Beyond Shadowgate Review

This Beyond Shadowgate review is played and tested on PC (Steam) and is available for $/€ 24,99. Currently Beyond Shadowgate is not released on other platforms.

Today’s video game industry seems to be obsessed with remakes, remasters, and reboots. At this point, I wouldn’t be surprised if we eventually saw a refurbished remake for the PS6. So, with all that modern madness in mind, I was pleasantly surprised to play an actual sequel on Steam this week. Now, I know what you guys are thinking: “Sequels aren’t any better these days, Fleaman.”

The Sequel, 35 Years Later

And I guess that’s true. Most sequels are cash grabs, and in some cases, they’re made by completely different developers who bought the rights. Sometimes, part 2 of a video game has different graphics, characters, or is an entirely different genre.

Beyond Shadowgate, on the other hand, is an actual sequel to the original NES point-and-click game, created by the same people behind the first Shadowgate game, which was released 35 years ago. Let me repeat that and let it sink in: Beyond Shadowgate is a sequel, made by the same creative minds that made the first Shadowgate game 35 years ago. The chances of that happening are less than 1%, and my mind was blown by this fact.

Kickstarter

Beyond Shadowgate started as a Kickstarter campaign. The co-creators of the first Shadowgate game were looking for $25K to bring their video game project to life. When all was said and done, the Kickstarter generated $120K, and 1,980 backers got behind the project. This massive success didn’t mean that the backers would play the sequel anytime soon, as it was scheduled for release in September 2023.

The game did get released, but in September of this year—a bit of a delay. No reason was given for the delay, but in these cases, I like to quote Shigeru Miyamoto: “A delayed game is eventually good, but a bad game is bad forever.”

What is this game about?

Beyond Shadowgate takes place 35 years after the events of the first game. So, the sequel comes out 35 years after the first game, and the story also starts 35 years later. I guess this is intentional, and I found it super clever and funny to see this reflected in the game. The Shadowgate castle is now only a memory, and the kingdom it lies in is in ruins. Amid all this chaos, you play as Del Thornburrow, a clumsy thief who got caught stealing and is thrown into a dungeon.

NES Commands

Your point-and-click adventure starts in a prison cell. To escape and begin your journey, you have eight commands at your disposal at the bottom of the screen to direct your character. If you’ve played the original Shadowgate on the Nintendo NES or any of its many ports, commands like LOOK, USE, and OPEN should sound familiar.

One odd thing I noticed right away is that the order of the commands has changed compared to the original NES version. The LEAVE option has been replaced by MOVE, but the other commands are just swapped around.

Another gameplay mechanic that changed in Beyond Shadowgate is the torch collecting. In the original Shadowgate, you had to grab every torch you saw to keep the castle lit. This time around, there’s no need to do that, and all I can say is good riddance.

READ, LOOK, TAKE, USE, OPEN, and SPEAK

One thing that hasn’t changed is the in-game writing. It remains gruesome, intense, and engaging—something that is 100% essential, as you’ll be doing a lot of reading in this game.

The rest of the point-and-click gameplay has stayed the same (though I must say that playing with a mouse is far more comfortable than using an NES controller). You explore the world one screen at a time in first-person view. You LOOK at your surroundings, TAKE items, USE them, OPEN doors, solve puzzles, and SPEAK to many different NPCs throughout the game.

Speaking of NPCs, there are more than 20 in Beyond Shadowgate, whereas the original Shadowgate had only 3. The number of puzzles has jumped from 36 to 100, and the number of screens from 43 to 250! The music is great, setting the right mood, and it’s complemented by fitting sound effects. The pixel art is beautiful, even though the color palette isn’t 100% faithful to 8-bit graphics.

Not an NES Game

Overall, Beyond Shadowgate truly goes beyond on all levels. The only downside to this bigger and better 8-bit pixel world is that it won’t fit on a genuine NES cartridge. So, for now, the game is Steam-only, even though it screams for a Nintendo Switch release.

Until now, I assumed you’re familiar with Shadowgate or one of the other MacVenture games (Uninvited, Déjà Vu 1 & 2). If you are, then you’ll understand how awesome it is that we finally got to play Beyond Shadowgate, a.k.a. Shadowgate 2, after 35 years of waiting. The game is a worthy sequel. It’s truly a labor of love and something special in this day and age.

During the production of Beyond Shadowgate, the artwork creator, Stephen Peringer, passed away. The box art for Beyond Shadowgate was the last piece of art he made, highlighting once again how fortunate we are to play this game in its final, complete form.