Ishar: Legend of the Fortress

Ishar: Legend of the Fortress is a fantasy role-playing game developed and published by the French studio Silmarils in 1992. Set on the island of Kendoria, the story follows the warrior Aramir on his quest to defeat the evil sorcerer Krogh, who has murdered Lord Jarel and established his power in the mysterious fortress of Ishar. The game serves as the first chapter of the Ishar trilogy and continues the world introduced in Silmarils’ earlier RPG Crystals of Arborea.

Played from a first-person perspective, Ishar combines exploration, real-time combat, character development, inventory management and party-based adventuring. The player can recruit up to five characters, each with their own abilities and relationships with other party members. One of the game’s most unusual mechanics is its social system: companions can approve or reject new recruits or attempts to dismiss existing members, making the composition of the party an important part of the adventure.

The MS-DOS version stands out for its detailed pseudo-3D environments, atmospheric fantasy presentation and unusually large outdoor areas, which were relatively uncommon in computer RPGs of the period. Exploration takes the party through forests, villages, dangerous wilderness and dungeons on the way to Krogh’s fortress. Combined with its distinctive interface, real-time battles and demanding resource management—including the infamous requirement to spend gold when saving the game—Ishar: Legend of the Fortress remains a memorable example of early-1990s European computer role-playing games.