Shadowgate Reviews
We're in love with Shadowgate and its complexity, but that has to do with nostalgia, so, without a doubt, veterans of the franchise will love this new installment. As for the new players outside the point and click, they may consider the experience inaccessible and even unattractive, because the title is true to its roots, but it stays in the past by not providing novelties that keep it relevant in the present.
Review in Spanish | Read full review
If not a fan of the Macintosh/NES Shadowgate, this won't convince you otherwise, as it's the same, below average (yes, fellow nostalgic friend) game. Now, if a fan, or think that this is for you, and don't mind playing something with early '80s visuals, you are advised to play the original, which is somewhere out there on the web (and completely free), as the "improved" visuals of this remaster actually lack that special retro magic, and the few additions aren't worth the price of admission.
If you are a fan of the series or the enre you will find this title to be instantly intuitive to you and you will likely slip back into the old mind set. If you are new to the genre and are interested I would suggest you give it a go. If you are not interested in adventuring point and clicks This game has no real departure from the original formula so I do not think there will be anything to convert you.
In addition to torches, you'll collect a vast assortment of items, from weapons and armor to seemingly useless trinkets, bones, and even magic spells, that you can then use on the few hotspots in each room trying to get further into the game.
Shadowgate wants to remind players of what games were like twenty years ago, albeit with a fresh visual covering. The improved presentation is a welcome addition, but the unevolved gameplay and story will tend to feel outdated. In the end, it feels overpriced for a single jolt of nostalgia.
Shadowgate is still Shadowgate, and there's an inherent classic quality to this adventure that, coupled with the dark fantasy atmosphere and general difficulty, also makes it inherently rewarding.
In Shadowgate we go back to the living castle and we do it in the best possible way, a quite worked remake with new puzzles, a very well drawn artistic section, and an orchestrated soundtrack. As a good classic, it retains a fairly high difficulty, although attempts have been made to smooth out the new generations with more difficulty modes and modernized mechanics. Despite everything, the type of game, its puzzles, its trial and error mechanics, and its difficulty, may make the game not suitable for all audiences, although fans of the classic will be satisfied.
Review in Spanish | Read full review
While you're busy destroying your brain to figure out the game's logic, you will at least have a beautiful environment to look at. Unfortunately, graphics alone do not make a game great.
Zojoi Studios have done an excellent job bringing Shadowgate up to date without adding or removing its original appeal. I would recommend this game to anyone looking to experience either something a little different or looking to recapture that magic from their childhood. My biggest concern for this release is the attention it will get from gamers. Being a remaster of an older point & click game, I fear that a lot of people will simply overlook it in favour of other titles (I sincerely hope not). Shadowgate fully deserves the Thumb Culture Silver Award and I hope to see more of this kind of game making its way onto modern consoles.
MEDIOCRE - The lesson learned here is that there are plenty of great games that do not need remakes. I’d love to see the game designers make a true sequel that plays and looks like the original. In a better world, Super Nintendo owners would have gotten a direct sequel to Shadowgate and this series and others like it would live on today.
For more modern gamers you may find this to slow and tedious so I would suggest if you’re looking for a fast paced game you would be best looking elsewhere.