Wilderness Campaign

Also known as: N/A

Developer: Synergistic Software

I'm not sure if Wilderness Campaign is necessarily the sequel to Dungeon Campaign, or if it's just a game made by the same developers with "Campaign" in the name, but regardless of what it is, it came out after Dungeon Campaign and has some of the same traits. I do feel like Wilderness Campaign is a step in the right direction when you compare the two games, though. Where I felt like Dungeon Campaign was slightly below passable, I consider Wilderness Campaign to be right on that passable line. If you've played Dungeon Campaign, the first thing that you'll notice with this game is that you're on a world map rather than in a maze. Likewise, the odd controls of Dungeon Campaign are removed in favor of N, E, S, and W for north, east, south, and west. As you navigate the world, your party will move faster through some terrain than they do in others. Likewise, you may come to an area where you can't advance any further without the proper item in your inventory. You may also get stuck in environmental hazards, like avalanches, sandstorms, or quicksand…the dexterity of your party and luck (from "rolling" the dice) will determine if you safely avoid these hazards or if you get some unwanted casualties. There are villages, castles, and abandoned structures that you can visit. Villages are places where you can purchase items and/or hire people for your party. Castles can either be a place of great rewards, if you have the charisma, where nobility may donate people and gold to your campaign….or the castles could be abandoned by all nobility and an awful death trap. The abandoned structures could be castles, tombs, temples, or ruins and are all dangerous, but there may also be treasure to find if you can survive the ordeal. While exploring, it's also necessary to remember to keep your supplies and food up…if food runs out, your party will starve. Likewise, if you've hired party members, you need to ensure that you've got the funds to keep them hired - they expect to be paid every ten days. If you don't have the money, they'll abandon your party. With all of the new features and the ability to explore a world map, I feel like Wilderness Campaign is a step up from Dungeon Campaign, but it still suffers from some flaws (like being at the mercy of the roll of the dice, rather than being able to survive thanks to skill and strategy) that the "elder" campaign game suffered from. Still, if you want to try an early RPG that happens to have a world map to explore, you may find some fun with Wilderness Campaign. It definitely had me hooked a little longer than I thought it would.

Review added: 12/12/2025

The Wizard and the Princess

Also known as: Hi-Res Adventure #2: The Wizard and the Princess

Developer: On-Line Systems

Since I didn't look at the manual prior to initially beginning to play, I was under the impression that I was going to be playing as the wizard and either traveling with a princess or saving a kidnapped princess. Playing through the game, you do wield some magic spells, so I thought I was correct about playing as a wizard…but alas, if you are one, you're just a newbie. The wizard that the game is titled after is the main villain of the game, an evil wizard that has, indeed, kidnapped a princess. Based on the drawing on the cover of the manual, it looks like the wizard is about seven feet tall and thee princess is maybe three and a half feet tall?...Is that an evil wizard or Kevin Nash dressed up as Oz again? Anyway, The Wizard and the Princess is another one of the Hi-Res Adventure games made by Ken and Roberta Williams. This one starts you out in a town in the desert…but the way forward is blocked by a rattlesnake. So, you've got to wander the desert in search for a rock to kill the snake so you can pass…and then wander in another part of the desert. Eventually, you'll learn magic spells, get in a boat so you can get lost at sea like you got lost in the desert, feed animals, and eventually confront the evil wizard himself. While not an awful game, the Wizard and the Princess does get frustrating due to the desert and sailing sections - unless you've got a photographic memory, you'll essentially need to draw out maps of these areas - especially the desert, where you don't just need to find an exit, but you also need to find a few items. Some of the "puzzles" here don't make a ton of sense…you have a blanket in your inventory at the start laying it on top of the rattlesnake would easily let you past - it can't strike what it can't see. Where, a rock must be thrown to avoid being bitten by the snake, and for that, you're assuming that our hero has good aim. But…that solution would also mean that the blanket can't be used to plug up a hole in a boat later. Anyway, that kind of odd logic kind is standard, even today, with these types of games, so I won't harp on it too much, but it's still worth mentioning, just in case you've never played a text-based or point-and-click adventure game before - sometimes you need weird logic and/or experimentation to get past puzzles and such in the game. Anyway, the Wizard and the Princess is a decent adventure game for the time. If you know exactly what to do, you can probably finish this game in 30 minutes or so, but if you're going in blind, it'll likely take you hours between navigating the desert and sea and figuring out what items to use where. Of the first three Hi-Res Adventure games to come out, if you were only going to play one, I'd stick with Mystery House. However, I'd put this one in second place.

Review added: 12/14/2025