So, you want to be a Mage? Then mark your calendar for the January 30 release of Mage’s Initiation: Reign of the Elements; a lovingly crafted old-school adventure/RPG ten years in the making.
Sixteen-year-old D’arc has spent most of his life confined to the Mage’s Tower; studying elemental magic under the instruction of Ele’Wold’s most accomplished scholars. Now his skills will be put to the test with three quests across a mystical land; he knows only from stories and dreams.
But something’s rotten in Ele’Wold: the realm’s once benevolent winged guardians have turned hostile and restless redcap goblins are on the warpath. Can D’arc pass his initiation *and* rescue a kingdom on the brink of chaos?
Mage’s Initiation is an adventure/RPG hybrid inspired by the venerable Quest for Glory (a.k.a. Hero’s Quest) and King’s Quest series by Sierra On-Line. It’s the second commercial adventure game from Himalaya Studios; who have also released four free remakes of classic Sierra games; under the moniker Anonymous Game Developers Interactive (AGDI).
Features:
- Choose from four character classes — Fire Mage, Air Mage, Water Mage, or Earth Mage. Each with unique magical spells and puzzle solutions.
- Explore a vibrant fantasy world with hand-drawn graphics; reminiscent of the Sierra, LucasArts, and Revolution adventure games of the early 1990s.
- Select between three point & click interfaces: a Sierra-style icon bar, a LucasArts-style verb coin, or a streamlined compact UI.
- Run into combat for an RPG experience, or avoid it for pure adventure.
- Automatically gain new strengths, spells, and abilities as your character improves — no stat grinding required!
- Get your money’s worth: branching storyline and optional side quests provide replay value.
- Fully voiced and lip-synced.
Mage’s Initiation Development Background
In August 2001, the team behind Mage’s Initiation released their first game, a free remake of Sierra’s King’s Quest I with VGA graphics and a point & click interface. In the nearly two decades since, they have created three more Sierra remakes (King’s Quest II, King’s Quest III, Quest for Glory II) and one commercial adventure (Al Emmo and the Lost Dutchman’s Mine) — each a labor of love meticulously developed by a small core team focused on recapturing the magic of the games they grew up playing.
Development of Mage’s Initiation began in 2009; after a community poll identified an adventure/RPG as the type of game their fans most wanted. In 2013, the team raised over $125k on Kickstarter to supplement the development.
