Shadowgate puts down something hard and permenant for the Adventure game genre buff.
+ Every action you do has a consequance!
+ Innovative, scary story that will keep you afraid of what will happen next.
+ Solid music.
+ Did I mention how every action you do has a consequance!?!
- It feels short at the end.
- Not a huge reason to play it again after beating it, save for good memories.
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In Shadowgate's story, you assume the role of a nameless dungeon knight set into the old castle ages where your forefathers where epic heros. The old castle of "Shadowgate" has been rumored cursed by an evil necromancer and your the only hero that can break the curse. Its an amazingly cliche bore, but even while not being particularly gripping, the story does all it can to make everything that much spookier. Of course, in order to save the scary, haunted castle....you have to go in it. And that's with all the crazy monsters and utterly devilish traps that await, Shadowgate is by far one of the creepiest adventure games, even today. Skeletons dangle helpless in the surreal enviorment. Monsters challange your logic to take them down only in certain ways. Curses and spirits affect the game's pace. If you want my advice, you'd best take a spare pair of pants.
In Shadowgate, you navigate through room by room through a wide box in the middle of the screen that shows a picture of the room your in. Along the side of the screen is your map and your infintory. Also, there are selectable actions like "Talk, Use, Open, Move, Examine" and so on. For instance, if you find a lamp in a room, you can "Use" it to toggle it on or off, you can "Examine" it to make a little line of text at the bottom of the screen say its a lamp, or you can "Open" it to take and keep the lightbulb as an inventory item whilst noticing that a secret passageway has been opened as a result.
You'll do this in the entire game to interract with npcs, operate objects, opening doors, using infentory items, and attacking unfriendly monsters that get in your way. Through castle dungeons and big creepy rooms, you'll solve alot of puzzles with the point-and-click mechanic of the game. Just be careful of what you do. The entire game is interractive to being almost real, and ever action you make has a consequance, for better or worse. Be sure to examine things before you "Use" or "Hit" them or else it could result in a dangerous consequance, either from a minority, injury, or a visit from the grim reaper (whom you actually do see in the game over screen).
The problem with Shadowgate is that it is just so damn short. The NES verison can be completed in almost 1 hour for any typical advernture gamer. The Apple (possible PC emulated) verison takes about 3-4 hours and offers some more puzzles that the NES did not, but either way, both can be completed in such little time. Not to take quality over quantity, Shadowgate is still a remarkable adventure castle explorer that doesn't stock up in the potential department but puts down something hard and permenant for the Adventure game genre buff. If point-and-click miming is your way of a good time, Shadowgate won't let you go without it.