''Simon the Sorcerer'' is a series of

point-and-click Point and click are one of the actions of a computer user moving a pointer to a certain location on a screen (''pointing'') and then pressing a button on a mouse or other pointing device (''click''). An example of point and click is in hypermedi ...

adventure game An adventure game is a video game genre in which the player assumes the role of a protagonist in an interactive story, driven by exploration and/or puzzle-solving. The genre's focus on story allows it to draw heavily from other narrative-based m ...

s created by British developer

Adventure Soft Adventure Soft is a British video game developer and publisher established by Mike Woodroffe, initially as an importer and reseller of Adventure International games as Adventure International (UK), and later using the names Horror Soft, Advent ...

. The series follows the adventures of an unwilling hero of the same name and has a strong

fantasy Fantasy is a genre of speculative fiction that involves supernatural or Magic (supernatural), magical elements, often including Fictional universe, imaginary places and Legendary creature, creatures. The genre's roots lie in oral traditions, ...

setting similar to Sierra's ''

King's Quest ''King's Quest'' is a graphic adventure game series, released between 1980 and 2016 and created by the American software company Sierra Entertainment. It is widely considered a classic series from the golden era of adventure games. Following ...

'' and Westwood's ''

The Legend of Kyrandia ''The Legend of Kyrandia: Book One'' is a 2D point-and-click adventure game, developed by Westwood Studios and published by Virgin Games in August 1992. The game is the first in the ''Legend of Kyrandia'' series, and focuses on players taking on ...

'' series. The game varies in style, however, as it is more poised to be a parody of the fantasy genre than a member of the genre itself, with many renowned folklore characters appearing differently from what they are generally presumed to be. The first two games are often compared with the ''Monkey Island'' series in terms of style and humour, and the

Terry Pratchett Sir Terence David John Pratchett (28 April 1948 – 12 March 2015) was an English author, humorist, and Satire, satirist, best known for the ''Discworld'' series of 41 comic fantasy novels published between 1983 and 2015, and for the Apocalyp ...

Discworld ''Discworld'' is a comic fantasy"Humorous Fantasy" in David Pringle, ed., ''The Ultimate Encyclopedia of Fantasy'' (pp.31-33). London, Carlton,2006. book series written by the English author Sir Terry Pratchett, set on the Discworld, a fl ...

'' novels and derivative

games A game is a Structure, structured type of play (activity), play usually undertaken for entertainment or fun, and sometimes used as an Educational game, educational tool. Many games are also considered to be Work (human activity), work (such as p ...

. Unlike many older adventure games, several of the titles in the series are still available for purchase. The first and second games in the series are also playable using

ScummVM Script Creation Utility for Maniac Mansion Virtual Machine (ScummVM) is a set of game engine recreations. Originally designed to play LucasArts adventure games that use the SCUMM system, it also supports a variety of non-SCUMM games by companies l ...

Titles

''Simon the Sorcerer''

''Simon the Sorcerer'' was released by Adventure Soft on 2 January 1993 in

DOS DOS (, ) is a family of disk-based operating systems for IBM PC compatible computers. The DOS family primarily consists of IBM PC DOS and a rebranded version, Microsoft's MS-DOS, both of which were introduced in 1981. Later compatible syste ...

and

Amiga Amiga is a family of personal computers produced by Commodore International, Commodore from 1985 until the company's bankruptcy in 1994, with production by others afterward. The original model is one of a number of mid-1980s computers with 16-b ...

formats. The story begins with the protagonist, Simon, as an ordinary teenager. His dog Chippy discovers a chest in the loft of his house containing a spellbook titled "Ye Olde Spellbooke". Simon throws the book onto the floor in contempt, but a portal opens above it. Chippy goes through the portal and Simon follows. After entering the portal, Simon finds himself in another world. After escaping from some goblins who intended to eat him, he discovers that he has been brought on a quest to rescue the wizard Calypso from the evil sorcerer Sordid. The game includes parodies of various popular books and

fairy tale A fairy tale (alternative names include fairytale, fairy story, household tale, magic tale, or wonder tale) is a short story that belongs to the folklore genre. Such stories typically feature magic, enchantments, and mythical or fanciful bei ...

s, including

Rapunzel "Rapunzel" ( ; ; or ) is a German fairy tale most notably recorded by the Brothers Grimm and it was published in 1812 as part of '' Children's and Household Tales'' (KHM 12). The Grimms' story was developed from the French literary fairy tale ...

, ''

The Lord of the Rings ''The Lord of the Rings'' is an Epic (genre), epic high fantasy novel written by English author and scholar J. R. R. Tolkien. Set in Middle-earth, the story began as a sequel to Tolkien's 1937 children's book ''The Hobbit'' but eventually d ...

