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Sorcery! 3

by Steve Jackson and inkle

Episode 3 of Steve Jackson's Sorcery!
Fantasy, RPG
2015

(based on 9 ratings)
1 review

About the Story

The land of Kakhabad is a wilderness - a ruined desert, a tangled forest, cruel mountains and fissures, all guarded by seven fearsome serpents. But you must cross this land if you are to reach Mampang and the Crown of Kings. Rely on your wits or fight your way through - play with honour, or lie, cheat and steal - the choices are all yours.

From the creators of TIME's Game of the Year 2014, "80 Days", comes the third instalment in the acclaimed Steve Jackson's Sorcery! series. An interactive story told through thousands of choices, all of which are remembered, where no two adventures are the same.

Adapted and expanded from the million-selling gamebook series by legendary game designer Steve Jackson, co-founder of Lionhead Studios (with Peter Molyneux) and co-creator of Fighting Fantasy and Games Workshop (with Ian Livingstone).


Game Details


Awards

Nominee, Best Use of Multimedia - 2015 XYZZY Awards

Editorial Reviews

Hardcore Gamer

...Sorcery! 3: The Seven Serpents, puts nearly every big, complicated RPG on the market to shame.

Sorcery! is an epic fantasy adventure to rival The Lord of the Rings, Earthsea, and even A Song of Ice and Fire. The original series by Steve Jackson, on which Inkle’s games are based, has been unironically called “the Citizen Kane of Game Books,” and this adaptation manages to improve on it in every way.
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3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:
A difficult, highly nonlinear swords and sorcery game with days of content, January 17, 2016
by MathBrush
Related reviews: 2-10 hours

It is rare to find a CYOA text game that combines a hundreds of thousands of words, extreme branching, a complex inventory and spell collection, 3d graphics, and orchestral music. The fact that it features a compelling narrative, unique gameplay mechanics, and at least a hundred npcs and monsters just makes it better.

Sorcery! 3 is part 3 in a series, but it is definitely not necessary to play the other games first. In fact, the game is easier if you play it alone.

You are a sorceror, who casts spells by combining lettered stars that differ from location to location. For instance, to command unintelligent creatures, you must stand where the stars allow you to spell L-A-W. Some spells also require certain inventory items, such as a gold-backed mirror.

You also can engage with creatures using a variety of swords and other weapons, as well as gambling with dice. Combat requires strategy, as you want to hit hard when the enemy leaves themselves open without expending your energy.

The game includes both ink illustrations and 3d maps. You move a figurine about a gorgeous 3d map from checkpoint to checkpoint. This could all be handled by hyperlinks, but the movement provides more variety. The game includes special beacons which have a unique mechanic with a gorgeous 3d effect.

You play a sorceror from Analand who must hunt down 7 serpents who seek to expose you to the Archmage, a powerful enemy. The serpents range from the relatively weak to the gut-wrenchig Serpent of Time. Few text game can give you that feeling of total despair that you can have meeting a boss, but this one succeeds.

In your quest, you will meet several sorcerors, magicians, thieves, tribes, and monsters. Conversations are difficult to lawnmower, which is a plus. You can negotiate, threaten, help, and so on.

The game is extremely nonlinear and branches strongly. There is one event at the fissure in the first area that I have tried to recreate over and over again and never succeeded. Whole quests, relationships, even a marriage to an NPC can be skipped or missed. Most serpents can be destroyed in two or more ways.

It took me most of a week playing 2-3 hours a day to beat. I restarted 3 or 4 times once I got a hang of it. There are some basic ideas that if you miss can make the game much more difficult.

I plan on nominating this game for the XYZZY for Best Game of 2015.

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Sorcery! 3 on IFDB

Recommended Lists

Sorcery! 3 appears in the following Recommended Lists:

Games that I couldn't put down by MathBrush
These are games that for some reason or over I just couldn't stop playing and thinking about. There are no specific reasons given. These aren't necessarily my favorite games; one reason they are pageturner is that the pacing is good and...

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Polls

The following polls include votes for Sorcery! 3:

For Your Consideration - XYZZY-eligible games of 2015 by Brendan Patrick Hennessy
This is for suggesting games released in 2015 which you think might be worth considering for Best Game in the XYZZY awards. This is not a zeroth-round nomination. The category will still be text-entry, and games not mentioned here will...

Dynamic open world IFs by Natrium729
I'm looking for good "open world" IFs, that is, IFs where the player can just wander and explore the world without necessarily following the main plot (think Elder Scrolls). They could take place on a planet, in a city, or even just in a...

For Your Consideration - XYZZY-eligible puzzles of 2015 by verityvirtue
This is for suggesting puzzles from games released 2015 who you think might be worth considering for Best Individual Puzzle in the XYZZY awards. Leave a brief description of the puzzle in the comments. This is not a zeroth-round...




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