Simon the Sorcerer II: The Lion, the Wizard and the Wardrobe is an adventure game created by Adventure Soft, and released in 1995 for the MS-DOS. It is the second installment in the Simon the Sorcerer series of games, and the sequel to 1993's Simon the Sorcerer. The game's story focuses on a young teen named Simon, who is transported into a parallel universe of magic and monsters that he visited before, via a magical wardrobe created by an evil sorcerer he defeated in the last game. Players engage in a quest to help him find more fuel for the wardrobe by searching a vast world, consisting of parodies on popular fantasy novels and fairy tales.
The game received positive feedback from critics, and later spawned a sequel, Simon the Sorcerer 3D, in 2002. The game was later re-released for Microsoft Windows, via GOG.com in 2008, and was ported onto iOS the following year, until being discontinued in 2015 due to lack of technical support. A 25th anniversary edition of the game was developed by MojoTouch in 2018, and made available for iOS, as well as on GOG.com, Google Play and Amazon Appstore, featuring several improvements to the original game.
Gameplay
As a point-and-click adventure game, the player controls the protagonist of the story, Simon, by using the mouse; with the exception of handheld versions, in which the player controls the character through touchscreen controls. Gameplay involves players moving Simon around locations in the game, interacting with objects and other characters at each site. The player can make Simon perform actions via a verbal command system, represented by picture icons – for example, the verbal command "Look at" is represented by a magnifying glass. Objects that are picked up are placed into an inventory – using such items requires the right action and target for it. The game primarily involves talking to people for information, including hints to solving puzzles or acquiring items, and using the correct items to solve puzzles during the course of the game. A menu system is provided for loading, saving and quitting the game via a postcard contained in the inventory, with a map system provided during two major points in the story that allows for travel between key locations to visit.
Synopsis
Setting
The game's story takes in a parallel universe to the real world, in which magic and monsters exist, though with some modern items and technologies being found within. Several elements in the game are parodies of those from popular fantasy novels and fairy tales, such as Discworld, The Chronicles of Narnia and Goldilocks and the Three Bears, and of real world culture, such as fast food chain McDonald's and the role-playing board game Dungeons & Dragons.
Plot
A few years after the defeat of the evil sorcerer Sordid by Simon, a young boy from another world, Sordid's spellbook finds its way into the hands of a young farmhand named Runt. Inspired to become a mighty sorcerer, Runt receives his wish when his father burns the spellbook, causing Sordid's spirit to emerge from the ashes. Seeing potential in him, Sordid agrees to make Runt his apprentice in exchange for his help in exacting revenge on Simon. A few months later, Runt helps rebuild Sordid's lair within the Valley of Doom, while Sordid places his spirit into a mechanical body until he can permanently return from the dead. To complete his plan for his resurrection, Sordid creates a magical wardrobe to capture Simon and bring them back to him.
In the real world, Simon, now a teenager, is shocked to find the wardrobe in his bedroom moments after it arrived. Curious, he steps inside while inspecting it, only for the wardrobe to transport him to the world he visited in the past. To Sordid's horror, the wardrobe brings his nemesis to the good wizard Calypso, who now runs a magical emporium in a royal kingdom with his granddaughter Alix. Simon, now adorned with a new wizard's robe, is surprised to be back, and wrongfully blames Calypso for his predicament. After being told what exactly happened, Simon discovers the wardrobe can only take him back if he locates a magical fuel, known as "mucusade", to refuel it. Learning some is being held in the royal treasury in the king's castle, Simon decides to gain entry to the castle as the new royal magician, sabotaging a contest to find a replacement for the last one that the king accidentally killed.