Wizardry: Crusaders of the Dark Savant

Wizardry: Crusaders of the Dark Savant is the seventh chapter in the fantasy RPG series Wizardry. It was developed and published by Sir-Tech in 1992 for MS-DOS. In 1996, a remake was published under the title Wizardry Gold for Windows and Macintosh. If you want this Gold version, follow the link below.

The story ties directly to the previous installment, Wizardry: Bane of the Cosmic Forge. Picking up where that story left off, you are now chasing after the creatures that stole the Cosmic Forge from your grasp. Certain things in the story differ depending on your choices in the previous game, such as whether you should choose to import your party. In keeping with the earlier games, Crusaders of the Dark Savant retains the races, classes, turn-based combat, and magic schools. There are also familiar skills, as well as a few new ones.

For all that, Crusaders sets itself apart in that you can now explore large towns, dungeons, and the forests that separate them. It also features the first auto-mapping seen in the series. Of course, you have to learn the map skill to use it. NPCs are now a little more bothersome because they will take it upon themselves to nab certain quest items before you get there. That doesn’t mean you can no longer acquire them, you need to switch up how you do it. It would help if you also contended with existing tensions between the different inhabitants of the world.

Written and programmed by David W. Bradley, Wizardry: Crusaders of the Dark Savant keeps all the best things about the franchise while also adding a lot of new. In addition to the advanced AI, it's also the first game of the series to have 256-color VGA graphics.

This game is not quick-play as it is intricate, detailed, and immersive. Prepare to devote a lot of time to exploring this award-winning game.