Might and Magic V: Darkside of Xeen

Might and Magic V uses the game engine of the game Might and Magic III: Isles of Terra , which makes the gameplay of both games similar. A first-person player controls a team of several characters traveling in a three-dimensional world, completing tasks and increasing their characteristics due to a level set. A feature of the game is its integration with the previous part, Might and Magic IV: Clouds of Xeen , from which you can transfer the previous team. Because of this, playing from scratch can seem a little complicated.

Darkside of Xeen completes the storyline, which began in the Might and Magic Book One: The Secret of the Inner Sanctum and tells about the interstellar confrontation Sheltem ( Eng. Sheltem ), created by the Ancients ( Eng. Ancients ), but opposed them ^[1] . The action takes place in a flat world that has two sides - Clouds ( English Clouds ) and the Dark side ( English Darkside ). Continuing the story from where Clouds of Xeen ended, the game sends a squad of heroes to the other end of the world in the wake of Prince Roland. They will find that the rebellious Guardian of Terra ( English Guardian of Terra ) seized power over the local people, taking the name Alamar ( English Alamar , the name of the king, whom he portrayed on board the VARN in Might and Magic I ).

Meanwhile, the Guardian of the Darkside, the Dragon Pharaoh, is trying to contact his rebel associates, discovering that Sheltem captured them or forced them to act in their favor. Trying to play a hopeless gambit , the Pharaoh sends into the night sky the Dark side of the dragon with a ball containing part of his strength. The little dragon dies from lightning striking from Sheltem's castle, and the ball falls to the ground, where a detachment of heroes finds it. Passing through Castleview, they visit the tower of the elven wizard Ellinger Hofenhager, an ally of Pharaoh.

Since Alamar transferred the castle of Kalindra, the Queen of the Dark Side, beyond the boundaries of the physical world, Ellinger suggests that the unit collect energy disks in order to return the castle to reality with their help. The heroes set off on a campaign around the kingdoms of the Dark Side, freeing Sandcaster ( English Sandcaster ) from the power of the minions of Alamar, the sorcerers Morgana ( English Morgana ) and Zinok ( English Xenoc ), simultaneously collecting disks. Ellinger returns Kalindra’s castle to the real world, the heroes examine it and find out that the queen is captured by the assistant of Alamar, the vampire Count Blackfang.

With the help of the knight Ambrose ( Eng. Ambrose ) and his griffin , the detachment penetrates the castle of Blackfang, destroys the owner and discovers that the Queen Kalindra turned into a vampire. With the help of the magic of the Queen’s crown found, the heroes return the ruler to a full life, and she helps them get to the pyramid of Ancient, where the Dragon Pharaoh is located. Having returned the ball belonging to him to Pharaoh, the detachment receives explanations that Alamar captured the Cube of Power , which allows him to control both sides of the XEEN object (Xylonite Experimental Environment Nacelle). Using the Cube, he is about to land on his home planet, Terra, and then continue to destroy the empire of the Ancients.

Pharaoh says that Alamar fell on Xin in a “shooting star” (in reality, a rescue capsule). There was a second capsule, but it stuck in volcanoes in the northeast. The detachment finds a capsule, and in it is Corak ( English Corak ), who chased Alamar in the second and third parts of the game series. Korak asks in any way to teleport him to the castle of Alamar in order to destroy the old enemy once and for all. Dragon Pharaoh leads a squad to the flying city of Olympus, where the Soul Box is located .

The essence of Korak is transferred to the Box of Souls, and the heroes fight their way to the castle of Alamar, and then to the throne room. Let’s release Korak in the hall, the squad leaves the place of the decisive battle. The rivals are almost equal, but Alamar still defeats Korak, and he sacrifices himself, starting the process of self-destruction for himself and Sheltem. Both guards, along with the castle, disappear in the explosion, forever averting the threat from Sheltem from the world.

When installing Might and Magic IV and V games in one system, they can be connected into a single game. The resulting combination contains full versions of both storylines, as well as several additional tasks ^{[2] [3]} . This combination is called World of Xeen . In 1994, the NWC released an expanded version of World of Xeen on CD, in which the number of digitized dialogs was increased ^[4] .

Additional Content

World of Xeen has additional quests that make up the epilogue for Might and Magic IV and V. After the death of Sheltem, the detachment returns to the pyramid of the Ancients. The Dragon Pharaoh proposes to complete the mission begun by Prince Roland: uniting the two sides of Xin into one unbroken world. Upon completion of the assignment, Prince Roland and Queen Kalindra play a wedding ^[5] , which starts the transformation of the world.

Computer Gaming World in 1993 spoke negatively about the puzzles of the game, calling them trivial, boring and meaningless. However, in general, Might and Magic V was recognized as a satisfactory completion of the saga ^[3] . For the best perception, it was recommended to install Darkside and Clouds , and for those who watched the series from the very beginning, passing the game was declared mandatory ^[7] .

Darkside of Xeen was included in the list of applicants for the title of role-playing game of 1993 by Computer Gaming World , but took second place, losing to Betrayal at Krondor . Editors called Darkside of Xeen the most impressive combination of two computer role-playing games in history and a major step in creating virtual worlds ^[8] .

Might & Magic: The World of Xeen (a combination of Clouds of Xeen and Dark Side of Xeen ) was the subject of a review in 1994 Dragon # 201. Sandy Petersen rated compilation 3 out of 5 stars ^[9] . Neil Randal of CD-ROM Today , praising World of Xeen for its humor, consistency and excitement, awarded her four out of five stars ^[10] .