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Shadowgate (Xbox One / NES ) Review

ShadowGate is a classic point and click adventure game from the 8-bit NES days (A port of the original Macinotsh game). In it, you take control of a "hero king" and enter castle ShadowGate with the intention of defeating the Warlock Lord. Like many point and click games, it uses an inventory menu and an action menu to allow you to interact with your environments. I quite enjoyed the dark fantasy setting and the satisfying "Aha!" moments of every puzzle I managed to solve. 


The atmosphere of the game is very nicely done. Part of the game-play reward for me was to get to each new room and see all the scenery and the occasional creature. I also really enjoyed the music, and finding all of the strange and gory ways in which you could kill off your character. 


 That being said, this game is definitely a hard one - I admit I couldn't figure every puzzle out on my own and ended up using a strategy guide to help me several times.  I find it somewhat disappointing whenever I feel like I need to look up a guide because that takes me out of the immersion of a game, but it is at-least nice to know there's other video game nerds who are kind enough to share their knowledge on the tough or confusing games that they've managed to complete.


The game contains a mechanic in which you must continuously keep your torch lit by finding new ones to pass your flame along to. Take too long, and the torch goes out, leaving you shrouded in darkness and soon after having you die. I didn't care too much for this mechanic, as a good chunk of the game-play stems from observing your surroundings and thinking, and thinking under stress  tends to rattle the mind and disrupt focus. Still, I can appreciate the designers wanted to try something new, and it does add to the spooky and tense feel of the game. I could see the torch gimmick working better in a full-blown horror title, perhaps.


Lastly, there is some social criticism to be made - stuff I will continue to address in my reviews because a lot of gamers, sadly, are entitled (and often bigoted) children who want to silence and shut down conversations about things like sexism in video games. While it is good that the protagonist wants to stop the warlock dude from being a big asshole and destroying the world, he's also kind of a creeper. At one point in the game you'll encounter what appears to be a woman chained up in the tower and the protagonists' mind goes right to gushing over how pretty she is. I found this rather creepy as I imagine - what if I was a hostage in a bank robbery, and one of the people they sent in to rescue me starting lusting over my body rather helping get me to safety? Pretty creepy.  More troubling is the ending, where your character is "rewarded" by being given another kings daughter as his bride, reinforcing the old trope of a woman being a "trophy prize" for men and not having any agency of their own. These are unfortunate aspects of the game's story-line, because the protagonist seems to be an otherwise good and noble individual.


Overall, I would recommend ShadowGate. It is a tough and sometimes confusing game, but I think many would have a good time visiting the many cool environments of the castle and exploring all the little things you can do with the items - not to mention goofing off and seeing how many ways you can off yourself in the game! The version I played was part of a game bundle on the Xbox One, which I imagine would be easier to get than the original NES cartridge. Plus, it comes with two other games, as well!



 

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