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King’s Quest V: Absence Makes the Heart Go Yonder!

Last updated: January 10, 2026

Overview

King’s Quest V: Absence Makes the Heart Go Yonder! marks a pivotal turning point in Sierra On-Line’s gaming philosophy, representing one of the most significant technological leaps in adventure game history.1 Released in November 1990, it was Sierra’s first adventure game to utilize a point-and-click mouse interface, abandoning the text parser that had defined the series since its inception.2 The game was also Sierra’s first title to feature 256-color VGA graphics and became the first adventure game released on CD-ROM in the Multimedia PC format, introducing full voice acting to the genre.1

The game pushed forward with improved visuals and production values that were groundbreaking for its time.3 With a development budget of approximately one million dollars, it was the first adventure game to cost over $1 million USD to produce.1 The backgrounds were hand-painted by professional artists using acrylic and watercolor on canvas, then scanned into the computer—a revolutionary technique that produced what critics called “tour de force VGA graphics.”45 Computer Gaming World noted that “Roberta Williams horrified Sierra traditionalists by getting the parser out of the way of some of the most beautiful graphics ever.”6

King’s Quest V became a commercial phenomenon, selling over 500,000 copies and becoming the best-selling computer game in history at that time.7 The game won the Software Publishers Association’s Excellence in Software Award for Best Fantasy Role-Playing/Adventure Program in 1991, along with Computer Gaming World’s Adventure Game of the Year award.6 Despite its commercial success and technical achievements, modern retrospectives have been more critical, with reviewers noting that while revolutionary for its era, certain design decisions have aged poorly.8

Story Summary

On a beautiful sunny day, King Graham of Daventry decides to take a stroll in the woods surrounding his castle. When he returns, he discovers with horror that his home, Daventry Castle, has completely disappeared along with his entire family.2 Graham is at a loss, wondering how this could have happened, when a talking owl named Cedric appears and tells him that he witnessed the whole event—an evil wizard named Mordack used a powerful spell to whisk the entire castle away.2

Cedric transports Graham to the land of Serenia to meet his master, the good wizard Crispin, who provides Graham with his old wand and grants him the ability to speak with animals.10 The adventure takes Graham through diverse locations including a dark forest, a scorching desert, treacherous mountains, and ultimately to Mordack’s foreboding island castle.11 Along the way, Graham must solve puzzles, help those in need, and gather the items necessary to confront the evil wizard.

The villain Mordack is revealed to be the brother of Manannan, the evil wizard from King’s Quest III whom Prince Alexander had transformed into a cat.6 Mordack seeks revenge against Alexander for his sibling’s downfall, and has imprisoned the royal family with the intention of feeding them to Manannan.12 Graham must navigate through Mordack’s castle, rescue Princess Cassima (who would become central to the next game’s plot), and ultimately defeat the wizard in a magical duel to save his family and restore Daventry Castle to its rightful place.13

Gameplay

Interface and Controls

King’s Quest V introduced a completely new icon-driven interface that requires no typing on the keyboard, representing Sierra’s first fully point-and-click adventure game.14 The game uses simplified action commands through cursor icons including Walk, Eye (look), Hand (interact), and Head (talk), which players can cycle through to interact with the game world.2 This marked a dramatic departure from the text parser interface used in all previous King’s Quest games and fundamentally changed how players experienced Sierra adventures.1

The interface was designed to be more accessible to a broader audience, fitting Sierra’s marketing push to “bring the family” into the world of King’s Quest.15 Players interact with the environment by selecting appropriate icons and clicking on objects, characters, or locations within the beautifully rendered scenes.14 An inventory system allows players to collect and use items throughout the adventure, which is central to solving the game’s many puzzles.

