Beyond Shadowgate

Great game for those who loved the original games of this type.

A throwback to the classic Kemco Seika titles on the NES and a great sequel to ShadowGate. Enjoy if you love point and click adventure games of times past. Don't spoil it by looking things up, try to figure things out on your own and see how the adventure takes you.

If you likes Shadowgate you will love this the creators did a fantastic job not only keeping with the lore but adding to it and expanding upon it in very tasteful ways! You even get to find out what is behind that door.. yeah you know the one!!! and the pay off is great!

It's a sad thing that this review have ended here.

I really like this game. It isn't too intimidating but doesn't hand-hold you through the game either. You can definitely tell that there was a lot of passion put into this game by the creators and it is so wonderful to see games like this. I would be happy to see many more games from this team.

It rules. So many references.

As a huge fan of the original Shadowgate (NES port), I have always followed this series with heavy interest. But it has definitely had its hits and misses and I was wary about this game when it popped up out of nowhere. The superb remake of Shadowgate (2014) ended with a teaser for a supposedly upcoming Beyond Shadowgate followup. Over the next decade though, there was no further mention of this game or its progress. Now, it seems that at some point they even switched gears with it. Beyond Shadowgate is now a direct sequel to the original NES game (not so much the remake) and Shadowgate II (which is actually the first official release of a game called Shadowgate Rising that was originally in development for N64 back in 1999) is now the apparent followup to the remake…sort of. The development timeline is very convoluted and Shadowgate II is actually a pretty bad and disappointing game so where does that leave Beyond Shadowgate? In a pretty damn good place actually. Beyond Shadowgate is absolutely fantastic. To clear up any probable confusion, Beyond Shadowgate has some history worth addressing. It started out as a design document for a then-called Shadowgate II sequel for the Mac (NOT the Shadowgate II we have now, as mentioned above) but it never got made. Then the story got reworked (changed quite a bit) into a point&click style game for the TurboGrafx CD (Turbo Duo) called Beyond Shadowgate. This got released, but being on the TG16 almost nobody ever got to play it. Then the story got reworked again (closer to the original document, I believe) as a 1st-person adventure and released on the Nintendo 64 as Shadowgate: Trials of the Four Towers in 1999. Neither of the two released games were particularly great. Personally, I think the original Beyond is interesting but 64 is nearly unplayable. It seems like “3rd time’s a charm” though because they gave it one more go and fully nailed it this time. Rather than trying to reinvent the wheel again, this time they deliberately went back to the original wheel and simply polished it up a lot. Everything looks and feels just like the NES Shadowgate, but slightly modernized with better graphics (particularly with the color depth, but still pixel art) and a lot of those rough edges sanded down a bit. The music is great (maybe not quite a earwormy as the original but still strong) and sounds authentically chiptune. The game is longer too. Took me about 4 hours on my first play-through. And the story is interesting, with notably more depth than the previous title. If I have one criticism it’s that it isn’t particularly challenging. You’ll definitely die a lot just from trying various things (in true Shadowgate style), but the penalties are minimal. And while I wouldn’t expect the puzzles to be as incredibly obtuse as in the original, these ones kind of swing a bit too far in the other direction. Most of the puzzles have very obvious and heavily telegraphed solutions. The only times I found myself “stuck” at all, I had just simply failed to notice something here or there. But the robustness and length of the adventure definitely make up for the over-correction in difficulty. What the game does exceptionally well is in the area of homage and even fan-service. And not in too cheap a way either (maybe a little cheap in spots, haha, but still effective). There are a number of subtle and also very overt ways in which it pays direct tribute to not only the classic Shadowgate but also all of the other MacVentures (Deja Vu, Uninvited, etc). And in pretty fun ways, at that. The whole package here is just delightful and this is easily the best offering from Shadowgate we’ve gotten since the 2014 remake. And some ways I like it even more than that one. If you have any affection for Shadowgate, you pretty much have to pick this one up. If only Shadowgate II could have been at this level.

I’m having a blast playing Beyond Shadowgate! The puzzles are really well-designed and fit perfectly with the classic NES vibe. It captures that nostalgic feel while adding some fresh twists. If you enjoyed the original Shadowgate, this one is definitely worth checking out. Verdict: 7/10 — Great puzzles and a solid tribute to the classic.

More concerned with being meta than just being good. I get the Icom adventures have always had a silly edge beneath their dark veneers, but BSG 2024 is overkill. The puzzles may be good in their own right, but I don't play games solely for challenge. Particularly, I was under the impression that the detours into the other games were optional, not requirements that stood in lieu of seeing more of Kal Torlin. Sure makes that "5 times the size of the original" boast seem literally half-empty. Shame since the game is so much better for most of the first half when it [i]isn't[/i] flying its legacy. A sad thing that my faith in these guys has ended here.

I loved Shadowgate for the NES and this game finally lives up to it. Its got that classic fantasy nerdery that I love. The pixel art is great. The puzzles are good and not too obtuse except for a few but that's expected of any adventure game. You WILL die a lot but don't worry you won't lose any progress. You'll just get booted back to the previous room.