Retro Let's Play: November 2025 - Simon The Sorcerer (1993)

Retro Let's Play: November 2025 - Simon The Sorcerer (1993).

With the release of the new Simon The Sorcerer Origins game I could not think of a better time for us to discover (or rediscover) the original game.

Heck, this game is so old it has a 25th anniversary edition from the days of terrible re-releases! This does look terrible so I will not be playing this way

To find out what this is and why we're doing it, click here.

I'm personally playing it because it's on my pile of shame, I played plenty of point and clicks back in the day on my Amiga but never got around to this and it is a bit of a point of contention for me as it's one of the all time classics of the era. The adventure genre is still alive and kicking in 2025 and this one is a real standout title.

What is it?

Simon the Sorcerer is a comedy point and click and shamelessly so, it blends stupid puzzles (which will require a guide of course) with jokes that's just the formula and from all reports is unapologetically British which should make for plenty of laughs. To top it all off it's one of the original talkies that added a dimension to these games that could not be matched especially if you had a strong cast and they did with Chris Barrie of Red Dwarf (Rimmer) fame doing the duties.








Versions.

The game launched on the Amiga and MS-DOS in 1993, if you were there at the time you most likely had the non-talkie version that shipped with a swag of floppies. I remember seeing it in magazines at the time and being pretty interested in it as I was really into Discworld which is cited as an influence, I also really love the idea that plenty of other fantasy IP's cop a good ribbing. I honestly am super excited to play as I have pretty much avoided knowing much about the game even all these years later. If I like it I will probably move on and play the rest of the series.

History (from Wikipedia)

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Simon_the_Sorcerer

How to play.

There are a few ways to play including jumping on the original releases. I would argue that the talkie will be the one to go for as Chris Barrie is a legend and I'm sure will add a lot to the experience.

GOG - https://www.gog.com/en/game/simon_the_sorcerer - also includes legacy edition as DLC.
Steam - https://store.steampowered.com/app/674150/Simon_the_Sorcerer_25th_Anniversary_Edition/
https://store.steampowered.com/app/836840/Simon_the_Sorcerer__Legacy_Edition_English/

ScummVM and DOSBox - perhaps the preferred way for many of you this game works and works well under dosbox.

MS-DOS - got a period appropriate PC kitted out with a CD-ROM?

Amiga - The CD32 release would be the one to aim for as the 9 disk floppy version is text only. My understanding is just using the controller is bad, so a mouse should be used.

Mobile- don't do it, it looks hideous like the 25th anniversary release. Like someone used one of those smoothing filters over the original game. https://play.google.com/store/search?q=simon+the+sorcerer&c=apps&hl=en

I have debated playing it on my Amiga but the talky version is only on the CD32 and while I could I will probably play the PC release instead, if the anniversary was the only option I definitely wouldn't have played that way though as I am just not sure what they were thinking. Who knows if I like it enough maybe I will play the sequel and the new game!

https://store.steampowered.com/app/678760/Simon_the_Sorcerer__Mucusade_25th_Anniversary_Edition/

https://store.steampowered.com/app/1939890/Simon_the_Sorcerer_Origins/

Decent review of the Amiga release



DOS Longplay - you will need one

 

runs/plays well in DOSBox Pure.
but that music :/ oooff thats hard work

I'll give it some more run time tomorrow

Edit forgot to say, top write up thanks.

 

Just for fun I turned on my CD32 and tried the OCS and AGA versions (WHDLoad in Amiga Game Selector) they definitely improved the graphics in the AGA edition, I was enjoying the Paula music but I'm keen to hear the CD audio and speech. Might even grab the ISO from archive.org and see if I do like it on the Amiga.

Worst case I just put together a NUC and run the PC version on that, either way I'm giving this the CRT treatment. Just feels right

 

I've seen this sooo many times, but I've never played it. I'll run it in scumm sometime this week. Cheers ,great write up. You've got me intregued.

 

That xBRZ filter on those modern re-releases make me want to throw up in my mouth.

Please tell me they can be turned off? Game was fantastic back in the day via DOS otherwise.

 

yeh was gonna say the same, holy crap that looks like turd. you can turn all that off and resume original graphics under settings/graphics.

 

Fantastic! Those filters reminded me of the old Zsnes/Snes9x days with those shite 2xSAI filters.

Glad we grew out of that phase! Oh so I hoped..

 

So my daughter tells me you preserve old video games.
Yes Sir, I apply 2xSAI and xBRZ filters to them.
You have exactly 10 seconds to get out of my house.

 

Lolol. Snes9x filters yep..Dayum I hate those frikkin filters.. scanlines or piss off.

 

Started this on CD32 with a CRT, not sure how far I'll get because playing retro games on retro gear is harder than just using the GOG version on a modern PC.

How much of the original experience (without resorting to a walkthrough) relies on the manual or other big box contents?

 

I've decided to go with the GOG release myself very easy to switch to the old graphics as well as adjust the music level and there are handy hotspots around the screen so pixel hunting is out of the equation!

Manual is also included which is brief so not much to miss here

 

Thanks, yeah I have the GOG version with its manual but wasn't sure how hardcore the original game was with its offline pack ins.

 

Have gotten a surprising (for me) amount of the way through so far (unassisted for now) and enjoying it. Lots of cheeky jokes and references so far, GoG release really doing the job for me. Much appreciated that I can select the unmolested graphics and I've also set music to MT32 which sounds best to me and dropped the level back so it's not overly loud. Unsure how long it will take to finish but I think I'm doing ok. Being able to highlight all the hotspots is going to save a lot of time.

 

Didn't they have those highlight hotpots in the original?

 

oh not sure, a couple of reviews complained about pixel hunting so maybe not?

 

I loved this game. It was great!
Spoiler warning:


The ending might leave you wanting.

 

confession time, I have now finished the game and I thought it crashed and looked up the ending on YT (it didn't).

Good fun game overall might play the second one now!

Got stuck at one point because I missed a path but looked it up and got past that roadblock. This was in the scheme of point and click games one of the least obtuse I've played and very manageable

 

After playing this game years ago, I thought it all ended at Simon the Sorceror 3D, but it looks like there was a 4 and 5 too!

 

I’d probably say a 17/19 inch crt monitor is the way to play this, I gotta say it does look horrid on a 1440p ultra wide 48”

 

yeah that's why i played on a 19" CRT. I should start it up on my main PC and see what it looks like

Did you set the output to 4:3, it's quite pixelated but that's to be expected.