Beyond Shadowgate: a classic reimagined.

I haven’t been blogging or even gaming much recently; I had the flu and so I have been spending a lot of time sitting in bed, sleeping and occasionally waking up to watch TV. It’s nicer than it sounds. But it sounds really nice, too.

I binged the Starz pro wrestling drama “Heels”, both seasons. If Nimgimli is still doing his website which tracks if a series has come to a satisfying ending, well, this would be one in the “no” column, as it ends on a cliffhanger. There may yet be another season, but I don’t think it’s super likely. I wanted to watch it previously to when it appeared on Netflix, but it was on a channel I couldn’t stream. Streaming TV is the only TV I watch.

Pro wrestling has a weird gaming connection that I don’t really understand. At Connecticon and again at Retro World Expo, local wrestlers got up there in the ring, though the kayfabe was a little hard to do on some of that. Way better on Heels. You should watch it just for actor Stephen Amell’s Canadian accent drifting into and out of a Georgian accent.

What was this post about again?

Beyond Shadowgate!

I never played the original Shadowgate for some reason. It was originally developed for the original Macintosh before finding its fame after being ported to the NES. I believe I played one of their earlier games, Uninvited, on the Mac. I had a lot of Mac games. In the original game, you play a hero who delves deep into the living castle of Shadowgate, defeats the Warlock Lord and gets the girl. What a guy! The game’s music, puzzles, writing and graphics made it legendary in its day.

When it came time for a sequel to Shadowgate, the original team had moved on and Beyond Shadowgate was produced without much original input and for a console that never really made it in the US, the TurboGrafx CD.

Now, 35 years later, the original team is back. This new Beyond Shadowgate is based on the team’s original notes for a sequel. It also incorporates the plot to the TurboGrafx version, though instead of playing Prince Erik, descendant of Shadowgate’s hero, you play a fenling (hobbit) who is tasked with freeing Prince Erik from a dungeon and exposing the plot against him.

How does it end? No idea! There are several endings depending on how you play the game, BUT… the game just came out yesterday and I haven’t gotten to any of them.

The game can use a controller, mouse/keyboard, or both. There are some real time events, but you can make them turn based if you like. There are hints in game — a little sprite you meet early in the game will keep you on track if you lose your way. There’s also a prequel comic, a fully illustrated walkthrough, comics for the previous games, and bonus puzzles based on their other “Macventures” games.

So if you’re feeling a little retro but don’t want to have to deal with ROMs and emulators… give it a try. Here’s half an hour from the beginning of the game. I die a lot. It’s pretty funny sometimes.