Game of the Month: October 2023 - Beyond Shadowgate

[geise]

Beyond SHADOWGATE

So it's been October and I've been in the mood for something  that's a little gloomy and is a point and click adventure. So Beyond Shadowgate it is. I'm sorry it's one of those hard to get games so it's mostly going to be a burn or emulation for this month. I had this game but honestly didn't play it much so it got sold way back before it was known to go super dumb price. I believe I sold this to Sinistron (R.I.P.) for $80 or something around there. It is a game I do remember enjoying but it was literally 1993 when I beat it and never played through it again for no real reason. For those that don't know what the games really about I'll copy paste. 

As the last descendant in the "Line of Kings", Prince Erik is summoned home to regain his rightful place on his father's throne. But alas, Prince Erik is accused of his father's murder by the evil Royal Advisor Belezaar, and is thrown into the dungeon to be executed at dawn. Your mission and destiny are intertwined. Escape the dungeon and start your long journey toward the land deep within Castle Shadowgate. Your quest is to free the kingdom from the evil grips of the Warlock Lord. You will need to make good use of all the resources you can find throughout your journey. Evil abounds, and creatures great and small will try to defeat you! Use the good that comes of it because the Legend of Shadowgate rests in your hands!

I hope everyone has a good October and will be able to play and get to enjoy this game this month. Happy point and click!

[Naniyue]

While I actually prefer the NES entry, there's no denying the quality of this one.  The graphics, animations, and sounds/speech are all well done.  It's still a little quirky to play, but as long as you save your game it's fine.

[majors]

Not gonna lie, point'n click was never my fav type of game. But I'll still give it a ago...Walkthrough might be in my future. I know Josh will be happy, he always hypes up Shadowgate.

[Necromancer]

This is a great choice for spooktober!  'Tis a great game with sooo many ways to die, but it's too bad that it doesn't support the mouse.

[_joshuaTurbo]

This is a great choice for spooktober!  'Tis a great game with sooo many ways to die, but it's too bad that it doesn't support the mouse.

Honestly I'm not really sure this adventure would work with the mouse. It's kind of a half point n' click, and half beat 'em up. I love that this game changes it up a bit with the exploration, making it feel more like an action RPG.

But yes, MEGA perfect choice for the month's game!! 

[majors]

I was just testing the game out so I only had a few minutes to play...but man, these graphics are SCARY. I see now the halloween theme The images are nightmare fuel to me. Reminds me of the $1 Xbox live "indie" games that flooded the marketplace in the 360 days.

[majors]

I think I've grown to like the background graphics the more I play, but the main character, Erik still looks lame to me. Still kinda of trog to play with the classic point'n click fetch quest game style, but that's the game. American voice acting sounds like it was on a budget. I still plan to give it more time and see how long I can go before I just get tired of it (maybe run it on 2x speed just to speed things up).

[Necromancer]

I finally finished it up tonight.  It's such a fun and clever game, but it's easy to miss items and events if you're not following a guide.  I definitely would've gotten my money's worth back in the day, looking at and trying to manipulate everything.   

[majors]

I forgot to get the squeaky mouse toy and didn't want to start over. I still enjoyed the background graphics but not the obtuse puzzles. Definitely a good game to go through on a rainy afternoon with a printed out walk-thru.

[Necromancer]

Without the mouse, shouldn't it drop you straight down instead of up at the puzzle room?  If not, one of the organ scrolls takes you back down so you can go back to town to buy the mouse, assuming you have monies still.

[majors]

...assuming you have monies still.

Bingo, no coins left. I didn't follow a walk-thru 100%. I messed up at the fetch quest with the jack-in-the-box and didn't save the Sage and also bought the wrong items instead.

[Mathius]

I gotta thank Necro for selling me his copy nearly a decade ago. Really good discussion on the game's color count in the old screenshot comparison thread here on the site. That thread is huge so don't ask me which page number.