Structure and Progression

The game follows a semi-linear structure as Graham travels through different regions on his quest to reach Mordack’s castle:

  • Serenia Forest and Town: The starting area where Graham learns about his quest and gathers essential supplies from the town’s various shops and inhabitants.16
  • The Dark Forest: A dangerous woodland area featuring encounters with a witch, gnomes, and other fairy tale creatures.16
  • The Desert: A challenging desert map that received significant criticism for its difficulty in navigation.17
  • The Mountain Pass: Snowy peaks featuring encounters with an Ice Queen, a Yeti, and a memorable sled ride sequence.18
  • The Sea and Harpie Island: Graham’s ocean voyage and encounters with mythological creatures.18
  • Mordack’s Castle: The final dungeon where Graham must navigate treacherous corridors, rescue his family, and defeat the evil wizard.13

Puzzles and Mechanics

The game features inventory-based puzzles typical of Sierra adventures, requiring players to collect items and use them in appropriate situations.14 A scoring system tracks player progress, with a maximum of 260 points available throughout the game.19 However, the game has been criticized for containing numerous dead-ends—situations where players can progress past a point of no return without necessary items, making the game unwinnable without reloading an earlier save.1

Players must frequently perform good deeds that are rewarded later in the game, embodying the fairy tale morality that defined the King’s Quest series.16 The game includes many ways to die, requiring players to save frequently.20 Some puzzle solutions have been criticized as illogical or overly obtuse, such as the infamous requirement to throw a shoe at a cat to rescue a mouse.21

Reception

Contemporary Reviews

King’s Quest V received widespread critical acclaim upon release. Scorpia of Computer Gaming World praised the game’s “graphic tour-de-force” visuals, while the magazine’s editors named it the 1991 Adventure Game of the Year.56 Dragon magazine awarded the game 4 out of 5 stars in 1991.6 The game earned the 1991 CODiE Award (Software Publishers Association Excellence in Software Award) for Best Fantasy Role Playing/Adventure Program.3

Critics universally praised the VGA graphics as revolutionary for their time.17 However, the CD-ROM version’s voice acting received more mixed reactions, with Charles Ardai of Computer Gaming World describing it as “wooden.”6 The desert navigation section was singled out for criticism by multiple reviewers.17 MPC World readers voted it the Best Multimedia Fantasy/Adventure Game in 1992.6

Modern Assessment

Modern retrospectives have been more critical of the game’s design choices. Adventure Gamers rated the game 3 out of 5 stars, describing it as “a step forward in graphics and interface; a step backward in story and character development.”22 The review recommended that players “skip ahead to KQVI, which is so much better” unless they are dedicated King’s Quest fans.22

Hardcore Gaming 101 noted that “despite its popularity at the time, [the game] has aged quite poorly.”8 GameCola’s Nathaniel Hoover gave it a 5 (Average) rating, criticizing that “the gameplay ruins the game, but it’s not even that the puzzles themselves are bad—it’s the misleading or altogether absent communication about what is actually a puzzle.”23 The Adventurers’ Guild blog rated the game 56/100 in their retrospective playthrough.24

Aggregate Scores:

  • IMDB: 7.8/1025
  • Adventure Gamers: 3/5 stars22
  • Choicest Games: 7/1017
  • Adventure Classic Gaming: 4/5 (Very Good)1

Development

Origins

Development on King’s Quest V commenced in late 1989 as Sierra sought to push the boundaries of what was possible in adventure gaming.9 Roberta Williams, who had created the original King’s Quest in 1984, returned as sole designer and director with an ambitious vision to revolutionize the series.2 The game marked a return to the land of Serenia, first seen in Sierra’s earlier title Wizard and the Princess.26

Sierra’s creative director Bill Davis introduced new storyboarding methodologies borrowed from the film industry to manage the ambitious project. “We are going to take some of the techniques that have been used in the film industry to manage gigantic feature projects and apply them here,” Davis explained.15 Williams approached the design with the philosophy of creating a true adventure experience: “We didn’t want to make it so you go here and solve a puzzle, then go there to solve a puzzle, then go to a puzzle somewhere else. What we really wanted to bring was that sense of going on an adventure, of going on a quest.”27

Production

The game represented Sierra’s most ambitious production to date, with an unprecedented budget of approximately one million dollars.9 The art direction was revolutionary: background scenes were hand-drawn and painted by professional artists, then scanned into the computer—a significant departure from how Sierra had previously created game graphics.4 Character animations employed rotoscoping techniques inspired by Disney animation from The Little Mermaid, using live actors as the framework for character sprites.6

