Realms of Arkania: Blade of Destiny

About Realms of Arkania: Blade of Destiny

Realms of Arkania: Blade of Destiny (1992) is Attic's party RPG based on the German pen-and-paper game The Dark Eye, in which heroes race to find a legendary sword before an orc invasion.

Realms of Arkania: Blade of Destiny in Depth

An orc chief has united all the orc tribes and plans to attack the human lands. Hetman Tronde Torbensson, leader of the Thorwalians, hires the party to find the sword Grimring, the Blade of Destiny, lost since the death of its bearer, Hetman Hyggelik the Great, and stop the invasion of Thorwal. Recovering it means finding pieces of a treasure map, then defeating the orc chief and his minions; if the party fails within about two in-game years, the orcs attack and the game is lost.

It is a classic party RPG for up to six characters, plus an optional recruitable companion, moving through 3D towns and dungeons, with travel between them shown as a path on a 2D regional map. It uses the pseudo-3D engine of Attic's 1991 Spirit of Adventure at a higher resolution, borrowing Eye of the Beholder's inventory interface and Might and Magic III's screen layout. Monsters and characters are not shown in the 3D view; instead fights switch to an isometric view for turn-based tactical combat. White Wolf praised a world of over 70 towns, villages, dungeons and ruins and some original monsters, calling it "a solid roleplaying adventure that will challenge you without frustrating you".

Making Realms of Arkania: Blade of Destiny

Attic Entertainment Software released it in German in 1992, and its success led to Sir-Tech's English version in 1993. Die Zeit reported that all three games in the series were commercial and critical successes. English-language reviews were mixed: Scorpia criticised its "awkward and confusing" magic system, punishing saves and high combat failure rates, and The One gave the Amiga version 73 per cent, calling its graphics poor and the game generic. Compute! felt it had "plenty of depth" for Wizardry and Might and Magic fans, and Pyramid recommended it for its graphics, story and background.