In the game, players must assemble a group of six adventurers and journey across the kingdom of Deruvia to keep the demon Dreax imprisoned in the eponymous magic candle, which has begun to melt. The game's world includes several towns and cities, two castles, and several dungeons and towers. Unlike many computer games, one wins not by defeating a final enemy, but by collecting the necessary items and learning the necessary chants in order to preserve the magic candle. Players begin with one adventurer, a human hero called Lukas. Additional adventurers can be found in the game's two castles. Much of The Magic Candle's fun derives from discovering exactly what is needed to preserve the eponymous candle. However, if the candle melts and Dreax escapes, there is no consequence.
The Magic Candle is known to have several traits that increase the realism of the game and of the world of Deruvia:
Party splitting - players can split their party into several different groups and have each of them perform a different task, including working at different jobs to earn money in a town.
Wear and tear - weapons accumulate wear and tear, and even break if not maintained properly.
Hunger and fatigue - characters need to eat, rest, and sleep in order to remain healthy.
Residences - players cannot go barging into a private home. They have to knock on the door, and know the name of the residence owner.
Time factor - shops close during the night and re-open at dawn. NPCs can be in different places at different times of the day.
Japanese company StarCraft, which specialized in localizing Western CRPGs, ported The Magic Candle to the Japanese PC-9801 computer.[2] The port was released in May 1991, two years after the original release, with completely redesigned art and interfaces.
The Magic Candle was reviewed in 1989 in Dragon #148 by Hartley, Patricia, and Kirk Lesser in "The Role of Computers" column. The reviewers gave the game 3 out of 5 stars.[3]ScorpiaofComputer Gaming World in 1989 gave the game a very positive review, noting that killed monsters tend to stay dead, a welcome change from the "endless wave" of other CRPGs. Criticisms included the relatively slow combat and the inability to quickly find people or shops in town.[4] The magazine later recognized it as 1989's Role-Playing Game of the Year, describing it as "extensive, well-written, and balanced".[5] In 1993 Scorpia approved of the "superior nonviolent ending" and stated that the 1989 award was well-deserved.[6]
Scorpia in 1993 was more critical of The Magic Candle III, with objections including a shortage of money at the start forcing the player to grind instead of questing, and imbalanced dungeons. She concluded that it "is a dull game" which failed to meet the expectations the first one set,[7] "only for the hard-core fan of the series", and ended the series "on a mediocre note".[6]
The editors of Game Player's PC Strategy Guide gave The Magic Candle their 1989 "Best PC Fantasy Role-Playing Game" award. They wrote that "richly inventive, smoothly playable, filled with user-friendly attention to detail, The Magic Candle stands out dramatically in a very crowded field".[8]
