Part 3: The Swamp | King's Quest VIII: Mask of Eternity

Connor plunges into the murky depths of a poisoned Swamp to recover a piece of the mask! 💀

Welcome to my complete playthrough and walkthrough of King's Quest VIII: Mask of Eternity (1998) by Sierra Studios, formerly Sierra On-Line. This is Part 3 of 7, covering the exploration of and solution to The Swamp. In this episode, Connor returns to the land of the living and ventures through the Swamp. With the waters poisoned and the Swamp Witch aligned with the villainous Lucreto, Connor must rescue it from her spreading corruption. We’ll be navigating this eerie new zone, meeting the strange and wonderful creatures that inhabit it, making a brief return to Daventry to finish some lingering quests, and claim the second fragment of the Mask of Eternity!

⏱️ Episode Chapters

0:00:00 Arrival
0:04:55 Oracle of the Tree
0:09:30 Swamp Shacks
0:14:45 Whispering Weeds
0:16:26 Mushroom Cove
0:20:07 Mandragor Grove & The Bow
0:26:05 Slicing Through Carnivorous Plants
0:29:15 The Swamp Wisps
0:34:28 Teleporter Tower
0:37:43 Swamp Witch's Tower
0:44:23 Another Piece of the Mask
0:48:19 Return to Daventry
0:55:59 Scaling the Bridge & the High Gate
0:57:45 Crossing the Stone and Stump Puzzle
0:59:31 The Witch's Vault
1:04:06 Cleansing the Swamp

👑 About King's Quest VIII

In Mask of Eternity, which takes place about 2-3 years after the last entry, you play as Connor, a humble tanner, as he journeys through his home of Daventry and to the lands beyond to find the fallen pieces of the shattered Mask of Eternity. In so doing, he must free the world from the oppressive curse inflicted by the evil Lucreto. While Connor has no relation to the royal family, he plays a pivotal role in helping free King Graham and Daventry of its affliction.

KQ8 takes a pretty sharp pivot away from the traditional point-and-click adventure game genre that the series had pioneered and been known for, presenting itself instead as an action-adventure-RPG hybrid. For example, enemies may suddenly appear and attack, so the player needs to be ready for combat. Conner has a health bar and advances in combat skill as the game progresses. While it's not necessarily gory, the animations as you defeat enemies may not be suitable for younger audiences. Still, many of King's Quest's iconic inventory and item puzzles remain, as well as a compelling fantasy narrative. 3D graphics had also became more accessible to consumers in the late 90's with the availability of specialized 3D hardware, and this game became the first in the series to embrace it. This allows for much more open exploration than was allowed in the 2D point-and-click style.

When I initially played this installment roughly 20 years ago, I had personally found this the toughest King's Quest to get into. The darkness of Daventry and the grimness of the Dimension of Death are a sharp contrast from the bright and cheery colors and slapstick comedy from KQ7's Eldritch, and the gameplay feels vastly different. But in playing this again now, perhaps with much more familiarity with 3D RPGs, I found it's much better than I originally gave it credit for. The controls take some getting used to (and adjustment) but otherwise I've been enjoying the opportunity to experience this game again.

⚙️ Game Settings & Patches

For those looking to play KQ8 today, this playthrough uses the following version, patches and configuration:

Version: KQ8 v1.3 from GOG → https://www.gog.com/en/game/kings_que...
• Subtitles enabled
Glide Wrapper: dgVoodoo2 → https://dege.freeweb.hu/dgVoodoo2/
• 1440x1080 (4:3) game resolution
• Windowed, fullscreen size & borderless
Patch: Nico’s KQ8 Patches → https://kqmoe.nicode.net/
• KQ MoE Shim (kqmoefix)
• Re-encoded videos (kqmoeavi)
• Play from Disk (kqmoevol)
Key remappings:
• Movement: WASD
• Jump: SPACE
• Walk / Run: X
• Weapon Switch / Put Away: R/F
• Map: Tab
• Inventory: B

🔗 Playlists

Watch the full KQ8 Playlist →    • King's Quest VIII: Mask of Eternity  
Watch the full KQ Series Playlist →    • King's Quest Series  

#kingsquest #letsplay #retrogaming #kingsquest8 #playthrough #sierraonline #walkthrough