Sierra is back, and they're bringing the classic (and difficult) King's Quest franchise back with them.
For all the old folks out there who owned PCs, mentions of Sierra (or, to get really technical about it, Sierra On-Line) brings up memories of adventure games with detailed graphics, beautiful soundtracks, relentlessly obtuse puzzles, and gameplay out to unfairly kill you at every possible turn. The company proper folded ages ago and stopped putting out the sorts of games it was renowned for, but the name still existed, owned by Vivendi Universal Games. However, it’s been quiet for six years.
About half a week ago, Activision, who currently owns the Sierra label, released an appropriately obtuse trailer that did little except confirm that the label was coming back, replete with (a variation) on its old-school logo of the Sierra mountains. Of course, this really could’ve meant anything. The Sierra name is synonymous with old-school adventure gaming, but it got slapped on all manner of stuff after that, including games in the Crash Bandicoot franchise and, somewhat incredibly, the original Half-Life.
However, even more incredibly, it was revealed yesterday that the use of the Sierra name is much more than lip service, as a new installment in Sierra’s flagship franchise, King’s Quest, will be coming in 2015. Further, in what seems like a pretty good move, the game will be handled by indie developers, The Odd Gentlemen, responsible for the rather good action-puzzler, The Misadventures of P.B. Winterbottom and also involved in the upcoming Homestuck adventure game (and they also did a game with Neil Gaiman that nobody really seems to like, but we’ll disregard that for now).
Adding to the surprise is that we have actual details about the game plot already. The premise is that the star of most of the games in the series, King Graham of Daventry, will be sharing “his life’s adventures with his curious granddaughter, Gwendolyn. It is through these tales that Gwendolyn discovers the true greatness of her grandfather.”
This confirmed announcement comes after past King’s Quest rumors and rumblings that ultimately led to nothing. Telltale Games owned the rights to the franchise for a time, but eventually released them without making any games (likely because they shifted focus after The Walking Deadand narrative adventures of its ilk became such a critical and commercial success for them). There was also The Silver Lining, an episodic, free King’s Quest fan game from Phoenix Studios, officially endorsed by series creator and original Sierra co-owner, Roberta Williams. But that series remains unconcluded. Also, just for reference, it sucked.
Speaking of Roberta Williams, there’s no word on her involvement in the new project, so the assumption is that she’s probably got nothing to do with it. Last word on Roberta was that she was sailing around on a boat with her husband Ken writing historical fiction, resurfacing briefly in 2011 to work on a social network game. But that’s no real cause to fret. Roberta’s creation of the King’s Quest world and basic premise was her most important contribution to the adventure genre and the series itself. In retrospect, the majority of the games’ storylines were inane mishmashes of adventure clichés and classic fairy tale references. Plus, those obtuse puzzles and frequent, unfair deaths I mentioned earlier? Classic Roberta.
Let’s hope The Odd Gentlemen are wise enough to keep the good bits of the Sierra spirit around and chuck out the outdated stuff.
Read The Odd Gentlemen’s blog entry reveal of the new King’s Quest here.
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