General News - Where Are We? Adds Modern UI

PCGamesN talked to the developer behind Where Are We? and asked about the application that adds a UI to many 90s RPGs like Might and Magic.

Unlike clumsy auto-mapping programs that stumble into the dark, Van Heest’s system is based on an exhaustive knowledge base and only shows you as much information as you want to know. Its FAQ-like walkthrough mode reveals all, and another fog-of-war one forces you to make your own discoveries. The automap, which incorporates scans of some of the old fold-out versions, isn’t the only feature: There are tidy, if not glamorous, windows detailing the party’s inventory, spells, stats, combat encounters, various worldwide variables, and quests.

The supported early first-person classics ranging from 1980 to 1993 – Might and Magic 1-5, Wizardry 1-5, and Bard’s Tale 1-3 – are difficult to revisit and have always necessitated some kind of paper mapping, with a few exceptions. And besides, comparing two fantasy weapons without the aid of a UI full of tooltips is a forgotten skill, like editing a config.sys file. The world graphics can be repetitive, stacking up 2D images in a way that makes Wolfenstein 3D look like Unreal. You can easily get lost, yet the games never take themselves too seriously and have remained fun and surprising on their own terms.

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