Beyond Software gained the support of AOL executive Steve Case to create the first-ever graphical MMORPG, and to base it on the Gold Box engine.

The game's principal technical enhancement to the aging Gold Box engine was the addition of wilderness play, where the party traveled long distances on the map while following the basic D&D rules for combat with wandering monsters.

The storyline, in rough terms, follows: Basically, Zhentil Keep plans to use these magical statues to open a way through an otherwise-unpassable desert for their armies.

[5] Scorpia of Computer Gaming World in 1993 called Gateway to the Savage Frontier "standard Gold Box fare ... you've played this many times before".

[6] According to GameSpy, "it was a polished revision of what the early games in the Gold Box series were like, and felt very welcome, to those who'd gotten a bit weary of the far-flung conventions of its most recent installments".