Shadowgate Reviews
Shadowgate really suits the on the go feel of the Nintendo Switch. Staying true to the 2014 version will please fans and with the art style, this point-and-click game was a pleasure to play even if it's incredibly hard at times. The controls are adapted well but do take some time to really grasp as there are a lot of options and customisation available, making it clunky at first. Fans of the original game will love the updated graphics and extended puzzles, but newer players might find it hard to get stuck into.
Shadowgate is very easy to recommend to fans of the original game or of the early days of point-and-click in general. For modern genre enthusiasts, it may be a tougher sell thanks to basic presentation and lots of opportunities to get a game over. Regardless, this is the best updated version of a thirty year old game that one could hope for, and it should leave nostalgic adventure gamers hopeful for more classic revivals in the same vein.
Shadowgate on Nintendo Switch is very much the same reboot we saw on PC back in 2014, taking the same mix of puzzles, difficulty and exploration the original was famed for and mixing it up with some enhanced conundrums and much more appealing presentation. Even with the updated visuals, Shadowgate still has a clunky UI, however, the button mapping on Switch does help negate this issue a little. Problems aside, this is a faithful remake that retro fans will lap up, although newer players might find this elder gaming statesman has teeth that bite a little too hard.
Shadowgate is a loving recreation of a seminal point-and-click adventure, with a few modern touches tacked onto a thoroughly 1987 chassis.
Several antiquated mechanics like the limited supply of torches and the unhelpful hint system also serve to make exploring Shadowgate Castle more frustrating than it should be, and that's even before we debate whether baffling cryptic trial-and-error puzzles are a good thing or not. Shadowgate is a faithful update then, but Zojoi have squandered the opportunity to actually update the gameplay too.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.