Game Groups > Might and Magic series

Might and Magic is a series of first-person fantasy role-playing games developed by New World Computing. Together with Wizardry and Ultima, it is considered a major franchise in Western RPG development that helped to shape the genre in its early stages.

Early Might and Magic games relied on the Wizardry template, focusing on dungeon crawling and featuring party creation with characters belonging to various classes and fantasy races, random enemies, and turn-based combat. Compared to Wizardry games, they featured larger outdoor areas and more free-form exploration. Might and Magic VI (1998) moved away from random enemy encounters, introduced real-time combat with dynamic movement while allowing to switch to traditional stationary turn-based battles at any time, and implemented a manual leveling system with skill point distribution. All these elements were retained in subsequent installments.

Most Might and Magic installments have an overarching plot that contains elements of science fiction. It focuses on a group of powerful space travelers known as the Ancients, whose long-lasting battle against the alien race Kreegan has caused many worlds to be cut off from advanced technology. In the first five games, the player-controlled party of heroes tracks down Sheltem, the corrupt guardian of Earth. The sixth game starts a story arc set on the planet Enroth, which allows a closer look at the war between the Ancients and the Kreegan.

The series has also gave birth to spin-offs, most notably the Heroes of Might and Magic series of strategy games.