There were sequels to Shadowgate, such as Beyond Shadowgate on the Turbo Grafx CD and….wait a minute. Isn’t that the name of the game we are talking about here? Well yes.
You see, Beyond Shadowgate was an idea the team had for a sequel, but by the time it was made, the original team had moved on and were not involved with the project. This new version of Beyond Shadowgate was made by the original team using their original notes and designed as a true sequel to the game as it was on the NES. The TG CD plot is incorporated as well, but it has received a number of changes to bring things in-line with what the developers envisioned.
And what a vision it was. Beyond Shadowgate takes the best aspects of the classic Macventures series, but also incorporates some modern ideas. There are hints in the game to keep you on track, but you can ignore those if you want a true challenge, and there are other modern touches as well, but they do not get in the way of the experience.
Some other new elements introduced are Timed Events, situations where you will only have just a few seconds to act to not die. Of course, if you get stressed out, you can disable the timer, but after one or two of these, that should not be an issue.There are also elements where the passage of time will affect areas you visit and things will be different, complete with other events and/or items to encounter. One thing that is nice is there is no sense of urgency from managing the torches this time. This was your timer in the original game and could be stressful but aside from the Timed Events, there are is no time management here.
Beyond Shadowgate does not hold your hand and while the hints are an option, you will still find yourself dying over and over from the various puzzles. This has always been part of Shadowgate’s charm though, so I would suggest not playing to avoid the deaths but seeing at least some to get the full experience. These are a good part of the story and Beyond Shadowgate has a great story with multiple NPCs and a very involved narrative. There are even crossover scenarios to encounter based on the other Macventures games and that was a fun thing to see.
Beyond Shadowgate may be a point and click game, but because this is modeled on the NES version of the game, that naturally means that in addition to mouse and keyboard controls, there is also the option to use a controller, which works perfectly. The music in Beyond Shadowgate is amazing and a worthy follow-up to the NES soundtrack, and the visual style is a perfect evolution of what came before. I will also note that Beyond Shadowgate has multiple endings and so there is a lot of replay value here, especially for an adventure game.
Beyond Shadowgate more than lived up to the original experience, and after playing, I want more like this. Bring on more sequels to the other Macventure games and more new games based on the gameplay concepts. Adventure games are still going strong and Beyond Shadowgate shows the genre still has a lot to give.
Disclaimer: A review key was provided
