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Author Topic: Returning to Shadowgate (Remake by Zojoi) - You stand before a door...now die.  (Read 3295 times)

nenjin

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http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/zojoi/shadowgate



Pledge Goal: $120,000
Current Funded Amount: $131,603!
Days remaining: 7 HOURS

This one almost slipped past my attention but I'm so glad it didn't!

Shadowgate, for those that don't know it, is one of the grandfathers of the point 'n click adventure genre. I first started playing it back on the Nintendo, and it left quite the imprint on my childhood.

What made/makes Shadowgate so special? It had an atmosphere like no other. A dark fantasy adventure game where you're a hero, foolishly exploring the castle of an evil warlock who is bent on the destruction of the world. Desolate, haunted and deadly, Shadowgate had a grim and morbid aesthetic. At a time when games on the Nintendo were trying to be kid friendly, Shadowgate aimed to disturb and even frighten players with its moldy halls filled with bones, evil wraiths who ate your soul and foreboding laboratories filled with mutant experiments and acidic compounds, both waiting to end the player.

It also had some of the most memorable music on the Nintendo I've ever heard.

The game isn't a sequel. It's a reboot/re-structuring of the original. Yet it's not just a port either. Rooms and puzzles will be re-imagined and new ones will be added.

This isn't new for Shadowgate; it's undergone many iterations on multiple operating systems. (I think it spawned a sequel somewhere as well, that wasn't terribly amazing because it went outside the setting that made the original so successful.) So while it won't be a brand new game, it will be a classic worth replaying. And looking like this, I think the aesthetic that made the game famous is still going strong, and may have even gotten better.

The rights to the original music have also been bought, so the haunting themes that I still listen to today are being remastered and reimagened along with the visuals. You can listen to a sample here.



With 17 days to go and about ~$50,000 left to pledge, it's looking a little dicey. So if you like adventure games, and you like adventure games with a gritty theme, horrors abound and death around every corner....



Pledge to this mofo today!
« Last Edit: August 21, 2014, 12:13:41 pm by nenjin »
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Cautivo del Milagro seamos, Penitente.
Quote from: Viktor Frankl
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Siquo

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Re: Returning to Shadowgate - On Kickstarter!
« Reply #1 on: November 08, 2012, 11:01:34 am »

Oh god I still have that cartridge. That music...

But I'm not sure a reboot can re-create how awesome it was then. Any modern gamer would probably not like it.
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Nomus

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Re: Returning to Shadowgate - On Kickstarter!
« Reply #2 on: November 09, 2012, 03:57:50 am »

Oh man, I wish I had the money to get that full-scale Staff of Ages.
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Neonivek

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Re: Returning to Shadowgate - On Kickstarter!
« Reply #3 on: November 09, 2012, 04:06:01 am »

That screenshot is so fake. Everyone knows that in Shadowgate you die IMMEDIATELY after your torch goes out.
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nenjin

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Re: Returning to Shadowgate - On Kickstarter!
« Reply #4 on: November 09, 2012, 10:16:59 am »

Man, I'd totally forgotten about that little bit of gameplay.
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Cautivo del Milagro seamos, Penitente.
Quote from: Viktor Frankl
When we are no longer able to change a situation, we are challenged to change ourselves.
Quote from: Sindain
Its kinda silly to complain that a friendly NPC isn't a well designed boss fight.
Quote from: Eric Blank
How will I cheese now assholes?
Quote from: MrRoboto75
Always spaghetti, never forghetti

nenjin

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Re: Returning to Shadowgate - On Kickstarter!
« Reply #5 on: November 15, 2012, 08:45:52 pm »

So I promised myself I'd wait until the 10 day mark to shill for this thing and well, here it is. 10 days left and a wee less than $40,000 to go.

This project I feel is really deserving. True, their last failed Kickstarters STILL went to market in some form so perhaps KS funding isn't mandatory to this game eventually happening. But I think it'd make for a better product all around if they succeeded. (Or maybe it'd just result in better swag, whatever.)