The game was developed using the new SCI1 (Sierra Creative Interpreter version 1) engine, which Corey Cole described as including “a scripting language, graphic and sound features, the parser, ways to animate characters, and so on.”28 Cole noted that about one-third of the SCI system was coded in assembly language, and the team was also responsible for porting to Atari ST, Amiga, and Macintosh platforms.28

Development Credits:29

  • Designer/Director/Producer: Roberta Williams
  • Executive Producer: Ken Williams
  • Creative Director: Bill Davis
  • Lead Programmer: Chris Iden
  • Programmers: Oliver Brelsford, Juan Carlos Escobar, Doug Oldfield, Chris Hoyt, Raoul Said, Robert W. Lindsley
  • Art Designer: Andy Hoyos
  • Artists: Deena Benz, Ernie Chan, Jeff Crowe, Tamra Dayton, Dana Dean, Roger Hardy, Douglas Herring, Eric Kasner, Jim Larsen
  • Composers: Mark Seibert, Ken Allen
  • Development System: Corey Cole, Dan Foy, Pablo Ghenis, John Hartin, Robert E. Heitman, J. Mark Hood

Technical Achievements

King’s Quest V was Sierra’s first VGA game and one of the first VGA games ever released, featuring 256-color graphics at 320x200 resolution.30 The game represented the most dramatic visual leap in Sierra’s history, with reviewers consistently praising the hand-painted backgrounds as groundbreaking.15 The CD-ROM version, released in 1991, was mastered in High Sierra Format and included full voice acting, making it one of the earliest “talkie” games.6

The game’s audio system supported multiple sound cards including Game Blaster, Ad Lib, Sound Blaster, and Roland MT-32.10 The soundtrack was MIDI-based, composed by Mark Seibert and Ken Allen, featuring over 40 distinct musical pieces for different locations and situations.31 The huge increase in storage capacity offered by CD-ROM allowed for both digital sound effects and speech files.30

Technical Specifications

CD-ROM Version:10

  • Resolution: 320x200, 256 colors (VGA)
  • Audio: Game Blaster, Ad Lib, Sound Blaster, Roland MT-32
  • Hard Disk Space: 9 MB (256-color version)
  • RAM: 640 KB
  • Media: CD-ROM (High Sierra Format)

Floppy Version:10

  • Resolution: 320x200, 16 colors (EGA) or 256 colors (VGA)
  • Hard Disk Space: 6 MB (16-color version), 9 MB (256-color version)
  • Media: 5.25” 1.2 MB DS/HD floppy disks
  • Installed Size: 8.65 MB

1999 Collection Requirements:22

  • OS: MS-DOS or Windows 3.1/95
  • Processor: 486/25 MHz
  • RAM: 8 MB
  • CD-ROM: 2x drive
  • Graphics: SVGA 640x480, 256 color
  • Sound: Sound card with DAC

Cut Content

Several planned versions of the game were cancelled during development. A Sega CD port was announced but never released.6 An Atari ST version was announced for Spring 1991 but was ultimately cancelled.6 Some unused dialogue and background scenes exist within the game’s data files, including hidden unused game over icons.32

Version History

VersionDatePlatformNotes
Floppy EGANovember 1990MS-DOS16-color version33
Floppy VGANovember 1990MS-DOS256-color version33
CD-ROM1991MS-DOSAdded voice acting6
Amiga1991Amiga32 colors28
Macintosh1991MacPort6
NESJune 1992NintendoKonami/Novotrade port34
FM Towns1991FM TownsJapanese/English voice acting35
PC-981991NEC PC-9801Japanese market6
Windows 3.x1992WindowsWindows port36

SCI Interpreter Versions:9

  • Floppy version: SCI1 interpreter
  • CD-ROM version: SCI1 interpreter with audio extensions

