Eye of the Beholder III: Assault on Myth Drannor

Eye of the Beholder III: Assault on Myth Drannor is a 1993 role-playing video game and the sequel to Eye of the Beholder and Eye of the Beholder II: The Legend of Darkmoon.

Plot
After defeating Dran the heroes tell the patrons of a local tavern about their success over Dran Draggore and how it saved the town. After that, a mysterious man enters the tavern and asks the heroes to save the ruined city, Myth Drannor, which is ruled by a Lich named Acwellan. The man then tells the heroes that they need to save Myth Drannor by getting an ancient artifact from the Lich known as the Codex. After the heroes accept the quest, the mysterious man teleports the heroes just outside Myth Drannor.

The explorable areas include the forest around the city, the mausoleum, and finally the city ruins including a mage guild and a temple.

Gameplay
The game employs an updated version of the engine, oft-unique NPC selection and gameplay tweaks such as an 'All Attack' button and the ability to use polearms from second rank.

Development
Eye of the Beholder III: Assault on Myth Drannor was not developed by Westwood, the developer of Eye of the Beholder and The Legend of Darkmoon, but rather in-house by the publisher SSI. Westwood had been acquired by Virgin Interactive in 1992 and they created the Lands of Lore series instead.

The game uses the AESOP engine which later used in Dungeon Hack. Both games share the same enemy sprites, graphics, and sound effects.

Reception
SSI sold 50,664 copies of Eye of the Beholder III. The Eye of the Beholder series overall, including the game's two predecessors, reached combined global sales above 350,000 units by 1996. GameSpy commented that "Eye of the Beholder III was a classic example of a company churning out a quick sequel to a good game and simply not giving it the love and care it really deserves". Computer Gaming World's Scorpia wrote that since the game "is the closeout of the EOB series, one would expect it to be on the spectacular side. Unfortunately, for several reasons, that isn't the case". She said that the graphics were inferior to the previous games', that "aurally, the game is a nightmare", and that the "big fight at the end is a letdown". Scorpia concluded that "Assault on Myth Drannor is a disappointment ... [it] just doesn't stack up against the previous two games. What started as a series with great promise has, alas, ended on a mediocre note". She later called the game "dreary" with a "letdown" of an ending, and "only for the hard-core EOB player".

Reviews

 * ASM (Aktueller Software Markt) - June 1993
 * PC Player (Germany) - July 1993
 * PC Games - June 1993
 * PC Format - December 1994