Shadowgate

Shadowgate is a point-and-click adventure game in which the player must solve a series of puzzles throughout a castle to proceed to the Warlock Lord's chamber. Due to the castle's perilous nature, at least one lit torch must be in the player's possession at all times. If all torches are extinguished, the player soon stumbles, breaking their neck, and must then continue from a saved game (or the area where they died, in console versions). Only a limited number of torches can be found throughout the game, which effectively acts as a time limit. The player may acquire various items such as a sword, a sling and other ancient weapons which can be used at the appropriate time to deliver a fatal blow to specific enemies.

The game has many instances of death, including being burned by dragon's breath, attacked by a cyclops, sucked into outer space through a broken mirror, dissolved by acidic slime, eaten by sharks, mauled by a wolf-woman, and suicide. Virtually any action taken by the player which is not the correct solution to a puzzle will result in a fatality. These deaths are often graphically described in the game's text (along with frequent sardonic and humorous comments), even in the NES version (in spite of Nintendo's policy of censorship at the time). Many of the game's puzzles rely on a system of trial and error, requiring the player to frequently save their game to avoid losing progress.

Shadowgate begins as the protagonist finds himself standing at the entry to the Castle Shadowgate, remembering that he had been tasked by the wizard Lakmir with defeating the evil Warlock Lord before he can raise the Behemoth from the depths and destroy the world.

The protagonist then enters Castle Shadowgate and begins to solve its puzzles, while surviving its many traps and defeating various monsters along the way. During the journey, he collects three sacred artifacts which together form the Staff of Ages, a holy weapon capable of stopping the Warlock Lord once and for all.

Computer Gaming World gave the game a very positive review, noting the game uses the same superior interface as prior MacVenture games. The difficulty was noted as a step up from Deja Vu and Uninvited, but Shadowgate was also said to be more flexible, allowing more than one solution to some puzzles.

The game was reviewed in 1987 in Dragon #128 by Hartley, Patricia, and Kirk Lesser in "The Role of Computers" column. The reviewers stated "Shadowgate is a great adventure game in that you must continually be aware of what’s already been accomplished to complete subsequent puzzles". The reviewers gave the game 5/5 stars.

In 1996, Infinite Ventures acquired from Viacom the rights to Shadowgate and other games originally developed by ICOM Simulations. ICOM Simulations had been acquired by Viacom in 1994, but had published no updates to the original products. After the acquisition, Infinite Ventures ported the game to other operating systems such as Windows 9x, as well as portable systems including Windows CE and Palm OS, under the name of Shadowgate Classic. These versions had a new interface and menu layout, with artwork based on the 1996 Windows versions.

In 1999, Infinite Ventures licensed the NES version of Shadowgate to Kemco. This version was ported to the Game Boy Color with enhanced sprites and animations; it also used the Shadowgate Classic name.