Sierra Collector's Quest by Stephen Emond - Book Review

First of all, an apology. I received these back in July and promised a review within a couple of weeks. Unfortunately, that didn't happen, so better late than never...

Sierra On-Line was one of the biggest computer and video games companies in the 1980's and early 90's. Although it didn't end well for Sierra (see my review of Not All Fairy Tales Have Happy Endings), the sheer number of games that were developed and/or published by the company over the years is staggering and Stephen Emond decided to take it upon himself to present the ultimate guide to Sierra's gaming legacy.

Back of Quest for Glory volume.

Funded by Kickstarter, this led to three volumes at present, with plans for further releases in the future. The initial funding covered Volumes 0, 1 and Quest for Glory, and these arrived after a short delay (nothing unexpected in the current world of crowd-funding projects). As with many of the Kickstarters I have backed, there was always a steady flow of updates and news, which is always a good thing.

Let's take each volume in turn, starting with volume 0 (780 pages). What you'll get is as complete a list as is possible of the games, collections, books, clothing and the like for Sierra and it's diverse range of brands: Dynamix, Coktel Vision, SubLogic, Swordfish and others. The back of the book shows the full list and there has been a ton of effort put in here to pull this all together. 

Back of Collector's Quest volume 0.

There is a foreword by Ken Williams, which is a nice touch, then a brief description of the Sierra multiverse followed by a guide to the format of the entries. 

From a presentation perspective, there is really only one way to include all of that information and yes, it's like a telephone directory (kids, ask your parents or Google that...). That means tiny but perfectly legible text and whilst my own failing eyesight struggled, I didn't have to resort to a magnifying glass. Colour is also present but kept to the title pages for each of the companies. All told, if you're a fan of Sierra or a video game historian, this volume will be of immense value. 

Typical page for Volume 0

Volume 1(780 pages) is the Sierra Adventures book, this time with a foreword by Roberta Williams. There's more text in this volume, as each of Sierra's adventure series gets the full monty - history of the games, the various versions released (and those that never made it to market), along with details of all of the swag that was given away with the various editions. If you wanted to know about Hi-Res Adventures, the three Quest series or Leisure Suit Larry, then this volume has you covered. From collectors to those who might want to write about these games, there is a wealth of information presented in a clean and highly professional manner. 

Back of Collector's Quest volume 1.

The final book from this Kickstarter is set around the Quest for Glory games (190 pages). This is mostly presented in the same manner as volume one, with a volume zero style listing at the back Once again, the amount of information and depth of detail is immense, even if it is the smallest volume of the set.

Page from Volume 1

The Sierra Collector's Quest should be considered the reference for Sierra's games history. You're not going to get a behind the scenes look at the company (see Ken Williams' book for that), but you will learn about the sheer enormity of their published titles and merchandise. I honestly cannot find anything to fault this collection and whilst there were not exactly cheap, the contents are more than worth it. Two more volumes are planned and I fully intend to support their publication too. Well done to Stephen Emond and the team who helped him with this project.

Page from Quest for Glory

You can follow the author on Twitter here, and visit his website here where you can purchase copies of the various volumes and view his other work. I've added some more imagery below so you can see what the books are like in general.