Might and Magic: Secret of the Inner Sanctum

Might and Magic: Secret of the Inner Sanctum is an RPG from 1987 by New World Computing, the first instalment of the long and influential Might and Magic series. It built on the tradition of early computer RPGs with a first-person view and movement across a square grid, much like the already popular Wizardry series. The player assembles a party of up to six adventurers of various classes and races and sets out to explore a sprawling world full of towns, caves, temples and dangerous multi-level dungeons packed with traps and puzzles.

From the very start, the game placed unusual emphasis on freedom of movement. Unlike many of its contemporaries, it did not force the player to progress in a strictly linear way and allowed them to run into enemies far stronger than their characters' current level, which demanded caution, observation and strategic planning of the route ahead. Combat was turn-based, with an emphasis on positioning the party correctly in formation and thoughtfully combining the martial and magical abilities of the individual members.

Secret of the Inner Sanctum laid the foundations for a long line of sequels and for the Heroes of Might and Magic spin-off, which later became even more popular and commercially successful than the RPG line itself. Even by today's standards of comfort and clarity, the game remains an important historical milestone of the genre, showing what the beginnings of the dungeon crawler looked like before later, more refined and accessible entries in the series made it famous. The text-and-character style of display, typical of many RPGs on personal computers at the time, demands considerable patience and imagination from today's player, which is why collectors and researchers interested in the history of the genre return to it more often than ordinary players looking for a comfortable modern experience.