Wizardry 4 unfurls as a single mage with access to powerful summons

lore – foes – spells – maps – guide

The Wizardry 4: Return of Werdna is self-contained. You will not need to transfer any characters into this game.

The Return of Werdna

Don’t assume that just because you are an expert Wizardry player, you know Wizardry 4 lore. You don’t. The only thing you can trust is that The Return of Werdna is a fiendish test for expert adventurers. If you finish even one of the several possible endings (quite a dubious possibility), you will have earned the rank of Master Adventurer.

New Features

New releases of Wizardry products have many new enhancements. If you own an older version of Proving Grounds of the Mad Overload or Knight of Diamonds, the new style of the Wizardry Gaming System may be a little unfamiliar at first. The user interface now uses multiple overlapping windows. Selections are still made by pressing keys (in most cases, the traditional keys), and all of your options are presented in menus on the screen. The new features have been added to make the Wizardry Gaming System easier and more fun to play.

User Interface

The dungeon display fills the entire screen. You can toggle the various Maze windows (O)N and (O)FF. You can also flip the (S)TATUS window on and off separately. This lets you see more of the dungeon. You only need to type the first few letters of a spell name in order to cast it. If what you type is ambiguous you’ll be asked to select the spell you wanted from a list. Many menus now have default choices you can select by pressing [ENTER]. If a menu choice is a default, instead of a “)” after the first letter in the entry, you will see a “return key”.

These shortcuts lead to a new mechanic, the number of keys you press counts towards your score in the end. If you care about that, avoid making typing errors, and don’t wander around needlessly (which also puts you in peril of Trebor’s ghost). And, when you cast a spell, only enter the first letter, then choose from the list the computer provides.

Saving the Game

It is now possible to Save Game while in the dungeon. Eight slots are available.

However, you should not save your game left and right, as doing so revives all the guardians on the current level. It’s better to save only when you have reached a major milestone, such as reaching a new floor or at the end of a floor, just before a level sub-boss. And don’t save far from a pentagram if you don’t have decent monster support left; otherwise, you may find yourself surrounded by guardians you cannot defeat.

If you need an upside, reloading from a saved game will move Trebor’s ghost far away from you.

Trebor’s Ghost

Speaking of Trebor’s ghost, he haunts the dungeon, and will seek you out. If ever you meet him, he will instantly slay you. Eventually, you can dispel the curse you put on him and so end the trouble, but that will be a long time in coming. You will hear him as you both wander the level. There are several things you can hear, which indicate how close he is. If he starts to get close, run for safety on another part of the level (being a ghost, he can pass through walls and over obstacles), or save and reload.

Gear Considerations

There is nowhere to sell gear in The Return of Werdna. You will acquire an item that gives you more inventory space. All gear is automatically identified in The Return of Werdna. A lot of gear has a use-effect, such as a spell cast, but most also have a chance to disappear when used. When you have the option, use an item just after saving the game rather just just before saving the game as you will have less replaying to do after restoring the saved game.

Avoid using Captain Thorin’s Mordorcharge card, there is a chance for a negative effect. Avoid using the “Use Me Cape” it is heavily cursed.

Don’t worry much about body armor. In most cases, you’re safe behind a wall of monsters and even if you do get exposed, wearing Robes probably won’t help.

Always keep at least ONE slot open in your main inventory, and at least TWO open in the Black Box if you have it. The game has a wisecrack response if you find a special object but have no room for it. (At least the game doesn’t crash or demonstrate flaky buggy behavior like Wizardry VI when this happens.)

Managing your Party

Pentagrams are used to summon groups of monsters that we know from Wizardry 1, 2, and 3. At various pentagrams by maze level, you will be able choose your summons. The table data was hand compiled by merging Foes List and filtering down to only the Foes/Friends, for Wizardry 4. In cases where an enemy exists in 2 or more scenarios, I took the latest one. There are a few new new foes, er friends, that we have not seen before and you can identify those by missing data.

Attribution

• Official Manual is here.

How to obtain a copy of this game:

eBay link – Ultimate Wizardry Archives PC CD-ROM version (1998), includes Wizardry 1-7

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lore – foes – spells – maps – guide