King's Quest VI: Heir Today, Gone Tomorrow is a point-and-click adventure game released in 1992 as the sixth game in the King's Quest series made by Sierra On-Line. The game was written by Roberta Williams and Jane Jensen. King's Quest VI is widely known as the best game in the series because of its important 3D graphic introduction movie, created by Kronos Digital Entertainment, and its professional voice acting. Actor Robby Benson provided the voice for Prince Alexander, the main character of the game. King's Quest VI was programmed using Sierra's Creative Interpreter and was the last King's Quest game released on floppy disk. A CD-ROM version of the game came out in 1993, featuring more character voices, a slightly different opening movie, and more detailed artwork and animation.
The name of this sequel is a play on the common phrase "here today, gone tomorrow." This play on words relates to Prince Alexander's sudden departure after the events of King's Quest V, where he was rescued by King Graham along with Princess Cassima, who asked Alexander to visit her at the end of that game.
Gameplay
King's Quest VI is a 2D graphic adventure game that uses a point-and-click interface. Players see a toolbar at the top of the screen with icons for choosing actions: walk, look (which gives a description from the narrator about an object), action, and talk. The game also has an item inventory, where the last selected item can be used quickly, and a menu for game options. This interface was first introduced in the previous game, King's Quest V, with the SCI1 version of Sierra's Creative Interpreter engine. Earlier games in the series used a text parser, where players typed commands instead of selecting them on the screen.
The game's gameplay focuses on solving puzzles. These include logic challenges and interacting with characters through dialogue or using collected items. One puzzle requires using a booklet called "Guidebook to the Land of the Green Isles," which comes with the game. This booklet adds background information about the game's setting and is part of the game's copy protection. Players cannot solve the puzzles on the Cliffs of Logic that guard the Isle of the Sacred Mountain without help from the booklet. The booklet also includes a poem that hides the solution to a puzzle in the labyrinth on the island. In the re-released version of the game, the guide is included in the manual on the game CD.
To solve puzzles, players often travel between islands that make up the game world. This is done using a magic map. While earlier games in the series, like King's Quest III, also used a magic map, its use in King's Quest VI was different. In this game, the magic map is only used for traveling between islands that cannot be reached by walking.
Plot
The game is set in a fictional kingdom named the Land of the Green Isles. This kingdom includes several islands and is mostly separated from other parts of the world. Players can travel between islands after obtaining a magic map.
The main island, called the Isle of the Crown, is inspired by Arabian Nights. The Isle of Wonder is based on Alice in Wonderland, and the Isle of the Sacred Mountain is inspired by Classical mythology. The Isle of the Beast, which is based on Beauty and the Beast, has dense forests and magical barriers. There are also hidden areas, one of which is home to a group of druids, and another where players can face Death.
At the start of the game, a cutscene shows Prince Alexander troubled by memories of Princess Cassima. He met her at the end of King's Quest V when they were both saved from the wizard Mordack. After seeing a vision of Cassima in a magical mirror that his father owned from the first King's Quest, Alexander sets out to find her. He is shipwrecked on the Isle of the Crown, where he learns that the vizier Abdul Alhazred (named after the author of a fictional book called the Necronomicon) has taken control in Cassima's absence and plans to force her to marry him. Alexander must explore the Land of the Green Isles to rescue Cassima.
An important part of the game is that players can get different endings based on their choices. At one point, players can choose between a short path or a longer path with more puzzles and a more satisfying ending. After completing either path, players receive a hint about the choices that would lead to the other ending. Endings have many small differences based on optional tasks. Nearly half of the game's quests are optional, many have multiple solutions, and the open world design allows players to choose the order of tasks.
Development
In May 1991, Roberta Williams, the creator of King's Quest, met with Jane Jensen, a new team member at Sierra, to plan the sixth game in the series. Williams started working on King's Quest VI in June, outlining the story. She and Jensen worked together from July to August to develop design ideas. After five months, they completed the game's design documentation. The writers aimed to keep the game's tone similar to earlier titles while making it unique and helping players feel emotionally connected. Williams wrote the love story between Prince Alexander and Cassima to create this emotional connection.
Storyboard sketches and character drawings were made by Bill Skirvin, the co-director and project manager, and the art team. John Shroades painted 80 background scenes. Motion capture, which uses real actors' movements recorded on video, was used to create over 2,000 character actions on the computer. Williams and Skirvin selected the actors and costumes for these recordings. Michael Hutchinson led the animation team that combined the footage with Shroades's backgrounds. Chris Braymen composed the MIDI music and created sound effects. The 3D-animated introduction was made by Stanley Liu of Kronos Digital Entertainment, a company known for special effects in films like Batman Returns and The Lawnmower Man. This scene was slightly different in each version of the game for DOS, Windows, Amiga, and Macintosh.
