I raised my shield and blocked the dragon’s flames as I scanned the room. Several items and objects were presented to me, but I knew from my last death that the shield would only hold out for so long. With a heavy sigh, I grabbed the spear and bolted from the room, feeling more equipped but still just as perplexed about how to deal with the other areas I had already journeyed through. I travelled from hallway to crypt to dungeon, seeking clues and answers, trying combination upon combination of items and objects only to notice that my surroundings seemed to be darker and darker as time crept on. Before I knew it, my torch was flickering out and it was too late. Surrounded in darkness forced my hand to try the last idea left: I cast a spell at a sealed hatch, only to trip and fall to my death in the pitch black void of the room. As the game over screen appeared before my eyes, only one thought whispered through my frustrated mind: welcome to Shadowgate.
If you’ve ever enjoyed a choose your own adventure story, you’ve probably done like I have and cheated by keeping your finger or a bookmark on the choice page while reading about what lies ahead. Danger, success, a joke? If the future didn’t seem promising, back I would go only to select another option. This didn’t ruin the experience for me at all, and in fact only made it more enjoyable as while I knew I was cheating, I ended up with the result I wanted while still enjoying the fact that my initial choice would have gotten me killed. This was fun, and Zojoi has captured some of that fun in Shadowgate. Instead of a finger, you have quicksave. Instead of a path choice, you have puzzles. The song remains the same, but with a fresh beat and a catchy new melody to accompany it.
From the gorgeous backgrounds to the unique sound effects, so much of my time was wasted simply looking over my surroundings and taking it all in that my torches just kept going out on me. The art style for the title is very well put together, and really helps sell the dark and foreboding atmosphere. If you have a good pair of headphones or better yet, 7.1 surround sound, I urge any players to take the time to crank the volume and just lose yourself in the eerie sounds of water drops and light breezes, accompanied by the odd moan and groan from unseen creatures. The developers took a lot of time to make the whole world feel alive and dead, and it really does show.
As for the difficulty of the game and just how tricky a point and click adventure title can be, consider this: my quick journey into this unforgiving land was played on Apprentice as I was a little pressed for time and haven’t played the previous iterations, yet I was still confused and befuddled by the world around me. Sure, a lot of interactions are obvious at first, but I quickly found myself having to go back and start over, planning my route carefully to conserve my torches or selecting different objects before others instead. Many deaths were had, and I truly can’t wait to tackle this beast on Master and feel like I’ve truly accomplished something. At least so far in my opinion, 2014’s Shadowgate has a solid chance of ranking with some of my favourite point-and-click adventures from the golden era of the genre: Grim Fandango, Monkey Island, and Blade Runner.
So ask yourself: do you have what it takes to help Lakmir? Can you conquer Shadowgate and outwit its dangerous traps? There’s only one way to find out… it’ll be hitting Steam on August 21st, 2014. Try your hand.
