Shadowgate

2019 marks the thirtieth anniversary of Shadowgate on the Nintendo Entertainment System, which just so happens to my first introduction into the wild world of point and click adventure games. I remember Nintendo Power raving about it at the time and fell in love with the idea of puzzling my way through a scary castle, so I decided to take a chance on something a little different. All of these memories came flooding back to me as I played through Abstraction's remake, which has finally been ported to home consoles after a five year wait. Even after all these decades, the idea of being stuck in a spooky castle still appeals to me, and this remake does not disappoint.

First released on PC back in 2014, Shadowgate is more of a reimagining than a direct remake. This is a full retelling of the story, complete with a redesigned map, brand-new puzzles and cinemas that go a long way to flesh things out. We see a lot of familiar locations and characters, but the game is constantly trying to subvert your expectations and pull you deeper into the lore. The result is a game that somehow manages to honor the original, all while still feeling like a fresh new game.

It's probably for the best that they've decided to expand on the story, because the original game was decidedly light on details. All we knew was that an evil wizard cast a spell that sent an unnamed hero outside the doors of Shadowgate with the idea of a behemoth being resurrected at some point. This remake uses that outline and expands on it, telling the tale of Jair Cuthegar, a soldier who has been haunted by the voice of a long-dead wizard named Lakmir of the Circle of Twelve. He's told that an evil Warlock Lord is plotting something big and Jair will find a great quest, and himself, in the living castle of Shadowgate.

This is just enough information to get us into the world, which is decidedly old and rundown. Just getting to the castle requires our hero to puzzle his way through the caves, which are filled with fire-breathing dragons, deadly trap doors and the dead bodies strewn about. Jair will need to read the right books, learn a bunch of useful magic spells and pick up the right items in order to see the inside of the castle, and things only get more difficult from there.

Much like the graphics and story, Abstraction has overhauled the gameplay in some key ways. This is still the kind of point and click adventure game where you'll pick up items and combine them to solve puzzles, but the developers have done a better job of streamlining the gameplay to fit a standard controller. There are a couple different ways to play the game, including one that is far less demanding than what you saw in that old 8-bit version. If you're looking for that old school feel, then you'll be happy to know that you can also click through multiple menus in order to open up a book and read it. But no matter how you play, the user-interface works well on consoles and the menus and inventory is easy to navigate using the analog sticks.

Click For the Full Picture Archive

Although it's often dark and grimy, the world of Shadowgate is absolutely gorgeous. The pixel graphics have been replaced with stunning hand-drawn artwork that looks like the kind of thing you would see in a fantasy book. Even generally mundane parts of the castles are brought to life with incredible detail and atmosphere. I couldn't wait to see how my favorite parts of Shadowgate were redrawn, and I was rarely disappointed. My only complaint is that some of the locations are too similar and blur together after a while. You see this both with the various stairways in the castle and the cavernous depths of the catacombs.

My other complaint is that some of the puzzles feel a bit random, with a few that require a fair amount of trial and error. This is, of course, true to the spirit of the original game, so I can only expect so much from a Shadowgate remake. But even knowing what I was getting myself into, I found that I was constantly dumbfounded by the vague hints. This is a tough game, though it's worth noting that the puzzles will change depending on what difficulty you're playing on. There were a lot of times when I wished for a rewind button, that way I could just turn back time and try a puzzle again. I suppose the good news is that quick save and quick load are both mapped to the controller, but it would have been nice to have a little more help for some of the trickier puzzles.

Even though I found myself occasionally running in circles and getting a headache from a few of the especially mean puzzles, I still had a great time with Shadowgate. I was completely sucked into its creepy world and interested in the story. It's still not the deepest point and click adventure game, but I loved exploring the castle and letting my eyes wash over the gorgeous scenery. There's nothing even remotely inviting about this castle, yet there's something I can't resist about Shadowgate.