King's Quest is a delightful fusion of new and old

Story time

Fans of classic point-and-click adventures know the King's Quest name by heart, with its open exploration, cheeky humor, and ever-present threat of comical death. Sierra's influential series is making a comeback courtesy of indie developer The Odd Gentlemen, and it looks like this new King's Quest has all the right stuff to keep up with adventure game contemporaries while still delighting old-school fans.

Comparisons to Telltale's The Walking Dead are inevitable - and given that series' pedigree, that's not at all a bad thing. KQ employs a similarly picturesque, hand-drawn look - in this case, literally, as all the backdrop textures in the game were printed out, painted with watercolors by hand, and scanned back into the environment. In terms of animation, KQ has the edge; exaggerated movements and cartoony poses give life to whimsical characters like a small, conniving merchant or a stocky, jerkwad knight.

Like Telltale's games, KQ comes in five individually sold chapters, which all tell a unique story from King Graham's rich history of clever heroism. with that use a framing device similar to The Princess Bride; you're playing through the memories of King Graham's youthful days as he narrates to his granddaughter Gwendolyn. But unlike The Walking Dead, where all paths eventually lead to the same endpoint, the choices you make here can alter both the telling of your coming-of-age story and Gwendolyn's personality. Exactly how this will affect your ending is still unclear, though knowing would admittedly be a huge spoiler.

Graham may not be the land's fastest, strongest, or smartest would-be knight, but he's all about ingenuity and creative solutions. Puzzles use a familiar combination of inventory items and environmental interaction - and just like the original games, you can pretty much die at any time if you're not careful. Thankfully, this King's Quest will actually autosave instead of kicking you back to the main menu upon death. With amenities that new players expect - no backtracking puzzles or dead ends, smooth controls, and simplified inputs - and the qualities that fans of older adventures adore, this King's Quest looks to be the perfect mix of new and old.

Check out the following screenshots for more info!

See that giant, one-eyed dragon? You can actually walk up to him if you want to get eaten, screwing up this puzzle solution in the process.

For some reason, the dragon's lair is full of beds and skeletons in pajamas. Rest assured, this will all be explained in a later chapter.

This knight pushes over a tree to make a makeshift bridge for Graham, then jerkily casts it into the ravine below. So...

...Graham just does what comes naturally and finds another way!