Wizardry: Proving Grounds of the Mad Overlord

As the smash-hit video game from 1981 that established the party-based dungeon crawler genre, Wizardry laid the foundation for an entire genre of fantasy adventures that include Baldur’s Gate, Dragon Quest, Might and Magic, and Final Fantasy. Now, developer Digital Eclipse has lovingly remade the Wizardry game in the Unreal Engine. Released for PC, Nintendo Switch, PlayStation, and XBox by game publisher Atari, Wizardry: Proving Grounds of the Mad Overlord offers the same hard-core difficulty of the original game, now wrapped in a beautiful modern aesthetic and accompanied by a brand-new musical score. Winifred Phillips composed for medieval instruments from around the world, including gitterns, domras, talharpas and nyckelharpas, viola da gamba, dulcimers and psaltery, recorders, pipes and bone flutes, organs and an assortment of lutes, frame drums, and all manner of medieval percussion. From the pious music of the temple, to the bawdy drinking songs of the tavern, the music of Wizardry conjures the life and times of a medieval adventurer in a fantasy roleplaying world. Phillips' award-winning music has been performed at such venues as the Palais Des Congres in Paris, the Eventim Apollo in London, the Dolby Theatre in Los Angeles, and the Teatro degli Arcimboldi in Milan. Phillips’ music has been hailed as “joyous” with “a real sense of wonder” by BBC Radio 3, and the Washington Post has praised Phillips’ music as “captivating!” The composer’s repertoire has focused on many culturally rich projects, including her intricate baroque compositions for Assassin’s Creed Liberation, her lush medieval compositions for Total War Battles: KINGDOM, and the ancient Mediterranean music she created for God of War. For her previous work as a composer, Phillips has won six Game Audio Network Guild Awards, four Hollywood Music in Media Awards, ten Global Music Awards, three Gold NYX Game Awards, and an Interactive Achievement Award / D.I.C.E. Award. In addition, Phillips' music has been nominated for multiple Society of Composers and Lyricists Awards.