Point and click adventurers, lovers of dark and grisly endings and failures, donate to this KS. It's hard to express how the old NES game sucked me in with its sound, visuals and writing. So maybe go, uhm, sample the game through an emulator, and if you it takes you like it took me and so many others, back it!
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Cautivo del Milagro seamos, Penitente.
Quote from: Viktor Frankl
When we are no longer able to change a situation, we are challenged to change ourselves.
Quote from: Sindain
Its kinda silly to complain that a friendly NPC isn't a well designed boss fight.
Quote from: Eric Blank
How will I cheese now assholes?
Quote from: MrRoboto75
Always spaghetti, never forghetti

nenjin

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Re: Returning to Shadowgate - Funded!
« Reply #6 on: November 24, 2012, 02:10:24 am »

*does the funded dance*
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Cautivo del Milagro seamos, Penitente.
Quote from: Viktor Frankl
When we are no longer able to change a situation, we are challenged to change ourselves.
Quote from: Sindain
Its kinda silly to complain that a friendly NPC isn't a well designed boss fight.
Quote from: Eric Blank
How will I cheese now assholes?
Quote from: MrRoboto75
Always spaghetti, never forghetti

nenjin

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Re: Returning to Shadowgate - The gates open August 21st on Steam.
« Reply #7 on: July 25, 2014, 09:36:28 am »

http://www.rockpapershotgun.com/2014/07/25/casting-level-8-resurrection-shadowgate/#more-222711

Yet another Kickstarter game finally reaches the finish line. The remake of Shadowgate will be available August 21st on Steam.
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Cautivo del Milagro seamos, Penitente.
Quote from: Viktor Frankl
When we are no longer able to change a situation, we are challenged to change ourselves.
Quote from: Sindain
Its kinda silly to complain that a friendly NPC isn't a well designed boss fight.
Quote from: Eric Blank
How will I cheese now assholes?
Quote from: MrRoboto75
Always spaghetti, never forghetti

nenjin

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The game is now available. If you backed the Kickstarter, you can get your download/Steam keys from the Humble Bundle store.

Have fun dying!
« Last Edit: August 21, 2014, 12:14:01 pm by nenjin »
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Cautivo del Milagro seamos, Penitente.
Quote from: Viktor Frankl
When we are no longer able to change a situation, we are challenged to change ourselves.
Quote from: Sindain
Its kinda silly to complain that a friendly NPC isn't a well designed boss fight.
Quote from: Eric Blank
How will I cheese now assholes?
Quote from: MrRoboto75
Always spaghetti, never forghetti

nenjin

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So I spent about 5 or 6 hours with this last night. Fell immediately back into the childhood pattern of playing adventure games, frantically going room to room trying everything in desperation.

There's a lot that's familiar about this version of Shadowgate...but also plenty different. Lots of new, seemingly useless items. New puzzles grafted into old rooms. Most rooms have been visually redesigned, but if you were as obsessed with SG as I was in my childhood, lots of them will seem familiar very quickly. And there just seem to be way more rooms. (I'm only in the first area, the "Caves" but it's made up of about 15 rooms....which in my memory was like the first half of the NES Shadowgate.

Currently stuck as balls and, since this just came out, there's no spoilers or walkthroughs yet. Not sure what I'm missing, or if something is bugged, but I guess that's the fun and the curse of adventure games, not knowing. Despite RPS basically dumping on the game, I find very little to be disagreeable about it. Playing with no UI and keyboard shortcuts greatly enhances it to me, as there's far too much junk in the UI for my taste and most of it feels oversized. When the UI is off though I find the game much more immersive.

So is it as good an experience as I had when I was a kid? Yes and no. Death simply isn't as terrifying as it used to be, since I know and have played about 1000x more than I did back then. And yet, it still has that haunting sense of desolation, the prickly sense of danger when you enter a new room. It's good enough I played far longer last night than I have a lot of other new purchases.
« Last Edit: August 22, 2014, 10:21:00 am by nenjin »
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Cautivo del Milagro seamos, Penitente.
Quote from: Viktor Frankl
When we are no longer able to change a situation, we are challenged to change ourselves.
Quote from: Sindain
Its kinda silly to complain that a friendly NPC isn't a well designed boss fight.
Quote from: Eric Blank
How will I cheese now assholes?
Quote from: MrRoboto75
Always spaghetti, never forghetti

nenjin

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So if anyone is playing this, I could use a hint. I'm pretty well stuck on what to do next.

Spoiler (click to show/hide)


Er mah gerd, just saw a Youtube snippet. Part of the problem about these games that I'd forgotten, you gotta keep a running tally of what you've tried where in your head. Which I guess is harder when you're older and video games are not your entire world.
« Last Edit: August 22, 2014, 09:31:30 pm by nenjin »
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Cautivo del Milagro seamos, Penitente.
Quote from: Viktor Frankl
When we are no longer able to change a situation, we are challenged to change ourselves.
Quote from: Sindain
Its kinda silly to complain that a friendly NPC isn't a well designed boss fight.
Quote from: Eric Blank
How will I cheese now assholes?
Quote from: MrRoboto75
Always spaghetti, never forghetti

SharpKris

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never played shadowgate so i'm lacking that advantage but it seems i've gotten quite far.
still i'm stuck, damm banshee
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Aoi

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So if anyone is playing this, I could use a hint. I'm pretty well stuck on what to do next.

