King’s Quest V: Absence Makes the Heart Go Yonder! (talkie)

King's Quest V: Absence Makes the Heart Go Yonder! (talkie) is an adventure game where King Graham's castle and family are abducted by the wizard Mordack. Guided by a talking owl named Cedric, Graham travels to the land of Serenia to seek aid from the wizard Crispin and attempt a rescue.

The gameplay is built around a point-and-click interface, a first for the series, which replaced typed commands with on-screen cursors for walking, looking, manipulating objects, and conversing. Inventory items are stored in a bag that can be opened to examine or combine objects. Players can die from various environmental hazards and encounters, making the experience challenging and encouraging the use of multiple save files.

A later NES adaptation kept the core icon-based interaction and story but modified the presentation. Graphical detail was reduced, some locations were condensed or removed, and puzzle solutions were made more linear. Certain scenes and death sequences were altered or omitted entirely.