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Release Date: Fall 1998 Publisher: Sierra Studios Developer: Sierra Studios For a while it seemed as if gamers would never get the opportunity to return to the setting of Sierra's 1993 hit Betrayal at Krondor. After Sierra On-line initially declined to exercise its option to produce a sequel, Riftwar author Raymond Feist arranged for 7th Level to produce a Krondor sequel. But when BAK was re-released as a CD-ROM game, sales took off, and Sierra, no doubt regretting its decision to give up the rights to a BAK sequel, produced its own follow-up game, Betrayal in Antara, based on the BAK engine. But Betrayal in Antara received lukewarm reviews, and when 7th Level ran into financial woes, Sierra was quick to negotiate a deal to bring the Krondor franchise back to Sierra. Sierra has been relatively silent about the development of Return to Krondor since acquiring its rights, but indications are the game will be released in fall 1998. The plot of Return to Krondor begins shortly after the end of Betrayal at Krondor and revolves around the retrieval of a powerful artifact, the Tear of the Gods, from its watery grave. Expect your apparently straightforward objective to be complicated by political intrigue (a staple of Feist's novels), as three different factions seek to obtain the Tear for their own, perhaps nefarious, motives. As with Betrayal at Krondor, you will control a party of adventurers, and gameplay will be scripted into separate chapters, each with its own main objective and numerous optional sub-quests. The members of your party will change throughout the game in response to plot developments. The graphics engine was completely overhauled at least once during its development at 7th Level, and the team ultimately settled on an engine developed by PyroTechnix Inc. When it was demonstrated at E3 earlier this year, the engine displayed some excellent graphics. Instead of using a first-person perspective like Betrayal at Krondor (and Betrayal in Antara) used, Return to Krondor uses a third-person perspective. The background art is often stunningly rendered, and the animated 3D models are used convincingly. Combat will be turn-based and tactical. Using a complex but intuitive alchemy system, characters can create over 60 spells and potions. But there are plenty of question marks surrounding Return to Krondor. Largely because of the switch to PyroTechnix's graphics engine and the shift in the game's ownership, Return to Krondor has been in development an awfully long time, missing target release dates year after year. It'll be interesting to see if Sierra can revitalize the development of Return to Krondor in time to ensure that the game lives up to its initial promises. When the game was demonstrated under the new Sierra Studios banner at this year's E3, most observers were pleasantly surprised at how well the game looked in spite of its prolonged development period. The graphics are still top-notch (especially some of the spell effects), and the game is a compelling mixture of strong storytelling and traditional RPG elements. From the looks of it, we may not have to wait much longer for a worthy sequel to Betrayal at Krondor.
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