Review Shadowgate Developer: ICOM Simulations Publisher: Mindscape Genre: Adventure Release Date: 1987 (Original Release Date) Platform: NES, Pocket PC, PalmOS Retro Review by July 23, 2004

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“Within the walls of the Castle Shadowgate lies your quest. If the prophecies hold true, the dreaded Warlock Lord will use his dark magic to raise the Behemoth, the deadliest of the Titans, from the depths of the earth. You are the seed of prophecy, the last of the line of kings, and only you can stop the Warlock Lord from darkening our world FOREVER. Fare thee well”.

Those were wizard Lakmir’s final words to you before you set off for Castle Shadowgate. Your quest: find the Staff of Ages and attempt to stop the Warlock Lord before he completes his spell. And no, it’s not going to be a stroll in the park!

It might surprise some gamers, but 1st person graphic adventures existed long before Myst! Shadowgate was one of these early 1st person graphic adventures. It also features a unique interface that has only been used in the early ICOM games (Shadowgate, Uninvited and Deja Vu I & II – personally I call them “The ICOM 4”).

Shadowgate is very simple to get into. The screen is split in six windows. The main window is the graphics window, where you see the area from your eyes, in typical static 1st person fashion. Everything you see can be interacted with through the command window. Everything can be examined, doors can be opened, items operated, books can be read, etc. In true adventure game fashion, you can also take almost everything that is not nailed down, by dragging and dropping in your inventory window. Be careful though because inventory space is limited by size and weight of the things you carry and also there are lots of red herrings lying around (remember, you can pick up almost everything!). So you’ll often face the inevitable question, “What should I get rid off?”

The remainder of the windows are: the exits window, which shows all available exits (but not the hidden ones!); the “Thyself” window, which is used to do things to yourself, such as examine yourself or commit suicide (!); and the dialog window, where all text (descriptions, etc) is shown. All windows can be moved around according to your comfort – the dialog and inventory windows are also resizable.

Like most of the “old school” adventures, Shadowgate is very unforgiving. You die! A lot! This is the game that the phrase ‘Save Early, Save Often’ was made for. You will need to establish the habit of saving in every new area you visit – and using a different file name each time too. Touch the wrong thing, go through the wrong door and: “Thou art dead” (oh, you’ll see that a lot!). Unfortunately, even worse than dying, the game is packed with dead ends. First of all, the castle is completely dark and you’ll need to carry a lit torch at all times, lighting a new one every time the lit one flickers. Torches are not unlimited, and if you are left in the dark, that’s it, “Thou art dead”! To add insult to injury, there is a limited amount of moves in the game - thankfully, not a short one. If the Warlock Lord finishes his spell before you manage to find him and stop him, “Thou …”, well, you know! The level of the puzzles in the game varies. The vast majority are inventory based, most of them being pretty logical – but there are some obscure ones thrown in to keep you on your toes. An experienced player though shouldn’t encounter any severe problems.

About the graphics and sound there really is not much to say. The Windows remake version (from which these screenshots were taken) features some well-drawn graphics. The graphics in the Amiga version look very nice too (actually great for the era), while the DOS graphics pretty much suck! I haven’t seen the other versions. Sound is limited to a few effects - mainly screams and laughs. No speech and no music, except for the short ending and dying themes. The Amiga version features the death march song as the dying theme – it’s my favorite!

Despite all the dying and dead end frustrations, Shadowgate is so immersive that you will be coming back for more and more exploring of the castle and its secrets. Addiction, good story and nice balanced puzzles are, for me, the most important factors of an adventure game, and Shadowgate has all of these. If you are a 21st century gamer who breaks out in hives if the game is not full 3D (and maybe some action in there too – it’s the latest trend), don’t bother. Or if your idea of a puzzle is moving levers and wheels, don’t bother. But if you want some good old pure adventuring and would like to experience a cornerstone of adventure history, then definitely give it a try.

Shadowgate is currently available to purchase for Windows, PalmOS and PocketPC as "Shadowgate Classic" from the official Shadowgate site

Final Grade: B+
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System Requirements (Windows Version):

• Windows 95/98/NT/2000/XP
• 486 or higher CPU
• 8 MB of RAM
• 5 MB free disk space