King’s Quest III: To Heir Is Human (Infamous Adventures Remake)

Last updated: January 20, 2026

Overview

King’s Quest III: To Heir Is Human is a fan-made VGA remake of Sierra On-Line’s classic 1986 adventure game, developed and published by Infamous Adventures in 2006¹. The remake faithfully recreates the original story designed by Roberta Williams while modernizing the experience with full VGA graphics, hand-drawn cutscenes, dialogue portraits, original music, a complete voice pack including narration, and a point-and-click interface replacing the original text parser². Infamous Adventures, known as “Makers of Sierra Remakes including King’s Quest III and Space Quest II,” created this project to introduce a new generation of gamers to the classic adventure while providing longtime fans with a fresh experience³.

The remake preserves the challenging gameplay that made the original notorious—described as “climbing an iceberg while covered in superslick oil hard”—while making it more accessible through modern interface conventions². Players assume the role of Gwydion, a seventeen-year-old slave who must escape from the tyrannical wizard Manannan and discover his true identity⁴. The game is available as a free download on itch.io with a “name your own price” model, demonstrating the passionate fan community that continues to preserve and enhance Sierra’s adventure gaming legacy⁴.

Game Info

Developer: Infamous Adventures¹ Designer: Klytos (Executive Producer)² Publisher: Infamous Adventures¹ Engine: Adventure Game Studio (AGS)⁵ Platforms: Windows, macOS⁴ Release Year: 2006¹ Series: King’s Quest Protagonist: Gwydion (Prince Alexander) Sierra Lineage: Fan Remake

Story Summary

The game follows Gwydion, a young man who has spent his entire life as a slave to the cruel wizard Manannan in the land of Llewdor⁴. For seventeen years, Gwydion has served his master, performing menial tasks and enduring the wizard’s tyrannical rule while remaining ignorant of his true origins⁶. Manannan keeps his young servant under constant surveillance, returning home periodically to ensure Gwydion hasn’t discovered the secrets hidden within the wizard’s mountain home.

Players must help Gwydion discover the wizard’s secret spells and use Manannan’s own magic against him to break free from servitude⁶. The original game featured an innovative in-depth spell casting system where players must gather precise ingredients and perform exact procedures—one small typo while attempting to cast a spell could send Gwydion to his untimely demise². The remake preserves these mechanics while streamlining the interface to prevent frustrating deaths from typing errors.

Upon escaping Manannan’s clutches, Gwydion embarks upon a dangerous voyage to another land where he must scale snowy peaks and brave a terrible monster to free a kingdom from its ravages⁶. Throughout this journey, Gwydion discovers his true identity as Prince Alexander, the long-lost son of King Graham and Queen Valanice of Daventry, who was kidnapped as an infant by the wizard. The story culminates in an emotional reunion with his family and the salvation of his homeland from the three-headed dragon that has terrorized the kingdom.

Gameplay

Interface and Controls

The Infamous Adventures remake replaces the original text parser interface with a modern point-and-click system². This dramatic change eliminates one of the most frustrating aspects of the 1986 version—the requirement to type exact commands with proper spelling, where even the smallest typo during spell casting could result in instant death². Players navigate Gwydion through pre-rendered backgrounds using mouse controls, interacting with objects and characters through a verb-icon interface typical of later Sierra adventures.

Structure and Progression

The game follows a structured progression divided between three main areas:

• Manannan’s House: The opening section where Gwydion must gather spell ingredients while avoiding detection by the wizard, who returns home at regular intervals
• Llewdor: The surrounding countryside of the wizard’s mountain home, where additional ingredients and crucial items can be found
• The Journey: Following escape from Manannan, players navigate a sea voyage and the land of Daventry to reach the game’s conclusion

The original game introduced the magic map concept, allowing quicker travel between previously visited screens—a gameplay innovation that was original in 1986 but became standard in later adventure games².

Puzzles and Mechanics

The game features timed puzzles requiring players to manage Manannan’s schedule carefully, as the wizard periodically returns to check on his servant². If caught with forbidden items or spell ingredients, Gwydion faces immediate death. The spell casting system requires gathering specific ingredients from across Llewdor and combining them in precise ways according to recipes found in Manannan’s spell book.

The remake maintains the notorious difficulty of the original, where one slip of the finger while navigating treacherous cliffs could send Gwydion plummeting to his death². However, the point-and-click interface removes deaths caused by parser frustration, allowing players to focus on the actual puzzle-solving challenges.

