Wizardry 5: Heart of the Maelstrom

The arrival of David Bradley in Sir-tech coincided with the development of the next, fifth in a row series of the legendary Wizardry. Either because of caution, or for some unknown reasons, the young designer did not immediately destroy the role-playing principles and plot structure of the series that had developed over the years. Although the fifth part of the game does not apply either to the first (1-3), or to the second trilogy (6-8), or to the more so apart of the fourth part, it is a logical continuation of the third.

A magical ball torn from villainous paws is placed in its rightful place - in the hands of the Brotherhood of Llilgamin. And world peace reigned. But, as usual, not for long. The darkness returned again, this time in the form of a giant whirlpool, located in the heart of the Maelstrom dungeon, spreading Chaos and causing death throughout the kingdom. The only creature that can help, the demigod, called the Gatekeeper, is captured and imprisoned by one of the Brotherhood's renegades - Sorn, special, in fact, responsible for all the outrages that are taking place. The task is clear.

The game takes place all in the same unpronounceable kingdom, all in the same Castle with a multi-level and terribly confusing labyrinth of the dungeon and even in the same scenery (for the PC version of the game). As in the previous parts, you have to create six characters, five possible races and eight (four basic and four elite) professions. Class selection is still limited to six actively growing attributes and three fixed aliases. For the first time in the series, a system of skills is presented, more precisely, one of them - swimming ability, which reflects the character’s ability to dangle in the numerous pools of the dungeon by Maelstrom.

Like the role-playing system, the gameplay has not undergone any changes. Prolonged sorties into the dungeon are still interspersed with fairly frequent ascents to the Castle, whether for the purpose of raising the level, resting, or performing monetary operations. The most significant innovation of Wizardry 5: Heart of the Maelstrom was the NPC, which inhabited the castle's dungeons and became of help to both the player and the plot of the game. Starting with the fifth part of the game, NPCs will become an integral part of the Wizardry world, and all the plot twists and turns will be closely connected with them.