Technical Issues

The CD-ROM version’s audio quality suffered from echo effects and compatibility issues with early High Sierra-format CD-ROM drives.9 Modern players using the Steam version may encounter save game issues, receiving the message “This directory/disk can hold no more saved games.”37 Solutions include installing community patches from The Sierra Help Pages.37

Common compatibility issues include:

  • “Unable to initialize your audio hardware” error on modern systems38
  • “Out of heap” errors requiring specific save game workarounds38
  • Players must run the game in 256 color mode38
  • Older versions may incorrectly detect modern 16-bit sound cards38

Easter Eggs and Trivia

  • Game Title Pun: The subtitle “Absence Makes the Heart Go Yonder” is a play on the proverb “Absence makes the heart grow fonder.”25
  • Sled/Cape Easter Egg: In the floppy disk version, after Graham crashes the sled in the snowy mountains, using the cape on the broken sled pile causes a sea creature to mysteriously appear—this was removed from the CD-ROM version.39
  • Contest Winners: Sierra ran a contest where winners became characters in the game. Amanda Logue and Austin Hartman appear as in-game characters.25
  • Real-World Architecture: The desert temple exterior is based on “Al Khazneh” in Petra, Jordan.25
  • Sierra Logo Mountain: A mountain in the game is designed to resemble the Sierra On-Line logo.25
  • Cedric References: The owl Cedric became so notorious that he appeared as the brunt of jokes in later Sierra games including Freddy Pharkas: Frontier Pharmacist, Quest for Glory: Shadows of Darkness, and Space Quest VI.26
  • Unused Dialogue: Files contain one unused line where King Graham says “I’ll take care of you, Cedric.”34

Voice Cast

CharacterVoice Actor
King Graham / Innkeeper’s PalJosh Mandel
NarratorArt Lewicki
Cedric the OwlRichard Aronson
Crispin / Toymaker / InnkeeperLeonard “Ray” Bergeron
MordackAndy Hoyos
Prince Alexander / Eagle / Toymaker’s Son / RockyBarry T. Smith
Princess CassimaDianah Pressley
Rosella / Alicia / Queen Beetrice / WillowDiana Rose Wilson
Queen IcebellaLori Ann Cole
The Genie / The Snake / Man in Town / Singing AntsMark Seibert
The Rat / Amanda / Woman in Town / HarpyRoberta Williams
Gypsy ManKenny Long
Baker / Baker’s BrotherDick Roberts
Herbert / GnomeGregory James Thomas
Shoemaker / King AntonyDan Long
Shoemaker’s Wife / Gypsy Fortuneteller / WitchSarah Long
Sir GreywolfFrederic Gott
Toymaker’s GranddaughterKristen Hoyos
HermitBill Davis
The Cat / Irate CustomerGuruka Singh Khalsa
HarpyBarbara Eicker
Singing Willow TreeDebbie Seibert
AustinKevin Orcutt
TailorD.J. Williams
Elf / HarpyNancy Zdenek

Voice acting was performed primarily by Sierra staff members rather than professional actors, which contributed to the mixed reception of the CD-ROM version’s voice work.2923

Legacy

Sales and Commercial Impact

King’s Quest V sold 160,000 copies in its first three months and 300,000 copies within fifteen months of release.15 By February 1993, the game had sold 250,000 units, and lifetime sales exceeded 500,000 copies worldwide.9 Ken Williams reported that the game had sold 300,000 copies by Spring 1992.40 By November 2000, US sales alone were estimated at 300,000-400,000 units.6

The game’s success established it as the best-selling computer game in history at that time.7 It demonstrated the commercial viability of CD-ROM gaming and helped establish Sierra as a leader in multimedia entertainment.15 The game was one of the best-selling DOS games of its era and won several industry awards.41

Collections

King’s Quest V has been included in numerous compilation releases:

  • King’s Quest Collection Series (1997): Included with games I-VII42
  • King’s Quest Collection Series (1999): Re-released compilation22
  • King’s Quest Collection (2006): Modern Windows compatible release22
  • GOG.com King’s Quest 4+5+6: Digital distribution bundle43
  • Steam King’s Quest Collection: Digital distribution37

