Adventure King's Quest III: To Heir Is Human 1

You are Gwydion, a 17 year old boy who serves the evil wizard Manannan. You basically have been the wizards housekeeper for as long as you remember, and you have no clue who your real parents are. The wizard's house is on top of a mountain in the land of Llewdor. Unbeknown to Gwydion, the wizard has had many young servants before him, and always kills them at age 18, so they do not pose a threat to him.

Gwydion is tired of having to slave away for the ungrateful and ill-tempered wizard. He has found out where the wizard's laboratory that contains the wizards' spell book is. Unfortunately, Manannan does not tolerate Gwydion taking any magical items, and if he catches you, there will be grave consequences. Luckily, you are able to hide things in your room, where the wizard never comes. When Manannan announces he is going on a journey, you take the opportunity to start gathering the required items and ingredients. Using a magic map you recover from the wizards' bedroom, you are able to fast-travel to any location you previously visited, saving you a long, cumbersome and treacherous hike.

During your travels you learn that your sister, Princess Rosella, is about to be sacrificed to a dragon that has been terrorizing the kingdom of Daventry. Determined to rescue her, you vow to deal with Manannan, and come to Rosella's aid.


King's Quest 3 heavily relies on the manual, which contains the recipes and enchantments needed for the spells you will cast. The recipes have to be followed exactly, or you will die, which takes a bit of the fun out of the game, as a simple typo can end your game, and there are quite a few recipes to make. As with other King's Quest adventures, there are plenty of other ways you can die, so remember to save often ;-) Another annoying game mechanic is that the game uses an internal clock, and events happen on the clock. This can mean that you have to spend a bit of time just waiting for the game to decide the Wizard wants to leave, come home, sleep, or eat. Likewise, on board the ship, you are stuck waiting for the ship to arrive at the island.

Note that the GOG purchase link will get you King's Quest 1, 2 and 3 ((at $9.99 when not discounted). There's two more bundles, one with 4, 5, and 6 at the same price, and finally one with 7 and 8 at the same price)., The Steam link will get you King's Quest 1-7 for $19.99. I linked the Steam version, because that seems to be the better deal.