King's Quest V: Absence Makes the Heart Go Yonder

Overview

King's Quest V: Absence Makes the Heart Go Yonder is a 1990 point-and-click adventure game, developed and published by Sierra On-line. It was the first game in the King's Quest franchise to feature 256-color VGA graphics, as well as the aforementioned point-and-click interface using Sierra's SCI game engine. Additionally, King's Quest V was the winner of Computer Gaming World's 1991 Adventure Game of the Year award.

Plot

Players control King Graham, the only member of the royal family of the kingdom of Daventry left behind when the evil wizard Mordack imprisoned the royal family and vanished the castle. Luckily, King Graham meets the only eye-witness - Cedric the Owl. Cedric takes the player to his master, the wizard Crispin. Apart from his advice, Crispin gives King Graham a piece of white snake and his old wand before King Graham and Cedric are off to find Mordack.

As is common with King's Quest games, the game's subtitle, Absence Makes the Heart Go Yonder, is a parody/pun of a well-known phrase. The original saying is "absence makes the heart grow fonder."

Main Characters

• King Graham - The protagonist of the game. Out to save his family and defeat the evil wizard Mordack.
• Cedric - A talking owl whose job is to point out pretty obvious hazards and in some cases
• Mordack - The evil wizard who takes King Graham's family and holds them prisoner at his distant castle.
• Crispin - An old wizard who gives advice about Mordack and gives Graham his old wand for use later in the game.

Gameplay

The gameplay consists of point-and-click character movement over 2D hand-drawn planes. Utilizing the "hidden" toolbar at the top of the screen, players can select different icons; the options include speech, hand (to pickup objects), walking, and a variety of in-game options. One of the most important of these is the inventory icon, showing different collected items. Using items in specific situations (or showing an object to another character in the game) is key to progressing through the game. However, some items can be used incorrectly - if this happens, the player may be placed in an unwinnable situation, causing the player to restart the game or restore from a previously saved game.