Fan Projects

The game has inspired various fan efforts over the years. AGD Interactive, devoted to remaking classic Sierra adventure games, has discussed King’s Quest V in fan community contexts.44 Fan community member MusicallyInspired created an AGI-style version of King’s Quest V as an artistic project, though not as a full playable game.45 The game has been preserved through various archive efforts including the Internet Archive, where multiple language versions (Spanish, Italian, French) are available.4647

  • King’s Quest V Manual: Official game documentation written by Bridget McKenna, included with original release48
  • Sierra Hint Book: Official hint guide available for players needing puzzle assistance49
  • Nintendo Power Strategy Guide: NES-specific walkthrough published in August 1993 issue50

Critical Perspective

King’s Quest V occupies a fascinating and somewhat contradictory place in adventure game history. On one hand, it represents a genuine technological milestone—the game’s 256-color VGA graphics, point-and-click interface, and CD-ROM voice acting were genuinely revolutionary and helped define what adventure games could become.1 Adventure Classic Gaming’s Eivind Hagerup wrote that it “marks a pivotal turning point in Sierra On-Line’s gaming philosophy which has forever changed the face of adventure game design.”1

On the other hand, the game also exemplifies design philosophies that would eventually contribute to the adventure genre’s decline. The numerous dead-ends, illogical puzzle solutions, and frequent deaths frustrated players and represent what one reviewer called pulling “nearly every dick-move from the Sierra playbook.”51 Williams herself later acknowledged that the transition to icon-based interface took time to fully realize: “Unfortunately it took some time to realize all the possibilities the new format offered; some players felt icon-based games were less challenging.”52 The game stands as both a monument to technological progress and a cautionary tale about game design, its legacy defined as much by what it achieved as by what its successors would improve upon.

Downloads

Purchase / Digital Stores

Download / Preservation

Manuals & Extras

Series Continuity

King’s Quest V follows the events of King’s Quest IV: The Perils of Rosella, which focused on Graham’s daughter Rosella saving her father from death. The fifth installment returns the series’ focus to King Graham himself, who had been the protagonist of the first two games.26 The game introduces Princess Cassima, who would become the love interest of Prince Alexander and central to the plot of King’s Quest VI.13

The antagonist Mordack is directly connected to King’s Quest III’s villain Manannan, being his brother and seeking revenge for Alexander’s transformation of Manannan into a cat.6 This creates narrative continuity across the series while establishing stakes that feel personal to the royal family. The game’s events set up the romance between Alexander and Cassima that drives King’s Quest VI, as Alexander has “seen an image of Princess Cassima in his magic mirror, which tells him that she has been captured by an evil vizier on the Land of the Green Isles.”53

References

Footnotes

  1. Adventure Classic Gaming – King’s Quest V Review – technical specifications, awards, review score, development milestones ↩ ↩2 ↩3 ↩4 ↩5 ↩6 ↩7 ↩8

  2. Internet Archive – MS-DOS Version – plot summary, interface description, MobyGames content ↩ ↩2 ↩3 ↩4 ↩5 ↩6 ↩7 ↩8

  3. Abandonware DOS – 1991 CODiE Awards – awards, historical significance ↩ ↩2

  4. AGD Interactive Forums – hand-painted background techniques ↩ ↩2

  5. Computer Gaming World Museum – Issue 80 – Scorpia review ↩ ↩2

  6. Wikipedia – King’s Quest V – comprehensive development, sales, awards, platform information ↩ ↩2 ↩3 ↩4 ↩5 ↩6 ↩7 ↩8 ↩9 ↩10 ↩11 ↩12 ↩13 ↩14 ↩15 ↩16 ↩17

