Eye of the Beholder (video game)
A first-person dungeon crawler set beneath Waterdeep.
Eye of the Beholder is a role-playing video game developed by Westwood Associates and published by Strategic Simulations, Inc. in 1991 for MS-DOS, with later ports to the Amiga, Sega CD, and Super NES. It is notable for its pseudo-3D first-person perspective and its similarity to the 1987 game Dungeon Master.
Quick Facts
- Developer
- Westwood Associates
- Publisher
- Strategic Simulations
- Inc.
- Capcom (Super NES)
- Sega (Sega CD)
- Pony Canyon
- Inc. (PC-98)
- Director
- Brett Sperry
- Designer
- Phillip W. Gorrow
- Eydie Laramore
- Paul S. Mudra; Joseph Bostic
- Artist
- Rick Parks
- Aaron E. Powell
- Joseph B. Hewitt IV
- Writer
- Eydie Laramore
- Composer
- Paul S. Mudra
- PC-98:
- Yuzo Koshiro
- Shinji Hosoe
- Sega CD:
- Yuzo Koshiro
- Motohiro Kawashima
- Released
- 1991 (MS-DOS, Amiga), 1992 (PC-98), April 1994 (Super NES), 4 May 1994 (Sega CD)
Facts from the source article.
Plot
The lords of Waterdeep hire a team of adventurers to investigate an evil beneath the city. The party enters the sewer, but the entrance collapses due to Xanathar, the beholder. They descend through Dwarf and Drow clans to Xanathar's lair for the final confrontation. Killing the beholder triggers a small blue window describing the victory and the heroes' return; the Amiga version added an animated ending.
Gameplay
Eye of the Beholder is a first-person party-based dungeon crawler with pseudo-3D graphics. The player controls four characters via a point-and-click interface, with the party expandable to six by resurrecting skeletons from dead NPCs or recruiting NPCs found in the dungeons. This recruitment feature appears in all three games of the series, and parties can be imported between the first two sequels.
Reception
Hartley, Patricia, and Kirk Lesser gave the game 5 out of 5 stars in Dragon #171. It reached #1 on the Software Publishers Association's top MS-DOS games list for April 1991. Dennis Owens of Computer Gaming World called it a stunning, brilliantly graphic and agonizingly tricky 3-D CRPG, noting that its VGA graphics and sound card audio finally gave IBM PC owners a Dungeon Master-like game. Scorpia praised the graphics and audio for conveying a real dungeon feel but criticized the awkward spell interface and the abrupt ending, as well as combat, plot, and NPC interaction; she remained hopeful for the series. Jim Trunzo rated it 5 out of 5 in White Wolf #27, stating the graphics and sound might make it a classic. The One gave the Amiga version 92%, heavily comparing it to Dungeon Master and praising the emphasis on puzzle-solving over combat, faithful AD&D rules, and overall atmosphere, calling it an essential purchase for AD&D followers.
Legacy
Two sequels followed: Eye of the Beholder II: The Legend of Darkmoon, which added outdoor areas and more roleplaying elements, and Eye of the Beholder III: Assault on Myth Drannor, developed in-house by SSI rather than Westwood. The Eye of the Beholder Trilogy rereleased all three games on CD-ROM in 1995. Interplay included them in The Forgotten Realms Archives (1997) and Gamefest: Forgotten Realms Classics (2001). Fan remakes exist as Neverwinter Nights modules and a free Commodore 64 cartridge image.
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