Shadowgate (1987)

ICOM Simulations

Amiga · Apple II · Apple IIGS · Atari ST/STE · DOS · Family Computer · Mac · Nintendo Entertainment System · PC (Microsoft Windows) · Wii U

3.62 from 107 ratings

568 members have it in their collection · 1 playing now · 276 backlogged · 36 wish listed

How long? · with extras 1h · 100% 10h (from 2 logged playthroughs)

Thrust into the role of "The Seed of Prophecy," players travel deep into the living castle, in hopes of defeating the evil that dwells within – the dreaded Warlock Lord.

Details

Developers
ICOM Simulations
Publishers
Kemco, Kotobuki Systems, Mindscape
Genres
Adventure, Indie, Point-and-click, Puzzle
Themes
Fantasy
Series
Shadowgate
Steam
View on Steam

Release dates

  • Jul 30, 1987 (North_America) Mac
  • 1987 (North_America) Amiga, Atari ST/STE
  • 1988 (North_America) DOS
  • Mar 31, 1989 (Full Release) (Japan) Family Computer
  • Dec 1989 (Full Release) (North_America) Nintendo Entertainment System
  • 1989 (Europe) Apple II
  • 1989 (North_America) Apple IIGS
  • May 30, 1991 (Full Release) (Europe) Nintendo Entertainment System
  • 1993 (North_America) PC (Microsoft Windows)
  • 1993 (Europe) PC (Microsoft Windows)
  • Apr 30, 2014 (Full Release) (Japan) Wii U

Related

Bundled in

Remakes

Remasters

Ports

Featured in lists

Rating distribution

5 stars
22
4 stars
38
3 stars
32
2 stars
14
1 star
1

Community All Reviews Statuses

GigaDeathNullGolem

Review GigaDeathNullGolem 4/5 · Jun 6, 2023

Decent port but obsolete

OK. Was just curious to look at it. IT's pretty much the same game with some small changes. The music is 99% the same sound as the NES version. There are like a few flaws and hardware issues, but it's barely noticeable. The game itself is also completely the same. I notices a few words not translates the same. The …

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OK. Was just curious to look at it. IT's pretty much the same game with some small changes. The music is 99% the same sound as the NES version. There are like a few flaws and hardware issues, but it's barely noticeable. The game itself is also completely the same. I notices a few words not translates the same. The commands wont fit on one screen, which makes this game an inferior port, right off the bat. Although its not too annoying to scroll back and forth between two pages of commands, why bother?

Finally, a lot of the better scenes in the game, actually look considerably worse in this....

Games like this were great, back in the day as portable releases... But now, this sort of thing is truly obsolete!

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AlfredoSalza

Review AlfredoSalza 2/5 · Jul 11, 2022

Buy a Hint Book Please!

I've played quite a few other Adventure games, including Shadowgate 64, so playing the NES version was a real trip to the past. My expectations were very low since I had heard many times that this game kind of sucks.

Shadowgate's biggest problem is the time/action limit that is imposed on you via the torches. This has no …

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I've played quite a few other Adventure games, including Shadowgate 64, so playing the NES version was a real trip to the past. My expectations were very low since I had heard many times that this game kind of sucks.

Shadowgate's biggest problem is the time/action limit that is imposed on you via the torches. This has no justification and reinforces the idea that the game is not much more than an excuse to sell hint books. Fortunately, this time limit can be avoided almost entirely thanks to savestates, which I used frequently.

The puzzles themselves are fine, I solved most of them on my own. In others it was necessary to read a guide, and I can't recommend enough the website uhs-hints.com to get hints without spoiling too much. Of course, this game has some absolutely ridiculous puzzles like obtaining the ring or defeating the wyvern, though overall I have to say I enjoyed solving the puzzles.

All in all, I think Shadowgate is a bad game, but if you're already used to the nonsense that abounds in point-and-click games, you might find some fun here.

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anarchistica

Review anarchistica 1/5 · Dec 23, 2021

Well, at least i got farther this time

Shadowgate was one of the handful of games we owned for the NES. I never really got what you were supposed to do and only got to like the second room. Apparently i've always been bad at point & click adventures. It doesn't help that this one is particularly bad, with really clunky controls (on PC) and a bloody timer …

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Shadowgate was one of the handful of games we owned for the NES. I never really got what you were supposed to do and only got to like the second room. Apparently i've always been bad at point & click adventures. It doesn't help that this one is particularly bad, with really clunky controls (on PC) and a bloody timer in the form of torches.

Seriously, i wouldn't recommend this if they paid you €3 to play it, let alone the other way around.

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