Lands of Lore: The Throne of Chaos

Lands of Lore: The Throne of Chaos is a 1993 role-playing video game developed by Westwood Studios and published by Virgin Interactive. It was the first installment of the Lands of Lore series. The player travels around various environments, collecting items and battling monsters in an attempt to save the kingdom from a witch named Scotia, who has acquired shapeshifting abilities.

Gameplay

The game is a dungeon crawler, presented in a real-time, three dimensional view from the character's perspective similar to the interface used on the Dungeon Master game and the Eye of the Beholder series. The player can move around and interact with the world by performing actions such as picking up items, throwing them, and using them on objects. Features such as locks and switches (which affect the world by triggering events such as walls appearing or disappearing) are abundant, and the latter can be interacted with directly. The player can obtain a map showing the player's current location, as well as important points on the level.

The player can play as one of four characters, each of which have their own statistics and specialize in certain areas. The characters' main statistics are might and protection, which affect the damage deal and absorbed respectively. The player can equip characters with items such as weapons and armor, which affect these statistics. Some weapons have special properties such as having a chance to deal extra damage, or kill enemies straight away. Not all special properties are positive: for example, there is a bow that never hits anything. Other items that can be collected and placed in an inventory include medicine, keys, and rings that grant the wearer benefits such as increased health regeneration. Characters also have Fighter, Rogue, and Mage skills. Fighter affects the character's ability to engage in combat, Rogue affects their ability to use bows and pick locks, and Mage affects their ability to cast spells. Spells include fireballs, lightning, and healing characters, each of which having four levels of increasing power. Performing these actions increases the character's ability to do so. Characters join and leave the party throughout the game.

Throughout the game, the player will encounter and engage in combat with various monsters. Weapons and magic can be used to attack enemies. Some monsters can poison (which drains the character's health), or stun (rendering the character temporarily unable to do anything) party members. Medicines can be used to heal party members, and the party can rest at any time (although the party can be woken by monsters), regeneration health and mana, If all party members lose all their health, the game is over. Party members who have lost all their health can only be healed by magic or medicine.

The player travels through environments such as forests, caves, mines, swamps, and castles. Some contain areas which affect the party by draining mana or causing them to fall asleep. Many contain features such as chests, which contain items when opened. Many levels also consist of multiple floors. The player will also come across shops, in which items can be purchased and sold, using silver crowns. Many levels also contain puzzles such as escaping from an area, or figuring out how to get to one.

Plot

King Richard LeGrey, ruler of Gladstone Keep, has received word that Scotia, an old witch, has acquired a ring called the Nether Mask, which allows its user to assume any form of any power or capability. The King sends the player out on a mission to acquire the Ruby of Truth.

When the player finds the ruby's guardian, he learns that it has been stolen as the guardian dies. When the player returns to Gladstone, Scotia poisons King Richard and escapes. The player is tasked with saving the King and defeating Scotia. To do this, the player obtains the recipe of an elixir that will cure King Richard. Once the recipe is obtained, the player travels through the realm to find the ingredients, and create the elixir. During their quest, they come across Ruby of Truth, and when King Richard is cured, he gives the party the Shard of Truth, which combines with the Ruby to make the Whole Truth. The Whole Truth is then used against Scotia to defeat her.