A New Shadowgate for 2014

[Nz17]

Who here remembers the classic Shadowgate adventure game for NES, Game Boy Color, Mac, Apple IIGS, Atari ST, Amiga, DOS, Windows, Mobile, Palm OS, and Pocket PC? I sure do, and the Wikipedia article I got that platform listing from does as well!

Shadowgate is easily one of my favorite NES games. You can imagine how thrilled I was to find out it is getting a... half-remake, half-sequel in the form of Shadowgate (2013). The game will follow the original story, but with remade graphics, a rearranged score recorded with real instruments and chanting, tweaked and new puzzles, and additional rooms.



All of the new backgrounds are "hand-drawn paintings." Granted, they are not drawn with actual paint but Photoshop; however as you can see from this time-lapsed video of the artist at work, they could have easily been made on a canvas with oils as the man is an artist first-class!

Shadowgate returns with fancy new digital effects overlaid on the backgrounds with an orchestral soundtrack for the requisite epic-ness and ambiance, but for all us old school gamers, both the original NES soundtrack and classic UI are available as well in the options menu.

Zojoi, the company behind the remake and helmed by the original creators, is seeking some Kickstarter funding to finish the game. Right now the total sits at $77,739 out of its $120,000 goal. So if you want to see this thing reach fruition sooner rather than later, pitch your pennies in its direction. Either way, here's to more of the engrossing Shadowgate!

[skaar]

Moar crowdfunding.

[Trebuken]

Back in my C-64 days I longed for Shadowgate. My local game store had in for the Atari ST; the black and white graphics looked superb and high resolution next to the C-64 games. Wanted to buy an Atari ST but never managed to. Still looking, but they came and went so quickly.

Thanks for the heads up, and maybe a second chance at Shadowgate.

[Nz17]

It is here: the greatly -expanded- and -overhauled- Shadowgate has finally arrived! It turned out to have an August 21, 2014 release date after all, and thus has arrived for Macintosh and Windows. Expect versions for Android and iOS to follow soon, probably in the next two months.



What's that you say? You are interested but you don't know if you are ready to buy? Well those generous folks over at Zojoi (which developed this new version of Shadowgate) licensed the original NES music from Kemco (that version's musics' rights' holder) and made it available within the game itself as an option in the configuration menu. That's not enough? Well Zojoi also added the original room transition effects from the NES release. That's still not enough for you? Well, post-release they are going to add a cool "retro graphics" mode to the game too! Of course the content which is already there with its incredible musical score and (digitally) hand-painted graphics is already excellent, but it is nice to have these NES configurations as extra options.

And even if you don't want to buy, how about these free MP3 downloads of the original NES soundtrack which Zojoi has made available? No charge! Go on, give it a click!

For more information and to get your own copy of the game, please see:

The Official Shadowgate (2014) Web Site
Humble Bundle's DRM-free version of the game ($15), the +wallpapers & calendar bundle ($20), and the +soundtrack & artbook bundle ($25)
Shadowgate on Steam
Original-releases-to-new-remake comparison trailer

Personally, I have been playing the beta version of Shadowgate and it is excellent. Prepare to thump your skull with your forefinger while you try to figure out some of these puzzling situations!

...It is a sad thing that your adventures have ended here.

[otaku]

I can't wait to play this soon!

[Tanooki]

I can't find it on the android store, this coming later? I'm not going to pay $30 for a DRM-Steam version of the game on computer as the tablet would be more suited I think for this one anyway.