Play Wizardry: Proving Grounds of the Mad Overlord Online

I picked up Wizardry: Proving Grounds of the Mad Overlord for the NES back in the day, a port of the 1981 computer game developed by Sir-Tech. It was one of those early console RPGs that didn't hold your hand, a time when games expected you to map dungeons on graph paper and remember your own progress.

You control a party of six characters, each with their own class and stats, and guide them through a ten-level dungeon in search of the Mad Overlord's amulet. The game plays out screen by screen in a first-person perspective, with turn-based combat against monsters and traps waiting around every corner. You spend a lot of time managing resources, like spell points and health, and retreating to the surface to heal and save your progress. It's a slow, methodical crawl where one wrong turn can wipe out hours of work, and finally clearing a new floor feels like a genuine accomplishment.