'', ''

The Chronicles of Narnia ''The Chronicles of Narnia'' is a series of seven portal fantasy novels by British author C. S. Lewis. Illustrated by Pauline Baynes and originally published between 1950 and 1956, the series is set in the fictional realm of Narnia (wor ...

'',

Jack and the Beanstalk "Jack and the Beanstalk" is an English fairy tale with ancient origins. It appeared as "The Story of Jack Spriggins and the Enchanted Bean" in 1734 4th edition :File:Round about our Coal Fire, or, Christmas Entertainments, 4th edn, 1734.pdf, On C ...

and the

Three Billy Goats Gruff "The Three Billy Goats Gruff" () is a Norwegian fairy tale collected by Peter Christen Asbjørnsen and Jørgen Moe in their '' Norske Folkeeventyr'', first published between 1841 and 1844. It has an Aarne-Thompson type of 122E. The first versi ...

. Simon is voiced by

Chris Barrie Chris Barrie (born Christopher Jonathan Brown; 28 March 1960) is a British actor and comedian. He worked as a vocal impressionist on the ITV sketch show '' Spitting Image'' (1984–1996) and as Lara Croft's butler Hillary in '' Lara Croft: ...

. This game marks the first appearance of two somewhat inept demons, who are recurring characters throughout the remainder of the series.

''Simon the Sorcerer II: The Lion, the Wizard and the Wardrobe''

''Simon the Sorcerer II: The Lion, the Wizard and the Wardrobe'' was released by

in 1995. The title is a parody of the ''

Chronicles of Narnia ''The Chronicles of Narnia'' is a series of seven portal fantasy novels by British author C. S. Lewis. Illustrated by Pauline Baynes and originally published between 1950 and 1956, the series is set in the fictional realm of Narnia, ...

'' book ''

The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe ''The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe'' is a portal fantasy novel written by British author C. S. Lewis, published by Geoffrey Bles in 1950. It is the first published and best known of seven novels in ''The Chronicles of Narnia'' (1950–1956 ...

''. Brian Bowles voices Simon, making him sound older, presumably in his late-teens. In the game, the father of a peasant boy, Runt, burns his book of magic and throws it into the centre of a

pentagram A pentagram (sometimes known as a pentalpha, pentangle, or star pentagon) is a regular five-pointed star polygon, formed from the diagonal line segments of a convex (or simple, or non-self-intersecting) regular pentagon. Drawing a circle around ...

on the floor, inadvertently bringing Sordid back to life as a spirit. He transfers his spirit to a robotic body, and sends a magical

wardrobe A wardrobe, also called armoire or almirah, is a standing closet used for storing clothes. The earliest wardrobe was a chest, and it was not until some degree of luxury was attained in regal palaces and the castles of powerful nobles that sep ...

to retrieve Simon from his own dimension. The wardrobe mistakenly brings Simon to the doorstep of Calypso's Magic Shop. Upon returning to consciousness Simon learns that, in order to return home, he must find the wardrobe's power source, called ''mucusade'' (a pun on

Lucozade Lucozade is a British brand of soft drinks and energy drinks manufactured and marketed by the Japanese company Suntory. Created as "Glucozade" in the UK in 1927 by a Newcastle pharmacist, William Walker Hunter (trading as W. Owen & Son), it wa ...

''Simon the Sorcerer's Pinball''

pinball Pinball games are a family of games in which a ball is propelled into a specially designed table where it bounces off various obstacles, scoring points either en route or when it comes to rest. Historically the board was studded with nails call ...

video game released in 1998 by

for

Microsoft Windows Windows is a Product lining, product line of Proprietary software, proprietary graphical user interface, graphical operating systems developed and marketed by Microsoft. It is grouped into families and subfamilies that cater to particular sec ...

''Simon the Sorcerer's Puzzle Pack''

puzzle game A puzzle is a game, problem, or toy that tests a person's ingenuity or knowledge. In a puzzle, the solver is expected to put pieces together ( or take them apart) in a logical way, in order to find the solution of the puzzle. There are different ...

released in 1998 by Adventure Soft for Microsoft Windows. It contains three games: * ''Swampy Adventures'' – The player must help the Swampling through 50 levels of puzzles as he attempts to rescue his children from the evil Sordid. * ''NoPatience'' – A set of four

solitaire Solitaire may refer to: Film and television *'' Le Solitaire'', a 1987 French film * ''Solitaire'' (1991 film), a Canadian drama film * ''Solitaire'' (2008 film), a drama film *''Solitaire'', 2016 Lebanese comedy film with Bassam Kousa *"Solit ...