Reception

Contemporary Reviews

The Infamous Adventures remake received positive attention from the adventure gaming community upon its 2006 release. The project was praised for its faithful recreation of the classic Sierra experience while making meaningful quality-of-life improvements². User reviews on the itch.io platform have been overwhelmingly positive, with the game earning a 4.9 out of 5 rating⁴.

One reviewer described the game simply as “Amazing remake!” while others praised the team’s dedication to preserving the spirit of the original⁴. The executive producer Klytos explained the team’s motivation: “We just love this game and felt that even twenty years later the story was relevant and, more importantly, still fun. We wanted to introduce a new generation of gamers to this classic and show older players who remember the original something new and special”².

Modern Assessment

The remake continues to be available and played decades after its release, demonstrating its lasting appeal to fans of classic adventure gaming. Modern players accessing the game through itch.io have noted that while it is “an older program” with “some quirks running on Windows 10,” the experience remains worthwhile⁴.

Aggregate Scores:

• itch.io: 4.9/5 (user ratings)⁴

Community Recognition

It’s worth noting that AGD Interactive released a separate remake called “King’s Quest III Redux: To Heir Is Human” in 2011, which received significant recognition including multiple AGS Awards for Best Background Art, Best Character Art, Best Game Created with AGS for 2011, Best Gameplay, Best Music, Best Programming, and Best Voice Work⁵. This later remake achieved a 4/5 cups rating on the Adventure Game Studio community database⁵ and a 3.91/5 stars rating from 27 users on GameFAQs⁶.

Development

Origins

Infamous Adventures developed the King’s Quest III remake as part of their mission to preserve and update classic Sierra adventure games for modern audiences³. The team was driven by a genuine love for the source material and a desire to share these experiences with players who might never encounter the original versions². The 2006 project predates AGD Interactive’s own King’s Quest III Redux by approximately five years, making it one of the earlier comprehensive remakes of the title.

Production

The development team utilized Adventure Game Studio (AGS), a popular engine for creating adventure games that has powered numerous fan projects and independent releases⁵. The team created full VGA backgrounds from scratch, enhanced hand-drawn close-up cutscenes, dialogue portraits for all characters, an original musical score, and a complete speech pack featuring full voice acting including narration².

Development Credits:²

• Executive Producer: Klytos

Technical Achievements

The remake transformed the original’s 16-color EGA graphics into full 256-color VGA artwork, creating detailed backgrounds that honored the spirit of the original while dramatically improving visual fidelity². The addition of dialogue portraits—character artwork displayed during conversations—added personality to interactions that were purely text-based in the 1986 version.

The complete voice pack represents a significant achievement for a fan project, providing professional-quality voice acting throughout the game including full narration². This mirrors the approach Sierra took with their later CD-ROM releases and creates a more immersive experience than the silent original.

Technical Specifications

VGA Remake:²

• Resolution: VGA (enhanced from original EGA)
• Audio: Full voice acting and original music
• File Size: Approximately 126 MB²
• Engine: Adventure Game Studio

Technical Issues

Users have reported several compatibility issues when running the game on modern systems⁴:

• Black screen appearing after opening text on some systems
• Fullscreen flickering issues
• General compatibility problems with Windows 10

The developers acknowledge these limitations, noting that “it IS an older program, so it might have some quirks running on Windows 10”⁴.

Version History

Version	Date	Platform	Notes
Original Release	2006	Windows	Initial fan remake release1
itch.io Release	Various	Windows, macOS	Current distribution platform4

Voice Cast

The remake features a complete voice pack with full speech for all characters and narration². Specific voice actor credits were not available in the research data.

Legacy

Sales and Commercial Impact

As a free fan-made project, the Infamous Adventures remake operates outside traditional commercial metrics. The game is distributed via a “name your own price” model on itch.io, allowing players to download it freely or contribute voluntarily to support the developers⁴. This approach reflects the fan community’s dedication to preserving adventure gaming history rather than pursuing commercial success.

Collections

The game has been preserved on multiple platforms:

• Previously available on the AGS (Adventure Game Studio) website⁴
• Currently hosted on Infamous Adventures’ official itch.io page⁴
• Archived on Internet Archive for preservation purposes⁷

Fan Projects

Infamous Adventures represents one of several fan groups dedicated to remaking Sierra classics. Their portfolio includes remakes of both King’s Quest III and Space Quest II³. The team has also been reported as working on “King’s Quest: Kingdom of Sorrow,” a new game based on the franchise¹.

