Rings of Power

Rings of Power, released in 1991 for the Sega Mega Drive, is a role-playing game developed by Naughty Dog, the same studio long before the PlayStation series that made its name. Electronic Arts published it, and it stands as one of the more ambitious attempts to move a sprawling computer-style RPG onto a console that had almost nothing comparable at the time.

The world is presented isometrically and is enormous by console standards. You travel between towns, trade, assemble a party and take on quests, with unusual weight given to economics, since buying goods in one place and selling them in another is a legitimate way to fund your expedition. The magic system is large and combinatorial, offering many possibilities but demanding experimentation before it becomes genuinely useful.

The reservations people express about it come mostly from pacing and orientation. The isometric view makes distances hard to judge, travel consumes a great deal of time, and the game is not generous with information, so the opening hours can feel like a fight with the interface rather than with monsters. Push past that and you have an RPG with an unusually broad scope for Mega Drive hardware.

Visually it is clean, with legible towns and a restrained use of the palette, while the music stays functional and unobtrusive.

Rings of Power runs here directly in the browser with nothing to install. Expect a slow start, and expect to take notes as you go.