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King’s Quest IV Remake (Infamous Adventures)

Last updated: January 23, 2026

Overview

King’s Quest IV Remake is an in-development fan remake of Sierra’s 1988 classic King’s Quest IV: The Perils of Rosella, being created by Infamous Adventures. The project continues the team’s tradition of producing high-quality VGA remakes of classic Sierra adventure games, following their earlier releases of King’s Quest III (2006) and Space Quest II VGA (2011).1

After completing their Space Quest II remake in 2011, Infamous Adventures shifted focus to commercial development under the Infamous Quests label, releasing Quest for Infamy in 2014. The team has since returned to fan remake work, with the KQ4 project seeing renewed activity through the Infamous Adventures Discord community.2 As of January 2026, the game remains in active development with no confirmed release date.1

Note: This project is distinct from other King’s Quest IV fan remakes, including “King’s Quest IV Retold” by DrSlash (2021) and the “KQ4 Retold VGA + Talkie” patch by Magic Quest Entertainment (2025).

Development

Background

Infamous Adventures was founded by Steven Alexander and Shawn Mills, dedicated to creating free VGA remakes of classic Sierra adventure games. The team gained recognition for their King’s Quest III remake released in 2006—which transformed the notoriously difficult text-parser original into a more accessible point-and-click adventure while maintaining its challenging gameplay.3 Their Space Quest II VGA remake followed in 2011 after more than five years of development, featuring over 4,000 recorded lines of dialogue and hand-drawn backgrounds.3

Following the Space Quest II release, the team shifted focus to commercial projects under the Infamous Quests label, releasing Quest for Infamy in 2014, a role-playing adventure game inspired by the Quest for Glory series. This transition to commercial development led to a hiatus in fan remake production, with the team balancing paid work with occasional updates to their free releases.

Original Game Significance

King’s Quest IV: The Perils of Rosella represented a major technical milestone for Sierra when released in 1988.4 It was Sierra’s first game to use the SCI (Sierra Creative Interpreter) engine, doubling the resolution to 320x200 and adding support for MIDI music.4 Sierra was uncertain whether players had hardware capable of running the new engine, so they released a parallel AGI version at lower resolution.4

The game was marketed with considerable fanfare, with Sierra asking “Can a Computer Game Make a Person Cry?” in advertisements and boasting about over 40 minutes of music composed by William Goldstein.4 The box proclaimed it a work of art comparable to literature and cinema—ambitious claims that now seem quaint but reflected the industry’s aspirations for the medium.

Sierra’s marketing also highlighted Roberta Williams as the game’s creator, with her portrait appearing whenever players died or quit—a decision that struck some as excessive promotional tie-in.4

Current Status

In January 2026, the Infamous Quests Patreon posted a development update stating: “The team has been really active again and hustling away to finish this up. They have been polishing some things up and doing just some amazing work.”1 The update included screenshots showing promotional box art being developed and background artwork improvements.1

Community response has been positive, with one backer commenting that the screenshots “look like what Sierra would have released for a remake of the game.”1 The Patreon author noted the team’s renewed enthusiasm: “It makes me want to finish our King’s Quest III gold remake that we had back a while ago. CONSIDERING THAT OUR KING’S QUEST III Remake is 20 years old this year!!”1

The project uses the Adventure Game Studio engine, consistent with Infamous Adventures’ previous remakes. The game will feature updated VGA-style graphics, point-and-click interface, and voice acting.

Story Summary

The remake will retell the story of the original King’s Quest IV: The Perils of Rosella (1988), designed by Roberta Williams.4 The story begins immediately following King’s Quest III, with King Graham suffering a massive heart attack as he tosses his adventurer’s cap to his children.5 Princess Rosella must travel to the enchanted land of Tamir to find a magical fruit that can save her dying father.

