The Legend of Kyrandia 3: Malcolm's Revenge

The Legend of Kyrandia 3: Malcolm’s Revenge is the third entry into the Legend of Kyrandia series. It was developed by Westwood Studios and published by Virgin Interactive in 1994 for MS-DOS.

Picking up the storyline from the first game, technically, the evil jester Malcolm has been freed from his stone prison by a rogue lightning strike. Upon awakening, he vows to exact revenge on those who imprisoned him (hence the name). Like the previous two, Malcolm’s Revenge is an adventure game with a point-and-click interface and an intelligent cursor. The game is heavily puzzle-based and involves collecting and using items in certain places. However, Malcolm’s Revenge flips the script on the traditional adventure game where you fill the shoes of a ‘hero”. This time, you get to take on the role of the alleged villain, Malcolm himself, and see the story from his perspective. The game uses an interesting little feature where you can choose to be honest or lie to NPCs that you speak to. These choices color your interactions with these characters as you go along in the game. The game also offers multiple solutions to many of the puzzles, so they can be approached in different ways.

Malcolm’s Revenge was as well received as its predecessors, The Legend Of Kyrandia and The Legend of Kyrandia: Hand of Fate, and is a must for adventure fans. Though some complained about the simplicity of the interface, I appreciate that they wanted to give novice adventurers a chance to enjoy it too. It’s definitely worth a play and is an interesting spin on the genre.