Eye of the Beholder

aka: EOB
Moby ID: 835
DOS Specs
Note: We may earn an affiliate commission on purchases made via eBay or Amazon links (prices updated 3/28 5:41 AM )

Description official descriptions

Something evil is lurking below the city of Waterdeep. The Lords of Waterdeep summon a group of heroes to investigate, but someone or something has been watching the proceedings. After the heroes enter the sewers, the ceiling collapses behind them. The only way out is the way down, into a dungeon filled with monsters, traps and puzzles.

Eye of the Beholder is a dungeon crawler RPG with a first-person perspective based on the 2nd Edition AD&D rules. The starting party consists of four characters and up to two NPCs can join later. Combat and magic happen in real time, similarly to Dungeon Master. There is a variety of monsters to fight and spells to cast. The game features a point-and-click interface for fighting, spellcasting and handling objects.

Spellings

  • アイ・オブ・ザ・ビホルダー - Japanese spelling

Groups +

Screenshots

Promos

Credits (DOS version)

34 People (32 developers, 2 thanks) · View all

Director of Product Development (Westwood)
Game Design (Westwood)
Original Programming (Westwood)
Amiga Programming (Westwood)
Graphics (Westwood)
Music (Westwood)
Sound Effects (Westwood)
Writer (Westwood)
Playtesting (Westwood)
Special Thanks To
  • Uncle Otto
Game Development (SSI)
Development Support (SSI)
Manual (SSI)
Playtesting (SSI)
[ full credits ]

Reviews

Critics

Average score: 81% (based on 39 ratings)

Players

Average score: 3.7 out of 5 (based on 163 ratings with 8 reviews)

Awesome for the time, still a great game today.

The Good
- the gameplay is absolutely fluid, the controls are mouse and keypad only are easy to handle. There are no speed problems even on modern machines.

  • the graphics were outstanding for the time being, one of the early VGA AD&D games (the first if I'm not mistaken), although there's not much animation. This is especially true when compared to other RPG's of that style from that time (Bloodwych, I'm looking at you...)

  • this is also the first AD&D game that uses 2nd edition rules - all the "Gold Box games" still used 1st edition.

  • the atmosphere really makes you feel as if you're in a dungeon. You might walk around a corner while some monster blasts you from behind and you won't find out until you're almost dead.

    The Bad
    - well, there's no real adventure part. It's kill monsters, draw maps, find out which keys fit where. Storyline is typical "kill the bad guy" and not much more. And the ending is horrid - after you geek the beholder, there is some text about how you've saved everyone and went back home safely. Also, you cannot save the game after you've killed the big guy, so when you import your party to EOB2, technically you import the party that didn't finish the game. Ooh well.

  • there's only one save option. Thankfully they'd fix this in EOB2, as well as other little nitpicks.

  • no auto mapping, although I have to admit that I had a lot of fun drawing my own maps.

  • monsters are pathetically easy to kill if you're skilled at using both mouse and keyboard: whack the monster by mouse-click, then step back using the keypad before the monster can retaliate. Repeat till it's dead.

    The Bottom Line
    Still, a damn good game. A must have for every AD&D gamer, and if you ever want to play the even better sequel (EOB2 - Legend of Darkmoon) you ought to beat this game in order to import a good party with it's share of magical items etc., especially seeing how tough EOB2 is you need all the beef you can get.

DOS · by Gothicgene (66) · 2001

Any game with Larry Elmore's art on its cover is a good game.

The Good
The interface. The change of interface from the traditional SSI gold box series was welcomed warmly. Don't get me wrong, I love the traditional gold box style of games but this was great because the battles now were in the same screen as the adventuring windows. It didn't feel like you left the game to go battle and then came back. It kept you right in there and the graphics greatly improved from the other series. It was just a fun game that was new at the time. Fairly large, I never did finish it but got very close.

The Bad
Some of the dungeons were pretty "blah". Monotonous and felt like you were just wandering aimlessly. I think that was their point in a way. It felt like the two guys in the back of your party were worthless unless they were spell casters.

The Bottom Line
Good. A good 7.5 out of 10. If you ever should have the chance to play it, check it out.

DOS · by OlSkool_Gamer (88) · 2004

One of the first good dungeon crawling RPGs of the early DOS times

The Good
The first thing that drew my attention into playing this game was the wonderfully designed graphics. It's not only the intro sequence, but also how the walls, the monsters and especially the items dropped into the floor look like that still fascinate me regardless the old classic low VGA resolution of the graphics. Even though the animation is missing, the graphics design pay off for that.

Another major thing is the atmosphere both this title and the sequel offered. While there is a lack of an ingame music (even an ambient one to fit well), total silence except from the creepy sounds coming from monsters around the corner, dark empty dungeons creating a claustrophobic feeling, pits or teleport leading in even lower levels under the ground is all that makes you feel you are deep down in a creepy old dungeon left all alone to discover it's secrets not seen by many for a long time.

One interesting characteristic of the game that is missing from the rest of the series is it's non linearity. At many places in the game there are a lot of teleport portals that may allow you to skip a lot of levels. The same levels might be connected with different stairs from different places and there are a lot of different paths one can follow. In one occasion you can skip one level by falling into a pit that leads you directly in the spider level. There are many places to move around, special quests you can solve (for some of them you have to travel back to earlier levels), so many interesting places you might have missed even if you are at the final level meeting the boss and two different ways to kill the beholder. Especially the non linearity feature because of the portals is exploited in speed runs of the game finished in just ten minutes, something that could be impossible in EOB 2 or 3.

