Might and Magic V: Darkside of Xeen

Might and Magic V: Darkside of Xeen continues the computer RPG series from New World Computing, built on a first-person perspective, movement across a square grid, and a party of up to six adventurers who combine combat professions with magic. The player explores dungeons, towns, and wilderness, solves puzzles hidden in wall texts and NPC conversations, manages the party's food and rest, and decides whether to fight battles in turn-based mode or in a smoother semi-real-time mode. The interface and rules stem directly from the fourth installment, so anyone who knew Clouds of Xeen immediately feels at home in Darkside — including the automap, the day cycle affecting shop opening hours, and the need to pay the relevant guilds to learn new spells.

The 1993 game forms the second half of the continent of Xeen and is designed to work as a standalone title as well — it has its own introduction, a different set of towns and dungeons, and its own quest line, so it can be played without knowledge of the previous installment. The key feature, however, lay in the connection: if the player had both installments installed on disk at the same time, the game automatically merged them into one continuous world, World of Xeen, between whose halves one could travel freely, and whose true finale and bonus areas were only accessible to owners of both parts. Darkside additionally raised the character level cap and offered a harder, late-game storyline with stronger opponents that Clouds of Xeen alone could not reach. The merged world also unlocked its own dungeons and rewards, available only in this combination and not to be found in either half separately, so the release of the fifth installment gave owners of the fourth a clear extra reason to buy.

Why play it: Darkside of Xeen will appeal to players who want a classic dungeon crawler with slow, deliberate progress even without knowledge of the fourth installment, and series fans will additionally appreciate the chance to assemble one grand world of Xeen from both halves.