LORDS OF MIDNIGHT III: THE CITADEL

THE STORY:

The entire world wavers on the brink of collapse. The brave knights have been summoned to journey into the land of the Bloodmarch. It is there that the most powerful talisman know to man rests. He who harnesses its powers rules the realm.

A crusade led by King Luxor, your father, to uncover the talisman has met with disaster. He has been captured by Bloodmarch's evil ruler, Boroth the Wolfheart, and is being held in the despot's dark citadel. You must command the rescue of your Liege. Should you fail, King Luxor will be killed and chaos will reign supreme.

A heroic epic of monumental proportions, Lords of Midnight brings an enormous fantasy world to life.

FEATURES:

• Control up to 24 characters and their parties.
• Recruit and command 13 different armies.
• Hand to hand combat sequences feature 3D texture mapped graphics.
• 360 degree camera angles offer an amazing cinematic experience.
• Travel the immense Land of Midnight by foot, boat or even dragonback!

• Lords of Midnight offers a non-linear storyline with many ways to complete your quest. This results in a game that plays like an interactive novel.
• Travel the realm on dragonback. The 32-bit terrain generator gives you both straight ahead perspectives as well as tree-skimming views.
• Journey through an immense world - the equivalent of 8 CD-ROMS's. Interact with over 150 characters.
• The days and seasons pass before your eyes as you traverse mountain peaks, wide plains and vast oceans.
• The on-line help system which includes an almanac and travellers guide, provides easy access to the information you need to conquer your enemies.
• Recruit more than 24 characters and their parties. Success lands you a key ally. Failure embroils you in deadly combat.
• All characters are rendered in 3D texture-mapped polygons. An endless fantasy world awaits you!
• The final showdown at Boroth's citadel! Pursue your enemy through treacherous corridors. The ultimate challenge lies ahead!

~ from the back of the box

Mike Singleton has quite the storied past in the annals of video game history. He was one of the few designers in the late 80s and early 90s that could have his name prominently features on the cover art like a Sid Meier or Richard Garriott's Lord British. That came to an abrupt end not long after the release of his third Lords of Midnight game, and having now played it I can see why. Lords of Midnight III: The Citadel is a classic example of a designer's ambition and scope far exceeding both his own technical abilities and the available hardware of the time.

The first two games in the series, Lords of Midnight and Doomdark's Revenge, both began on the micro computers that were popular in Europe. They were big titles for those who owned a Commodore 64 or ZX Spectrum, but I was not one of them. You can play versions mildly updated for modern audiences for free on GOG.com, but even now I find them too complex and visually unappealing to get truly invested in. On the other side of the spectrum, some consider these to be two of the best games to have ever existed, with only the likes of Elite matching its massive scope at the time. By contrast, this third entry solely made of home computers looks to be much more up my ally.

The Index is where you'll access everything you need in the game (left). It has pages that display your

character in real time or ones that detail every beast you'll encounter. That includes Dragons! (right).

Graphically, you can see a massive improvement. In fact, for 1995 it is remarkably good looking for a game that features a massive open world. It's just a shame it plays like ass. The voxel-based graphics engine allows for some rolling hills and imposing castles even if you can see every one of those giant voxels. It runs abysmally, being tied to your computer's CPU speed and requiring a different configuration to run smoothly in different sections. For DOSBox, this means playing with the cycles, though I never could find a consistently good number. To get the outside sections to run smoothly will leave inside sections way to fast. Conversely a smoother indoor environment will leave outdoor areas as trudgery as the trudging you'll constantly trudge. There is no good middle ground as much as I tried.

Regardless, each of these sections play abysmally. Wave your mouse to move or use the number keys, but direct control isn't entirely necessary. You can select your destination from the map and your troop will make their own way there anyway. As such, it is better to give orders and watch it play out rather than take control directly, which defeat the point really. You can assign an order or quest to each of your allied lords, ranging from simply walking somewhere to guarding or seizing settlements to recruiting or attacking other lords. This is where you'll be setting up most of the game actions, though any notes in each lord's quest will constantly interrupt you when in real-time view. And it will mostly be about how tired everyone is.

The outdoor sections (left) and indoor sections (right) vary greatly in how they perform.

You'll have to sacrifice smoothness and speed of one or the other.

The aim of the game is to complete a series of quests which usually require recruiting other lords of the land for assistance with the ultimate goal being to defeat the evil ruler of Bloodmarch by finding its powerful talisman. With an exciting-sounding plot, deep lore and impressive world-building, it's a shame that the only way you see this in the game is through a series of menus. These encyclopaedia-like pages offer interesting passages on all of the creatures, characters and locations you'll encounter. It is through these pages where tactical decisions and role-playing comes in making it one of the most confusing and immersion-breaking interfaces I've come across.

There's no doubt about it; Lords of Midnight III: The Citadel is a bad game. And it's not like there isn't a wisp of a good one in there. With its fantastical game-of-thrones mix of strategy and role-playing, it was one I really wanted to get into especially having heard a lot of good things about the previous titles in the trilogy. This third one wanted to do a lot more than it could possibly do and with a terribly inconsistent engine it suffered miserably. Mike Singleton's next game, Ring Cycle, which also uses the same engine suffered the same fate and as such the Singleton name was tarnished. He would never lead a gaming project again with his most notable work since being on the technical side working on Indiana Jones and the Emperor's Tomb and GRiD. An unfit end for a man whose legacy peaked so high in the late 80s.

To download the game, follow the link below. This custom installer exclusive to The Collection Chamber uses the DOSBox-X build of DOSBox to bring the game to modern systems. Manual, Reference Guide, Official Strategy Guide,  Letter from Rorthron, Map & Novella included. Lords of Midnight I & Lords of Midnight II: Doomdark's Revenge DOS ports and their text manuals are also part of the package. Read the ChamberNotes.txt for more detailed information. Tested on Windows 10.

File Size: 160 Mb.  Install Size: 211 Mb.  Need help? Consult the Collection Chamber FAQ

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Lords of Midnight III: The Citadel is © Maelstrom Games & Domark
Review, Cover Design and Installer created by me

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