In Tamir, Rosella encounters the good fairy Genesta, who is weakened by her nemesis, the evil witch Lolotte.4 Rosella must complete tasks for Lolotte—capturing a unicorn, stealing a golden egg-laying hen, and uncovering Pandora’s box—while also working to help Genesta and find the magical fruit before time runs out.4

The original game was notable for being Sierra’s first adventure game with a female protagonist and for its real-time day-night cycle mechanic, where certain puzzles could only be completed at specific times.4 The remake is expected to preserve these story elements while modernizing the presentation.

Gameplay

Interface and Controls

Based on Infamous Adventures’ previous remakes, the King’s Quest IV remake will replace the original text parser with a modern point-and-click interface.3 This transformation mirrors the approach taken in their King’s Quest III remake (2006), which was praised for eliminating frustrating parser deaths while maintaining the original’s challenge.3

Expected Features

Drawing from the development team’s established approach, the remake is expected to include:

  • VGA-style graphics: Hand-drawn backgrounds with enhanced detail1
  • Full voice acting: Complete speech pack for all characters and narration3
  • Point-and-click interface: Mouse-driven navigation replacing text parser3
  • Adventure Game Studio engine: Consistent with previous IA remakes3

Source Material Challenges

The original King’s Quest IV featured several gameplay elements that have been divisive among fans and present interesting challenges for a modern remake.

The infamous whale tongue climbing section, where Rosella is swallowed and must scale the whale’s tongue to tickle its uvula with a feather, became notorious for its unclear collision detection.4 Sierra themselves acknowledged this frustration—Leisure Suit Larry 3 includes a parody sequence where players witness Rosella repeatedly failing the climb.4 DrSlash’s King’s Quest IV Retold preserved the ability to fall off edges, though with improved quality-of-life features.5

A hidden bridle required for capturing the unicorn is not just a single pixel but entirely invisible, concealed behind innocuous wreckage on the deserted island.4 Such “find the pixel” puzzles were common in Sierra’s era but have aged poorly for modern players.

The game’s real-time day-night cycle introduced time-sensitive puzzles where certain events could only occur during specific periods.4 This mechanic, while innovative for 1988, could trap players who missed time-specific content. DrSlash’s Retold version included an option to remove dead ends, addressing one of the original’s most frustrating aspects.5

How Infamous Adventures balances preservation of the original experience with modern accessibility improvements will be a key consideration for the remake.

Reception

Contemporary Reviews

As an unreleased project, the Infamous Adventures King’s Quest IV remake has no formal reviews yet. However, the original 1988 game received strong reviews upon release. Sierra’s marketing campaign asked “Can a Computer Game Make a Person Cry?”—a question their advertisements answered affirmatively.4 The game’s technological innovations, emotional storytelling, and groundbreaking female protagonist contributed to its commercial and critical success.

Computer Gaming World and other contemporary publications praised the game’s ambition, though some critics found Sierra’s promotional claims excessive.4 The game established Princess Rosella as the first playable female protagonist in a major Sierra adventure game.

Modern Assessment

The original King’s Quest IV has maintained a strong reputation among adventure gaming fans, with retrospective reviews on Hardcore Gaming 101 describing it as “another King’s Quest game” that delivers “more or less” what fans expected while acknowledging how technology has made its “tremendous emotions” feel “positively quaint.”4

Aggregate Scores (Original 1988 Game):

  • MobyGames: 3.4/5 (reviewers praising atmosphere while critiquing frustrating puzzles)6

The Infamous Adventures remake is anticipated positively by the fan community, given the team’s track record with faithful remakes that earn strong ratings—4.9/5 for King’s Quest III and 4.8/5 for Space Quest II.3 Community response to the January 2026 Patreon updates has been enthusiastic, with backers commenting that the development screenshots “look like what Sierra would have released for a remake.”1

Comparisons to Other KQ4 Remakes

The King’s Quest IV remake landscape has been notably active, with multiple concurrent projects attempting to modernize the 1988 classic:5

  • King’s Quest IV Retold by DrSlash (2021): A point-and-click AGS remake nominated for “Best Game Created with AGS” at the 2021 AGS Awards5
  • KQ4 Retold VGA + Talkie by Magic Quest Entertainment (2025): A patch adding VGA graphics and voice acting to DrSlash’s remake7
  • Unicorn Tales: A 3D remake in development5