card games, featuring a unique ''Simon the Sorcerer'' themed deck. * ''Jumble'' – A twist on a

sliding puzzle A sliding puzzle, sliding block puzzle, or sliding tile puzzle is a combination puzzle that challenges a player to slide (frequently flat) pieces along certain routes (usually on a board) to establish a certain end-configuration. The pieces to ...

featuring a constantly changing animation. The game also features a desktop

virtual pet A virtual pet (also known as a digital pet, artificial pet, or pet-raising simulation) is a type of artificial human companion. They are usually kept for companionship or enjoyment, or as an alternative to a real pet. Digital pets have no conc ...

known as "''Demon in My Pocket''" as well as three ''Simon the Sorcerer'' desktop themes.

''Simon the Sorcerer 3D''

The third adventure game in the series, Simon the Sorcerer 3D was initially designed fully in 2D and was intended to be released as a high quality 2D adventure. Due to publisher hesitation in picking up a 2D title, the developers later decided to switch it to a 3D adventure game. The game follows on directly after ''Simon the Sorcerer IIs open ending, with a cutscene at the beginning telling the player a connecting story of how Simon's body was rejoined to his soul by a new character, Melissa.

''Simon the Sorcerer 4: Chaos Happens''

The fourth adventure game marks a return to the heralded

interface and features high quality pre-rendered backgrounds. The characters are in 3D. The German version of this game was released 23 February 2007, and was developed by Silver Style Entertainment. The English version of this game was released on 17 October 2008, and was published by

Playlogic Playlogic Entertainment was a company active in mobile gambling and console publishing, founded in 2002 by Rogier Smit. History Playlogic Entertainment, Inc. was listed on the 'OTCBB' in New York, (ticker symbol: PLGC) in June 2005 and compl ...

''Simon the Sorcerer 5: Who'd Even Want Contact?!''

In the fifth adventure game, aliens threaten the fantasy world. The German version was released for PC on 26 March 2009. It was released for digital download in English on 17 February 2010.

''Simon the Sorcerer 6: Between Worlds''

StoryBeasts, an Irish company based in Dublin undertook the sixth release of the series, announcing in 2014 that the original voice actor Chris Barrie was enrolled for Simon's voice. In ''Between Worlds'' Simon returns to his British slacker roots and is forced to deal with a convergence of two worlds. As portals to another dimension begin to open up, he is forced to come face-to-face with his more hard-working, respectful and competent counterpart Simone with whom he must work to bring balance back to their universes. The game harkens back to the original two ''Simon the Sorcerer'' games and was to feature fully hand-drawn 2D animated worlds and characters. On 10 February 2016 StoryBeasts announced via their website that after two years of work in the game, both the planned Kickstarter campaign and the game development had been halted indefinitely due to unforeseen events. The game was intended to be episodic. The game didn't get made due to funding and publisher difficulties.

''Simon the Sorcerer Origins ''

In May 2022 the prequel game ''Simon the Sorcerer Origins'' was announced as being in development by Smallthing Studios. The game is set shortly before the events of the first installment and is scheduled to be released on 28 October 2025.

Common elements

About Simon

Simon the Sorcerer is a

teenager Adolescence () is a transitional stage of human physical and psychological development that generally occurs during the period from puberty to adulthood (typically corresponding to the age of majority). Adolescence is usually associated wi ...

transported into a fantasy world as a

sorcerer Sorcerer may refer to: Magic * Sorcerer (supernatural), a practitioner of magic that derives from supernatural or occult sources * Sorcerer (fantasy), a fictional character who uses or practices magic that derives from supernatural or occult sou ...

dressed in a cloak and

pointy hat Pointed hats have been a distinctive item of headgear of a wide range of cultures throughout history. Although often suggesting an ancient Indo-European tradition, they were also traditionally worn by women of Lapland, the Japanese, the Mi'kmaq ...

; his cloak and hat are purple in the first game, but change to red for the rest of the series (aside from possible magical colour changes in the third game). He must use his logic and magical skills to solve puzzles as he progresses through the games. Simon is rude and insulting to many of the characters he meets. This tends to interfere with the success of his quests, forcing him to go to ridiculous lengths in order to complete puzzles. Simon also breaks the

fourth wall The fourth wall is a performance dramatic convention, convention in which an invisible, imaginary wall separates actors from the audience. While the audience can see through this "wall", the convention assumes the actors act as if they cannot. ...

with his comments about adventure games.

References

External links

Adventure Soft PublishingScummVM Music Enhancement Project
Enhanced music for ''Simon the Sorcerer'' by James Woodcock * {{DEFAULTSORT:Simon The Sorcerer Series Crossover video games Video game franchises