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

There's an entire bit I think you've missed, where there's a few more spells. STILL doesn't open that door though.

Spoiler (click to show/hide)
« Last Edit: August 23, 2014, 11:02:37 pm by Aoi »
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nenjin

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Yeah, I found that spot as I said above. Once I figured out what Aggaap was for, things have more less zoomed along nicely. Note for anyone that might get stuck on the "Gears Room"....

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

Now that I'm pretty deep inside the castle, the game has opened up quite a bit. Lots of places to go. Tons of new items I don't remember from previous versions. Useful, not, who knows? While stylistically the game resembles a straight up fantasy adventure instead of the whacky D&D module of previous years, I like the internal logic that binds all the castle rooms together. You get a sense of progression whereas in previous games, rooms kind of felt disconnected from each other thematically. There are, so far as I've seen, fewer ways to die and fewer outright "haha, eat shit and die" moments. Can't stab yourself by accident. Nothing I've eaten has killed me. Haven't opened any doors to sudden death. Haven't slashed my wrists and bled to death despite punching more than a few glass windows and mirrors.

So in some ways the game takes itself more seriously, and is less whacky. On the other hand, there are way more moments of comic relief than in older games of Shadowgate. I've caught several references to 80s movies, 90s memes, and that fucking Yorrik is always spouting off about something. (Yeah, I know I can Hit him to make him shut up, but I like complaining.)

So I dunno. I have mixed feelings about the whole presentation. It delivers its visuals way better than previous games, but somehow comes off as less eerie at times despite all the mist and dramatic music. It is both more and less serious, and I'm not sure it gained anything from either of those changes. It's less brutal by virtue of fewer hidden ways to die, and yet I feel like the additional puzzles and items and rooms make it harder game because there's way more stuff to try, way more potential possibilities to explore.

I had to laugh at this though:

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

And I'm mostly enjoying the writing. I sort of like how deprecating it is to the player character. I think it was very much a thing of 80s adventure games to talk about the PC in ways that deflated the ego, that the character was always at the limit of their ability when doing stuff. As time went on adventure games and RPGs seemed to become more about bombast and power fantasies. But Shadowgate 2014 still has that vibe of "heroic but entirely normal person in a super dangerous world full of unknowns" and the text in game subtly supports that idea by usually downplaying how awesome you are instead of trumpeting about it. So I give it props for there.

That said, some of the writing about areas start to get a little flat inside the castle, where it's like "Drab grey stone walls do nothing to add to your mood", "Boy, there sure is a lot of stone here!" x10. Seems some of the new areas like the Towers have a bit of filler in them. The narrative overall though is much better explained than in previous games, through lots of supporting lore readables and....cutscenes. Little meh on those, because when you get down to it, it's a lot of hoopla for something that could be expressed in the normal game flow. But it's a chance to show off their art (which is ok if you dig the blurry style), justify the VOs (of which there is a decent amount) and they are skippable.

All in all I'm enjoying it, if my 14 hours played is any indication. If you enjoy point and clicks with some bite, this isn't a bad buy, although the $17.99 it's going for IMO should be a bit lower. But it does not lack for content.

Incidentally, am I missing something about mixing potions?

Spoiler (click to show/hide)
« Last Edit: August 24, 2014, 12:54:05 am by nenjin »
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Cautivo del Milagro seamos, Penitente.
Quote from: Viktor Frankl
When we are no longer able to change a situation, we are challenged to change ourselves.
Quote from: Sindain
Its kinda silly to complain that a friendly NPC isn't a well designed boss fight.
Quote from: Eric Blank
How will I cheese now assholes?
Quote from: MrRoboto75
Always spaghetti, never forghetti

Aoi

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Yeah, I found that spot as I said above. Once I figured out what Aggaap was for, things have more less zoomed along nicely. Note for anyone that might get stuck on the "Gears Room"....

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

What's the second combination?

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

Edit: Solved:
Spoiler (click to show/hide)
« Last Edit: August 25, 2014, 12:21:35 am by Aoi »
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Stench Guzman: Fix this quote, please.
Now celebrating: Two and a half years misquoted. Seriously man. Just fix it. -_-