The Infamous Adventures remake distinguishes itself through the team’s established reputation for quality, built on their King’s Quest III and Space Quest II remakes. Community discussions on VOGONS and other forums have noted that IA’s remakes stay “quite close to the original” compared to AGD Interactive, whose King’s Quest II remake “strayed slightly away from the classic.”8 This faithful approach has earned IA a dedicated following among fans who prefer accurate recreations over expanded reinterpretations.3

Legacy

Infamous Adventures’ Impact

Infamous Adventures holds a significant place in Sierra fan remake history. Their King’s Quest III remake (2006) earned a 4.9/5 rating on itch.io, and their Space Quest II remake (2011) achieved a 4.8/5 rating.3 Both projects have been updated years after initial release, with Space Quest II receiving a 2.0 update in 2020 demonstrating the team’s long-term commitment.

The King’s Quest IV project represents the team’s return to fan remakes after transitioning to commercial development with Quest for Infamy (2014). As noted in the January 2026 Patreon update, the team’s King’s Quest III remake is “20 years old this year,” highlighting their longevity in the fan community.1

The Challenge of Multiple KQ4 Remakes

Hardcore Gaming 101’s coverage of the original King’s Quest IV noted that “A fan-made VGA remake has been in the works for a few years, but nothing has been released outside of some demo footage.”4 The proliferation of KQ4 remake attempts—from Unicorn Tales’ 3D version to Magic Mirror Games’ abandoned project to the various 2D efforts—reflects the game’s beloved status and the difficulty of completing such ambitious fan projects.

The Infamous Adventures team’s renewed activity in 2025-2026, with regular Discord collaboration and Patreon updates, suggests a level of organization that may help bring this long-anticipated remake to completion.12

Downloads

Status: Not yet released

The game will be available as a free download upon completion. Development updates are shared through the Infamous Quests Patreon and the Infamous Adventures Discord community.12

Series Continuity

This is a fan remake of the fourth game in the King’s Quest series.

References

Footnotes

  1. Infamous Quests Patreon – Small Development Update – January 2026 development update with screenshots, team quotes, and community comments ↩ ↩2 ↩3 ↩4 ↩5 ↩6 ↩7 ↩8 ↩9 ↩10 ↩11

  2. Infamous Quests Patreon – Working on Stuff – September 2025 post mentioning “infamous adventures discord has been going crazy crazy lately” with renewed team activity ↩ ↩2 ↩3

  3. Infamous Adventures itch.io – Previous remakes including King’s Quest III (2006, 4.9/5) and Space Quest II (2011, 4.8/5), download pages, user ratings ↩ ↩2 ↩3 ↩4 ↩5 ↩6 ↩7 ↩8 ↩9 ↩10

  4. Hardcore Gaming 101 – King’s Quest IV – Original game analysis, whale tongue section, hidden bridle, fan remake status, designer Roberta Williams, SCI/AGI versions ↩ ↩2 ↩3 ↩4 ↩5 ↩6 ↩7 ↩8 ↩9 ↩10 ↩11 ↩12 ↩13 ↩14 ↩15 ↩16 ↩17

  5. Adventure Game Studio – King’s Quest IV Retold – DrSlash’s 2021 remake, AGS Awards 2021 nomination for Best Game Created with AGS, 9,051 downloads, community reviews ↩ ↩2 ↩3 ↩4 ↩5 ↩6

  6. MobyGames – King’s Quest IV: The Perils of Rosella – Original 1988 game details, user ratings (3.4/5), platform information, credits ↩

  7. Adventure Game Studio – King’s Quest IV Retold VGA + Talkie – Magic Quest Entertainment’s 2025 patch combining VGA graphics and voice acting, multiple version options, credits citing multiple fan remake projects ↩

  8. VOGONS Forums – Space Quest II Discussion – Community comparisons noting IA remakes “stayed quite close to the original” versus AGDI’s approach ↩

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