Video game developer Digital Eclipse announced today that a 3D remake of the original Wizardry game is available to play in early access on Steam and GOG.
Wizardry: Proving Grounds of the Mad Overlord counts as the first party-based RPG video game ever released, and the remake has been in development for two years already. Digital Eclipse believes the game is now ready to be played, albeit in a buggy, work-in-progress form.
Anyone opting to purchase the remake right now will be able to play "the entire core game," but they should expect bugs and any save games to be broken every time there's a major update released. Digital Eclipse says, "the team is still working on additional environment and object textures, audio elements, and character animations; some existing elements will be replaced or upgraded during development."
Development on the first Wizardry game started back in 1978 by Andrew Greenberg and Robert Woodhead. It was developed using Applesoft Basic, but then got rewritten in UCSD Pascal because Basic was simply too slow. The game was published in Sept. 1981 by Sir-Tech Software Inc and became an instant hit, selling 24,000 copies in its first nine months on sale, rising to 200,000 copies in the first three years.
The remake is expected to be complete before the end of 2024, but Digital Eclipse isn't making any promises. Other than getting to play the game early, another incentive to buy now is the price. As more content is added, the price will go up. Right now, you can grab a copy for $29.99 on Steam, but GOG is offering a 16% discount at the time of writing, which drops the price down to just $25.19.
