You probably think I’m talking about the Amazon show. I'm not. Long before Jeff Bezos spent a billion dollars on Harfoots, there was a strange, isometric little cartridge for the Sega Genesis simply called Rings of Power. It came out in 1992, published by Electronic Arts (EA) and developed by Naughty Dog. Yeah, that Naughty Dog. The people who eventually gave us The Last of Us and Uncharted started out making one of the most punishing, cryptic, and fascinating open-world RPGs to ever grace a 16-bit console.
It’s a brutal game. Honestly, if you popped this into your Mega Drive back in the day without a manual, you were basically doomed. There was no hand-holding. No glowing quest markers. Just you, a sorcerer named Buc, and a massive map of Ushka that wanted you dead.
What Really Happened With the Rings of Power Video Game
Naughty Dog wasn’t always the prestige powerhouse they are now. In the early 90s, they were just a couple of guys—Andy Gavin and Jason Rubin—trying to push the limits of what a home console could do. They wanted to make a "PC-style" RPG for a console audience. That was a bold move because, at the time, "console RPG" usually meant Final Fantasy or Phantasy Star. Those games were linear. They had menus. They had clear paths.
Rings of Power threw all of that out the window. It used an isometric perspective that looked incredible for 1992 but made movement a total nightmare. You moved on a diagonal. If you weren't careful, you’d walk right into a mountain or a deadly encounter before you even realized you’d tilted the D-pad.
The plot is deceptively simple. An evil god named Void has shattered the Rod of Creation into eleven rings. You have to find them. Simple, right? Wrong. The game is less about a "chosen one" narrative and more about a desperate struggle for survival in a world that doesn't care if you succeed.
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The Naughty Dog Secret Nobody Talks About
There is a legendary "naughty" secret in this game that actually got it in a bit of trouble back in the day. If you held down a specific combination of buttons on the controller—specifically Down+Right, A, B, C, and Start on the second controller while powering on—the EA logo would be replaced by a screen of a bikini-clad woman. It was a juvenile prank by the young developers, but it’s a piece of gaming history that shows just how "wild west" development was in the early 90s. EA wasn't thrilled, but by the time they found out, the cartridges were already on shelves.
The Brutal Mechanics of Ushka
Most modern games use "survival" as a sub-genre. In this Rings of Power video game, survival is just the baseline. You have to manage food and water. If Buc gets hungry or thirsty, his stats drop. If he stays hungry, he dies. This wasn't common in 1992. It felt like work.
The world is massive. We’re talking about an open world that felt endless because of the slow movement speed. You could visit towns, hire mercenaries, and talk to hundreds of NPCs. But here’s the kicker: the NPCs didn't just give you quests. They gave you rumors. Some were true. Some were total lies. You had to keep a physical notebook next to your couch just to keep track of who said what.
A World Without Maps
There was an in-game map, but it was barely functional. Navigating the seas was particularly harrowing. You’d buy a boat, set sail, and pray you didn't hit a storm or a sea monster. The scale was meant to feel epic, but it often just felt lonely. That loneliness is what gives the game its cult status today. It feels like a real adventure because the risks are so high. If you lose your party in a distant land, you can't just "fast travel" back to safety. You’re stuck.
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The magic system was equally complex. You didn't just "level up" and get spells. You had to join different classes—Sorcerers, Knights, Archers, Enchanters—and each had their own specific requirements. It was a precursor to the multi-classing we see in modern CRPGs like Baldur's Gate 3.
Why It Faded Into Obscurity (And Why That’s a Shame)
The game didn't sell millions of copies. It was too hard. It was too weird. The isometric viewpoint gave people literal headaches. Also, let's be real: the name is generic. Even in 1992, "Rings of Power" sounded like a knock-off Tolkien story. Ironically, the game has absolutely nothing to do with Middle-earth. It’s its own unique, dark fantasy world.
But looking back, you can see the DNA of future Naughty Dog games. There’s an attention to detail in the world-building that was rare for the time. The way characters interact, the branching (if primitive) dialogue trees, and the sheer ambition of the project. It was a "Triple-A" attempt on a "Double-A" budget.
The Learning Curve is a Vertical Cliff
If you try to play this game today on an emulator or original hardware, you will likely give up within twenty minutes. You’ll starve to death in a desert or get killed by a random encounter with a bird. But if you stick with it? If you actually start mapping out the trade routes and learning which NPCs are trustworthy? It opens up. It becomes a deeply rewarding experience where every ring you find feels like a genuine accomplishment.
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People often compare it to Ultima, and that's fair. It shares that "sink or swim" mentality.
How to Actually Play Rings of Power in 2026
If you're looking to dive into this relic, don't go in blind. You’ll hate it.
- Find the manual. Seriously. You can find PDFs online. The manual contains vital lore and instructions on how the classes work that are not explained in the game itself.
- Use a guide for the map. Unless you have 40 hours to spare just for wandering, a digital map of Ushka is your best friend.
- Manage your gold. Money is tight. Don't waste it on high-level mercenaries early on; they'll just drain your pockets and leave when you can't pay them.
- Talk to everyone. Even if they seem useless, NPCs often hold the key to the next ring's location.
The Rings of Power video game isn't for everyone. It's a relic of a time when developers weren't afraid to let players fail miserably. It’s clunky, the controls are frustrating, and the graphics are a brown-and-green smudge by modern standards. Yet, there is a soul in it. There is a sense of discovery that many modern, polished games lack. It’s a reminder that sometimes, the most interesting games aren't the ones that are easy to play, but the ones that are impossible to forget.
To truly experience it, you have to embrace the frustration. Treat it like a puzzle rather than an action game. Once you stop fighting the controls and start living in the world of Ushka, the rings don't seem so far away anymore.
Check out the original Naughty Dog archives or retro gaming forums like Sega-16 to see the old maps drawn by hand by players thirty years ago. It’s the only way to survive. Every piece of information you gather is a weapon. In the world of Buc and the Void, knowledge isn't just power—it's the only thing keeping you from starving in the dirt.