Palace of Magic

About

Palace of Magic is a 1987 platform adventure game where you control a shrunken hero trapped in a wizard's palace. The goal is to navigate interconnected environments like a crumbling church, dense woods, and a dungeon while solving puzzles and avoiding enemies. Players collect items that grant new abilities, letting them revisit earlier areas to access previously blocked paths. The game's structure rewards careful exploration as each section hides secrets that aid progression. Released on BBC Micro and Acorn Electron, it predates the Metroidvania genre's popularity but shows similar design principles. While brief by modern standards, its maze-like layout and clever item interactions felt fresh for 1987. A small but vocal group of retro fans appreciate its tight controls and creative level design, noting how it uses limited hardware to create a cohesive world. Superior Software's first title shows clear ambition despite its budget-friendly price.

Storyline

The game begins with the player character in a palace, having been shrunk and taken out of your normal place and time by an evil wizard called Caldeti (an anagram of Citadel). The objective is to magically restore the character to his original size and find the teleporter to their home world. This involves moving through the Palace and other locations such as a church, woods, and dungeon, overcoming obstacles and enemies along the way.