AGD Interactive released their own separate remake, “King’s Quest III Redux: To Heir Is Human,” in February 2011⁸⁹, demonstrating the continued interest in updating this particular classic. The AGD Interactive version received substantial recognition including multiple AGS Awards⁵ and positive reviews for its gameplay improvements¹⁰.

Related Publications

The original 1986 Sierra release included official hint materials and documentation:

• Original Game Manual: Included with Sierra On-Line’s 1986 release
• Original Hint Book: Sierra’s official hint guide for the text parser version

Critical Perspective

King’s Quest III holds a unique place in adventure gaming history as one of the most challenging entries in the genre’s golden age. The original game’s brutal difficulty—where instant death lurked around every corner and typos could prove fatal—represents a design philosophy that has largely fallen out of favor². The Infamous Adventures remake serves as both preservation effort and modernization, allowing contemporary players to experience the story and puzzles without the friction of the text parser while maintaining the essential challenge that defined the original.

The existence of multiple fan remakes of this particular title (Infamous Adventures in 2006 and AGD Interactive in 2011) speaks to the game’s lasting significance in the adventure gaming community. As one AGS community reviewer noted, this is considered by many to be the “Best KQ chapter” where “Gwydion is sort of new Graham”⁵. The remake’s continued availability and positive reception nearly two decades after release demonstrates the enduring appeal of both the source material and the fan community’s preservation efforts.

Downloads

Purchase / Digital Stores

• Free download from Infamous Adventures¹¹

Download / Preservation

• Infamous Adventures itch.io - Official distribution
• Internet Archive - Archived preservation copy

Manuals & Extras

• Refer to original Sierra documentation for gameplay reference

Series Continuity

The Infamous Adventures remake recreates the third entry in Sierra’s King’s Quest series, which serves as a crucial bridge in the franchise’s overarching narrative. The original King’s Quest III: To Heir Is Human was designed by Roberta Williams and released in 1986². The story reveals the fate of Prince Alexander, the kidnapped son of King Graham from the original King’s Quest, and sets up plot elements that continue through subsequent entries including King’s Quest VI: Heir Today, Gone Tomorrow.

The fan remake faithfully preserves these story connections while updating the presentation for modern audiences. Players who complete the game will understand Alexander’s backstory, which becomes essential context for the later games where he appears as a protagonist.

• Previous (Original Series): 1985 - King’s Quest II: Romancing the Throne
• Next (Original Series): 1988 - King’s Quest IV: The Perils of Rosella

References

Footnotes

1. MobyGames – Infamous Adventures Company Profile – developer information, game list, platform details ↩ ↩² ↩³ ↩⁴ ↩⁵ ↩⁶

2. Old-Games.com – King’s Quest III Download Page – remake features, developer quote, difficulty description, technical specifications ↩ ↩² ↩³ ↩⁴ ↩⁵ ↩⁶ ↩⁷ ↩⁸ ↩⁹ ↩¹⁰ ↩¹¹ ↩¹² ↩¹³ ↩¹⁴ ↩¹⁵ ↩¹⁶ ↩¹⁷ ↩¹⁸ ↩¹⁹ ↩²⁰ ↩²¹

3. Wayback Machine – Infamous Adventures Website Archive – company description, game portfolio ↩ ↩² ↩³

4. Infamous Adventures itch.io – King’s Quest III VGA Remake – distribution platform, user ratings, technical issues, pricing model ↩ ↩² ↩³ ↩⁴ ↩⁵ ↩⁶ ↩⁷ ↩⁸ ↩⁹ ↩¹⁰ ↩¹¹ ↩¹² ↩¹³ ↩¹⁴

5. Adventure Game Studio – King’s Quest III Redux Database Entry – engine information, AGS Awards, community ratings, user reviews ↩ ↩² ↩³ ↩⁴ ↩⁵ ↩⁶

6. GameFAQs – King’s Quest III Redux – release date, developer/publisher, user ratings, game description ↩ ↩² ↩³ ↩⁴

7. Internet Archive – King’s Quest III Fan Remake – preservation copy, developer attribution ↩

8. MobyGames – King’s Quest III Redux: To Heir Is Human – AGD Interactive version release date, platform information ↩

9. Metacritic – King’s Quest III Redux – AGD Interactive version metadata ↩

10. Neoseeker – King’s Quest III Redux Review – gameplay improvements reference ↩

11. Infamous Adventures itch.io Profile – company description, available games ↩