  7. King’s Quest Omnipedia – King’s Quest V – sales records, version information ↩ ↩2

  8. Hardcore Gaming 101 – King’s Quest V – retrospective analysis, version comparisons ↩ ↩2

  9. Grokipedia – King’s Quest V – SCI1 engine, sales data, technical details ↩ ↩2 ↩3 ↩4 ↩5 ↩6

  10. DOS Days – King’s Quest V – technical specifications, installation details ↩ ↩2 ↩3 ↩4

  11. Internet Archive – NES Longplay – plot description, gameplay elements ↩

  12. Computer Hope Walkthrough – gameplay mechanics, interface description ↩

  13. Adventure Gamers – King’s Quest VI Walkthrough – Cassima introduction, series connections ↩ ↩2 ↩3

  14. Internet Archive – SoftKey Version – interface description, gameplay mechanics ↩ ↩2 ↩3

  15. The Digital Antiquarian – Sierra at the Cusp of the Multimedia Age – sales data, development methodology, marketing ↩ ↩2 ↩3 ↩4 ↩5

  16. Adventure Gamers – King’s Quest V Walkthrough – progression, puzzle descriptions ↩ ↩2 ↩3

  17. Choicest Games – King’s Quest V Review – modern review, technical achievements ↩ ↩2 ↩3 ↩4

  18. KHInsider – King’s Quest V Soundtrack – track listing, location themes ↩ ↩2

  19. GameFAQs – NES Walkthrough – point system, NES version differences ↩

  20. eBay – King’s Quest V Listings – version history, platform releases ↩

  21. Reddit Discussion – puzzle criticism, player experiences ↩

  22. Adventure Gamers – King’s Quest V Game Page – rating, system requirements, review ↩ ↩2 ↩3 ↩4 ↩5 ↩6

  23. GameCola – King’s Quest V Review – modern critique, voice acting comments ↩ ↩2

  24. The Adventurer’s Guild – Final Rating – retrospective score ↩

  25. IMDB – King’s Quest V Trivia – easter eggs, title pun, contest winners ↩ ↩2 ↩3 ↩4 ↩5

  26. Wikipedia – King’s Quest Series – series overview, Serenia connection, Cedric references ↩ ↩2 ↩3

  27. The Digital Antiquarian – King’s Quest V Search Results – Roberta Williams design philosophy ↩

  28. The Adventurer’s Guild – Introduction – Corey Cole comments, SCI engine details ↩ ↩2 ↩3

  29. IMDB – King’s Quest V Full Credits – complete production credits, voice cast ↩ ↩2

  30. SCI Wiki – SCI1 technical information, CD-ROM capabilities ↩ ↩2

  31. Game Grumps Wiki – King’s Quest V – music details, version information ↩

  32. GameFAQs – King’s Quest V Trivia – cut content, unused assets ↩

  33. Internet Archive – King’s Quest V Manual – release information ↩ ↩2

  34. GameFAQs – NES Reviews – NES version details, unused dialogue ↩ ↩2

  35. Great Hierophant – FM Towns – FM Towns Japanese/English versions ↩

  36. Internet Archive – USA Version – Windows 3.1 release ↩

  37. Telltale Community Forums – Steam version issues, patches ↩ ↩2 ↩3

  38. Sierra Help Pages – technical troubleshooting, error messages ↩ ↩2 ↩3 ↩4

  39. The Easter Egg Archive – King’s Quest V – sled/cape easter egg descriptions ↩

  40. King’s Quest Omnipedia – Sales Data – Ken Williams sales report ↩

  41. Hardcore Gaming 101 Blog – sales success, awards ↩

  42. GOG Forums – Manual Discussion – collection version information ↩

  43. GOG – King’s Quest 4+5+6 – digital release, user reviews ↩

  44. AGD Interactive – fan remake community ↩

  45. AGD Interactive Forums – AGI Version – fan AGI project ↩

  46. Internet Archive – Spanish Version – localization ↩

  47. Internet Archive – French Collection – international versions ↩

  48. King’s Quest Omnipedia – NES Manual – manual author credit ↩

  49. Sierra Hint Book Reference – hint book availability ↩

  50. King’s Quest Omnipedia – Nintendo Power Review – strategy guide publication ↩

  51. TV Tropes – King’s Quest V – design criticism ↩

  52. King’s Quest Omnipedia – Development – Roberta Williams interface comments ↩

  53. Adventure Gamers – King’s Quest VI Introduction – Alexander and Cassima connection ↩

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