The controls and gameplay are also very well done and if someone can get used moving around with the arrow keys and acting with the mouse, one can become an expert in the game and cleverly pursue fights with even the hardest monsters by using the common side stepping trick that works in all EOBs.

The Bad
The finale of the game is maybe the most empty and unfinished I have ever seen. After you give the final blow to the beholder (or lead him to the trap by using a wand you acquire) a little window with text appears saying that you killed the evil and finished the game and then it returns you back to DOS.

The special quests even if they are fun to find, no clues are given about them and they aren't even connected to the main story. Generally, there is a lack of true story throughout the game (one mistake that changed in EOB2 and it's sequel) which doesn't destroy much the atmosphere though.

There is only one save game. A mistake also corrected in the later series.

The Bottom Line
A very good early dungeon crawling RPG, truly recommended for starters in the genre (at least for those who would still play old DOS games). Not as great as it's sequel in terms of a story but still above average. It's also a nice idea to play and finish this one first before playing the much harder sequel and transfer the party to EOB2 with all possible +3/5 weapons acquired.

DOS · by Optimus (75) · 2009

[ View all 8 player reviews ]

Discussion

Subject By Date
correcting a review Pseudo_Intellectual (66248) Jan 17, 2017

Trivia

1001 Video Games

The PC version of Eye of the Beholder appears in the book 1001 Video Games You Must Play Before You Die by General Editor Tony Mott.

Boss

The final big boss, Xanathar is actually The Beholder, as he (is it he? or was it she? :-) says to you (when you get to the endgame for final confrontation) that all those traps you encountered, and minions you fought was just a play to watch, and that he was watching you all the way (that only gets him beholder title). Now, as you can notice, he looks like a big bowling eye, with many pipes that ends also with an eye (that gives him eye title). So, Eye of the Beholder would actually be himself.

As in this game he's the main bad guy, in Eye of the Beholder II, there are actually many creatures that are from his race, and are no such threat.

Cancelled Lynx port

This game was being ported to Atari's Lynx by NuFX, Inc., but development was halted. Prototypes have since been leaked to the internet.

Character portraits

A number of the portraits in Eye of the Beholder were Westwood employees. These include Paul Mudra (Music and Design), Phil Gorrow (Lead Programmer and Design), Joseph Hewitt (Lead Artist and Design), Mike Legg (Programmer and Design), Frank Saxxon (Artist), Aaron Powell (Artist) and Eydie Laramore (Lead Writer and Design).

Ending

Eye of the Beholder was praised for its stylish cinematic opening sequence, which dazzled players and set the stage of the game to follow. However, since the final game's size weighed in at 5 3.5" disks, SSI decided to cut the ending cinematic, figuring very few players would see it anyway, and it was not worth the extra cost of the sixth disk.

However, many players who did slog it out to the end of the game and were not amused when they were "rewarded" with a simple text message and unceremoniously dropped to DOS. SSI soon realized their mistake, but the damage could not be undone. Many players assumed the game simply never had an ending, never suspecting it existed but was not included.

The Amiga version was later released with the final endgame graphic.

Also, there was one bit of the ending that most players never saw. Players were able to do what the developer's called the "EoB Two-Step," side-stepping, turning and side-stepping again, they were able to fight many monsters including the boss with risk of taking much damage. It was possible, though time consuming, to use this technique to kill Xanathar. This is not the way the game's designers had in mind for his defeat though. The player were supposed to lure and push Xanathar into one of the spike traps where there was a small animated sequence (basically 4 frames) of him being impaled and dying.

Title

Eye of the Beholder is one of many games that shares its name with a song by the heavy metal band Metallica.

Awards

  • Computer Gaming World
    • November 1996 (15th anniversary issue) – #2 Least Rewarding Ending of All Time* Enchanted Realms
    • September 1991 (Issue #8) – Distinctive Adventure Award

Information also contributed by Игги Друге, Martin Smith, and MAT

Analytics

MobyPro Early Access

Upgrade to MobyPro to view research rankings!

Related Games

Eye of the Beholder III: Assault on Myth Drannor
Released 1993 on DOS, 1994 on PC-98
Eye of the Beholder II: The Legend of Darkmoon
Released 1991 on DOS, 1992 on Amiga, 1993 on PC-98
Dungeons & Dragons: Eye of the Beholder
Released 2002 on Game Boy Advance
Beholder
Released 2016 on Windows, Macintosh, 2017 on iPhone...
Private eye dol
Released 1995 on TurboGrafx CD
Beholder 3
Released 2022 on Windows, Xbox Series, PlayStation 5...
Beholder 2
Released 2018 on Linux, Windows, Macintosh...
Beholder: Blissful Sleep
Released 2017 on Windows, Linux, Macintosh

Related Sites +

Identifiers +

  • MobyGames ID: 835
  • [ Please login / register to view all identifiers ]

Contribute

Are you familiar with this game? Help document and preserve this entry in video game history! If your contribution is approved, you will earn points and be credited as a contributor.

Contributors to this Entry

Game added by Chris Martin.

SNES added by SAGA_. SEGA CD added by Stillman. PC-98 added by Terok Nor. Amiga added by MAT.

Additional contributors: Tony Van, Terok Nor, xcom1602, Jeanne, Cabeza2000, Alaka, monkeyislandgirl, Joseph Hewitt, Patrick Bregger, Azif Kylander, Narushima, FatherJack.

Game added February 7, 2000. Last modified February 13, 2024.