a prime example of this, as it incorporates all the traditional elements of adventuring, and also adds in 3D action combat and role-playing elements.

Sierra has put all of this together for this eighth installment, and the result is a massive game with over seven worlds and three dimensions to explore. The story puts you in control of a commoner named Connor, a regal hunter and woodsman living in the Kingdom of Daventry. Daventry is the home of King Graham, who was the primary focus for many of the previous titles. The game begins with a rather impressive introduction sequence that depicts the destruction of The Mask of Eternity. An evil wizard who was a member of the court that protected the Mask has shattered it into five pieces. By chance or fate, one of the pieces has landed in your hands, and is protecting you from the curse that has besieged your homeland. In order to save Daventry and return the balance you will have to find and assemble the remaining four pieces of the mask. The journey to find them is a perilous one: the evil that shattered the mask has cursed all three dimensions and the worlds within them, turning every living human to stone, every dead one undead, and bringing everything that is vile and disgusting to life.