The hero of the series, Kuros (depicted by model Fabio Lanzoni on the cover), must face off once again against the evil wizard Malkil, who has taken control of the four elementals of the world; wind, water, fire and earth.

Each of the four elemental realms consists of two stages. In the first stages, Kuros must find a golden artifact which belongs to the Animal King of the realm; once accomplished, the path to the second part of the realm will appear. In the second stage, the goal is to find the magic spell which can be used to fight the elemental boss. Without the spell, it is impossible to damage the boss. Once the elemental in each stage has been destroyed, Kuros will pick up a piece of the legendary Iron Sword, which is needed for the final battle on Ice-fire Mountain.

You are Kuros, a powerful knight who enter the woods of Elrond.Legend says that a powerful wizard named Malkil has has gone completely mad during his years and turned his powerful magic to the dark side.Malkil has his base on the castle IronSpire where he has imprisoned a young and beautiful princess. It is up to Kuros to save the princess once and for all.

The third installment of Wizards & Warriors for the NES divulges during the intro that the evil wizard Malkil was not actually vanquished at the end of the second game. In fact, after the mighty battle with the hero Kuros, Malkil retreated to a nearby self-contained castle kingdom and conducted a hostile takeover. Kuros comes on the scene and must attempt to relieve Malkil of his ill-gotten command of the kingdom, its subjects, and especially its princesses.

The third game in the Wizards & Warriors NES franchise features a similar feel to the first two games in that Kuros' movements are very quick and nimble. The player also has the ability to control Kuros' sword swing movements. However, Kuros has three different character classes to alternate between-- the knight, the thief, and the wizard. Each represents trade-offs between speed, attack strength, and defense strength. There are various guilds throughout the game devoted to training knights, thieves, and wizards where the player must complete challenging obstacle courses in order to increase their character class level.

The gameplay proceeds up a large vertical city/castle with dangerous, monster-filled hallways and caverns. Kuros must kill monsters, gather money, buy goods and services, raise his character class levels, rescue a variety of apprehended princesses and gather special jewels, all in a quest to face off with Malkil once again.

Fortress of Fear: Wizards & Warriors X is an Action game, developed by Rare Ltd. and published by Acclaim, which was released in 1990.