Jane Jensen wrote the game's script, explaining to programmers how the game would respond to player actions and including over 6,000 lines of text. Robert Lindsley was the lead programmer. The game was built using an updated version of Sierra's special software called "SCI1." Robin Bradley tested the game throughout July 1992. Development ended in September when Sierra's marketing team began promoting the game. Williams estimated the budget was about $700,000 (equivalent to $1,606,000 in 2025) and said over 20 people worked on the project for 14 months.
King's Quest VI was first planned for release in September 1992 but was delayed until mid-October. It was released on October 6 and launched on October 13 for DOS and Macintosh on nine floppy disks. The Amiga version was made by Revolution Software. Sierra had previously converted its games for the Amiga, but in early 1993, it stopped making Amiga versions. Revolution Software's co-founder, Charles Cecil, offered to create the Amiga version instead. Development began in March 1993, and the Amiga version was released in December. It used Revolution's Virtual Theatre engine instead of SCI1 because it worked better on the Amiga.
A CD-ROM version of King's Quest VI, released in 1993 for DOS and Windows, included a longer opening sequence, full voiceovers for all text, and a revised soundtrack with the full version of the song "Girl in the Tower." The song was written by Jane Jensen with music by Mark Seibert and was the game's love theme, playing during the end credits. Sierra sent the song to radio stations and included a pamphlet with the game listing these stations. Fans were encouraged to call the stations to request the song, which led to some stations sending complaints to Sierra. Ken Williams, co-founder of Sierra, joked that the stations were "the criminals for ignoring their customers." The Windows version also included higher-resolution character portraits during dialogues.
Stuart M. Rosen directed the voice actors for the CD-ROM version, which included Robby Benson, who voiced Prince Alexander and also played the Beast in Disney's Beauty and the Beast. Five more team members worked on the CD-ROM version.
The second King's Quest Collection had some editions where the CD with King's Quest VI did not include the "Girl in the Tower" theme song. This caused the Windows version to crash during the credits, and the DOS version played the credits without music. The 2006 King's Quest Collection by Vivendi included the Windows version of the game but was set up to run the MS-DOS version using DOSBox.
Release
According to Ken Williams, about 400,000 copies of King's Quest VI were sold in its first week of release. It became the top-selling DOS game in September 1992 and remained number one in sales charts until December of that year. The CD-ROM version of the game was the fifth best-selling CD-ROM game in November 1993. By March 1996, Sierra On-Line reported that the total sales of the King's Quest series had reached more than 3.8 million units. By November 2000, PC Data reported that King's Quest VI had sold between 300,000 and 400,000 copies in the United States alone.
Dragon magazine gave the game a 5 out of 5 star rating, calling it "one of the best adventure games on the market" and noting that it offers "enormous replay value." Chuck Miller of Computer Gaming World said the game’s puzzles were so well-designed that he no longer missed the older games’ text-based features. The magazine praised the game’s lifelike animation and called it "the best of the King's Quest games to come out of Daventry" and "Sierra’s finest adventure to date." PC Format gave the game a 72% score, praising its graphics and sound but criticizing its use of sudden penalties and limited choices. PC Magazine said the game was "more of the same" but noted its strong roots in classic fairy tales. Electronic Games called it the "finest" installment in the series, while Compute! said it balanced action and romance to appeal to all players. Just Adventure gave the game an A grade.
Reviewers of the CD-ROM version praised its improved voice acting and graphics. Computer Gaming World compared the game to "vanilla ice cream," saying it was simple but good. CD-ROM Today noted the CD version’s quality voice talent and called it a "worthy heir" to the King's Quest series. PC Magazine called the CD-ROM version "a leading-edge game with outstanding graphics."
The Amiga version of the game received positive reviews for its mouse controls, graphics, and character design. CU Amiga gave it an 89% score, while Amiga World gave it an A−. Amiga Power and Amiga Format were less enthusiastic, giving it lower scores and noting it lacked innovation compared to other games.
In 1993, White Wolf magazine gave King's Quest VI a 5 out of 5 rating, saying it "moved the tradition forward" and noted that the game was "deadly" but avoided unnecessary violence.
In later reviews, Allgame gave the PC and Mac versions 2½ stars out of 5, while Adventure Gamers gave it 4½ stars. King's Quest VI is widely considered the best game in the series. It was named one of the greatest games of all time by GameSpot and ranked as the 48th best computer game ever by PC Gamer US in 1994. Adventure Gamers listed it as the third best adventure game of all time, and GamesRadar placed it as the fifth best point-and-click adventure game in 2012. Kotaku included it in a list of 10 adventure games "everyone must play." In 2011, Adventure Gamers ranked it as the 13th best adventure game ever released.