Eye of the Beholder III: Assault on Myth Drannor

Lore & Background

After recounting their victory over Dran Draggore to a tavern patron, the player characters are approached by a stranger. He requests their help to free the ruined city of Myth Drannor from the Lich Acwellan, who possesses a necessary artifact called the Codex. Upon agreeing, the stranger teleports them to the city's outskirts. The game's explorable areas consist of the surrounding forest, a mausoleum, and the city ruins themselves, which contain a mage guild and a temple.

Reader's Guide

Eye of the Beholder III: Assault on Myth Drannor was not developed by Westwood, the developer of the first two games, but rather in-house by the publisher SSI. Westwood had been acquired by Virgin Interactive in 1992 and created the Lands of Lore series instead. The game uses the AESOP engine, which was later used in Dungeon Hack, and both games share the same enemy sprites, graphics, and sound effects. The game employs an updated engine from the previous game, oft-unique NPC selection, and tweaks to the gameplay including an 'All Attack' feature and the ability for characters to wield polearms while in the second rank.

SSI sold 50,664 copies of Eye of the Beholder III. The Eye of the Beholder series overall, including the game's two predecessors, reached combined global sales above 350,000 units by 1996. Reception was mixed to negative: GameSpy commented that it was 'a classic example of a company churning out a quick sequel to a good game and simply not giving it the love and care it really deserves.' Computer Gaming World's Scorpia wrote that the graphics were inferior to the previous games', 'aurally, the game is a nightmare', and that the 'big fight at the end is a letdown.' She concluded that 'Assault on Myth Drannor is a disappointment ... What started as a series with great promise has, alas, ended on a mediocre note.' James Trunzo in White Wolf #37 stated that 'New weapons, new monsters, new locales and even new weapons make Eye III better than its predecessors.'