Might and Magic VIII tells of two doomsday stories. The player's in-game goal is to thwart Escaton, an ancient planeswalker intent on destroying the world. However, the game's flaws and rushed production schedule were early signs of another tragedy – the bankruptcy of New World Computing and its new parent company, 3DO, just a few years later.

The third Might and Magic title in less than three years, MM8 would be the last game to use the ageing MM6 engine, sporting an updated UI but few changes to the graphics or gameplay of its predecessors.

The biggest difference is how party composition works: instead of managing a fixed party, you create a single main character at the start of the game, then hire up to four additional NPCs to fill out your ranks. Unfortunately for min-maxers, the initial attributes, skills and appearance of these hirelings cannot be customised without a save editor.

While previous games kept to a mostly generic fantasy setting with some sci-fi elements, you now go to Jadame, a continent populated by monstrous, albeit well-meaning races. For instance, in the starting area, Dagger Wound Island, you find yourself defending a town of friendly lizardmen from human marauders. Additionally, many traditional classes such as Archer, Paladin and Sorcerer are replaced by Dark Elves, Vampires, Necromancers and even Dragons!

However, the game's new party system presents some balance issues: a few overlevelled hirelings can be obtained at an early stage in the game, and Dragon characters are powerful enough to trivialise much of the game's content – they require no equipment, breathe fire and can learn to fly, carrying the entire party on their backs! On the other hand, some of the new classes are underwhelming, offering little to differentiate themselves from previous M&M classes.