Advanced Dungeons & Dragons: Pool of Radiance — stories left

In an advance review in the 1988-7 issue of Computer Gaming World, the writer said he felt a sense of "deja vu", and pointed out the resemblance to the game screens of earlier computer RPGs.

Generally well received by the gaming press, Pool of Radiance won the Origins Award for "Best Fantasy or Science Fiction Computer Game of 1988".

For example, in Sokol Keep the player discovers some parchment with elvish runes on it that require use of the code wheel to decipher; this is optional however, but may be used to avoid some combat with undead if the decoded words are said to them.

In Computer Gaming Worlds preview of Pool of Radiance in July 1988, the writer noted a "sense of deja vu" in the similarity of the game's screen to previous computer RPGs.

They praised it as "the first offering that truly follows AD&D game rules" and advised readers to "rush out to your local dealer and buy Pool Of Radiance", considering it SSI's flagship product and speculating that it would "undoubtedly bring thousands of computer enthusiasts into the adventure-filled worlds of TSR".

Mitchell preferred the game Champions of Krynn, which had been released by the time the Amiga version of Pool of Radiance became available; he felt that Pool of Radiance was "more of the same" when compared to Champions, but was less playable and with more limited actions for players.

Simmons felt that Pool of Radiance looked primitive and seemed less polished when compared with Champions of Krynn; he felt that although Pool was not up to the standard of Champions, he said it was still "a fine little game".

Lisa Stevens reviewed the Macintosh version of Pool of Radiance in White Wolf #26 (April/May, 1991), rating it a 5 out of 5 and stated that "I can't recommend Pool of Radiance highly enough to Macintosh users, and especially players who are familiar with the AD&D game system.

For the second annual "Beastie Awards" in 1989, Dragons readers voted Pool of Radiance the best fantasy role-playing game, with Ultima V as the runner-up for the year.

In 1990 the game received the fifth-highest number of votes in a survey of Computer Gaming World readers' "All-Time Favorites".

Allen Rausch, writing for GameSpy's 2004 retrospective "A History of D&D Video Games", concluded that although the game "certainly had its flaws (horrendous load times, interface weirdness, and a low-level cap among others), it was a huge, expansive adventure that laid a good foundation for every Gold Box game that followed".

Ian Williams of Paste rated the game #5 on his list of "The 10 Greatest Dungeons and Dragons Videogames" in 2015.

According to the editors of Dragon magazine, Pool of Radiance was based on Ruins of Adventure, rather than the module being based on the computer game, but Mike Breault stated in a 2021 interview that TSR chose him, Winter, Cook, and Ward to work on the design and writing for Pool of Radiance, indicating that the material was originally created for the game.

Tony Dillon of Commodore User was impressed by the game's features, his only complaint being that disk access was somewhat slow, and gave it 9 out of 10.

Another British magazine, The Games Machine, gave the game a rating of 89% and called the third-person battle screen a major step forward for SSI.

The review in 64 was less positive, and the game's score there was 80%.

In 1994, PC Gamer US chose Pool of Radiance as the 43rd greatest computer game of all time.

IGN chose the game in 2014 as the 3rd of the "11 greatest 'Dungeons & Dragons' games of all time".

Ian Williams of Paste chose the game in 2015 as the 5th of the "10 greatest 'Dungeons & Dragons' computer games".

In the "Cross Review" feature of the magazine Famitsu,the game scored a total of 23 out of 40. In the "Game Report Card" reader poll run by Family Computer Magazine,it scored 17.5 out of 30, as shown below.

SSI sold 264,536 copies of Pool of Radiance for computers in North America, three times that of Heroes of the Lance, an AD&D-licensed action game SSI also released that year.

The British magazine Computer and Video Games rated the game highly in issue 84, saying that "Pool is a game that no RPG player or adventurer can miss, and beginners at RPGs should seriously consider buying it as an introductory guide".

Pool of Radiance was highly regarded in the game publishing world, and won "Best Fantasy/Science Fiction Computer Game" at the 1988 Origins Awards.

Some reviewers criticized the game's similarities to other contemporary games and its slowness in places, but praised the game's graphics and its role-playing adventure and combat aspects.

G.M. called the game's graphics "good" and praised its role-playing and combat aspects.

They praised it as "the first offering that truly follows AD&D game rules" and advised readers to "rush out to your local dealer and buy Pool Of Radiance", considering it SSI's flagship product and speculating that it would "undoubtedly bring thousands of computer enthusiasts into the adventure-filled worlds of TSR".

Tony Dillon of Commodore User was impressed by the game's features, his only complaint being that disk access was somewhat slow, and gave it 9 out of 10.

They praised it as "the first offering that truly follows AD&D game rules" and advised readers to "rush out to your local dealer and buy Pool Of Radiance", considering it SSI's flagship product and speculating that it would "undoubtedly bring thousands of computer enthusiasts into the adventure-filled worlds of TSR".

The game was originally programmed by Keith Brors and Brad Myers, and it was developed by George MacDonald.

According to the editors of Dragon magazine, Pool of Radiance was based on Ruins of Adventure, rather than the module being based on the computer game, but Mike Breault stated in a 2021 interview that TSR chose him, Winter, Cook, and Ward to work on the design and writing for Pool of Radiance, indicating that the material was originally created for the game.