As a coffin dodger who was there at the release, Eye of the Beholder 3 is underrated because it doesn't have the same impact as EOB 1 & 2. People were expecting something better and bigger, and they were hugely disappointed, which is evident in the game's score. By 1993, there were much more innovative and impressive RPGs available, such as Wizardry 7 M&M World of Xeen and Betrayal at Krondor and Underworld 2. Eye of the Beholder 3 can't hold a candle to titles like those; it falls far short. The expectations were through the roof after experiencing games like that.
There is nothing new in Eye of the Beholder 3, and it doesn't improve upon EOB 2, a game released in 1991. Some would even argue that it looks graphically worse and is smaller in scope. It takes only 15 hours to finish. Additionally, there was no Amiga version, which is a shame because that would have helped its popularity. In the same month of its release, Abandoned Places 2 was also released and received higher ratings. So, if you had an Amiga, you were likely playing Black Crypt or Abandoned Places 2. If you were one of the rare individuals with a gaming PC, you would be playing Ultima Underworld 2 or Wizardry 7 M&M World of Xeen and Betrayal at Krondor. With so many other RPGs available at the time, it's hard to understand why anyone would choose to play EOB3.
During that time, reviewers were much more critical, and reading their reviews gave you a good understanding of whether a game was good or bad. There were new and exciting things happening in gaming every month, and the standards were much higher. Nowadays, there are so few releases, and the overall quality tends to be mediocre. It feels like we're scraping the bottom of the barrel again.
