Vengeance of Excalibur

1991, the monitor fades to black and the Sound Blaster crackles to life with the intro to a game I'd spent more hours on than I'd care to admit to my parents. Vengeance of Excalibur from Synergistic Software picks up where their Arthurian RPG Excalibur left off, once again throwing you into medieval England brimming with knights, magic, and decisions that come back to haunt you.

The story kicks off in a time when the kingdom is finally at peace — which in any good fantasy means disaster is lurking around the corner. King Arthur's world, his knights, and the entire Round Table mythology serve as the backdrop for classic adventure in the spirit of Arthurian legend. It's not a historical document, but it's not cheap exploitation either — Synergistic clearly approached the material with reverence.

Gameplay is a blend of RPG and adventure typical of American PC studios at the turn of the eighties and nineties. You navigate maps, manage a party of characters, solve quests, and engage in turn-based or semi-action combat — the exact feel of the battle system depends on how much I remember and how much I'm making up, so I'll leave that to your own experience. The controls were solid for their time, though nowadays menu after menu after menu without mouse support can dampen even a seasoned retro enthusiast's spirits.

What's aged well is the atmosphere. Synergistic knew how to tell a story through visuals — detailed static location screens, period-appropriate iconography, and a sense that the world exists beyond your viewport. What hasn't aged as well is accessibility. The game assumes you've played the first one, know what you're doing, and have the manual handy. Anyone unfamiliar with the manual or who skipped the prequel spent a good chunk of their 1991 evening staring at the screen with a bewildered expression.

Today, Vengeance of Excalibur will appeal to players who love old American RPGs with adventure elements, Arthurian mythology, and are willing to forgive a game that won't hold your hand. Running it today in a browser via DOSBox emulation is a matter of minutes — and if you've played the first Excalibur, it's the perfect conclusion to a story that began years before. If not, start there. Otherwise you'll be like me in '91: stumbling around the map hoping it all makes sense on its own.