This is one of those games I walked in wanting to love. After all I've been a fan of the franchise since I played the original on NES. But as I walk away, this feels like the personification of the more sinister side of game design made by a team who really had no interest in the franchise so much as wanted to make their own game and used Shadowgate as the vehicle. They completely disregard the previous title and the lore it established, tore down the original main character, and while Raven was not a completely unlikable character, her total struggles both in the game and as she described her life before it basically boils down to when she had to ask the Djinn about unlocking powers within her that she already had, even as she knew all about what he was scheming somehow. It feels like this is more a fan-fiction then anything else with boring gameplay to support it... In short this is a prime example of what modern trash looks like.
I honestly wanted to like this game, but right from the start, I had vibes it was gonna get rough, from the button layout on the keyboard despite the game never showing you what controller buttons correspond if you use one instead, to the immediately obvious lackluster button mashing of the combat, the signs were all there from the beginning. It never got better, and in fact as the devs decide to try to get clever in the later levels actually gets worse... from the bad port territory to just plain a bad game. I can not recommend getting your hands on it. This might well be one of those games that, unless you are a die-hard Tomb Raider fan who needs to have them all, you would be best to avoid.
This whole collection is to be honest more for the enthusiast who wants to see where one of the most influential development teams in gaming ever got their start. Most of the games simply won't hold up to much higher standards we have today, but they show those first steps to how we got there. That isn't to say you won't have fun playing them. In fact I absolutely enjoyed my time with just about every title in the collection. However if you have no interest in that historical value you probably won't get the most out of it. Even the retro gamers among us will can probably find better examples of what to play from the days of DOS if they don't have that interest.
I was never a big fan of this series, and had I not bought them as a single package, I would likely never have played this game. Nor could it change my opinion on the series. However, I would have missed out on what is arguably one of the best "oh no" endings I have ever seen in a game. For that reason alone if you've made your way through the first two games, I would say to play this one too. Just get it on sale. It's definitely not worth the full price.
While I can not say I loved this game, I can say it was a VAST improvement over game 1. Where that one felt claustrophobic for how fast you move, this title was able to zoom out and even have places designed for the speed to be enjoyed! It plays it safe, but does so with the style of it's time and still overall feels pretty good to play. Still this is a game that sadly the boss battles that should be highlights are really the low-points between being relatively nondescript enemies that you realize are bosses only because the screen locks you in and that guy over there wasn't seen before and behaviors that usually feel like you did this at the last boss for the most part. Even the last boss really only increases the difficulty by letting him run really fast (ironic for a turtle) so he's always ready to run full speed into you... not a design that would stand up today. If you are here for solid levels and a 90s nostalgia hit, this game is or you. If you are here for showcase boss battles, it just is not.
I really wanted to like this game. It's cute in a cartoony charming way, has a fun little cast and the potential to be a nice little slice of what is one of my favorite gametypes. However it generally plays as a fairly average example when it's at it's best (exploring the world) while it becomes a trial of patience when at it's worst. Especially true if you have to retry bosses and tap through up cutscene text for up to 40 seconds. It's not the worst thing I have ever played, but it is not something I can recommend.
When people look for a sequel they generally want something bigger, grander, and better then the original, but still keeping the feel that game had. That is exactly what Beyond Shadogate achieves, tweaking the mechanics of the turn based game just enough to be fresh, improving the look just enough to look much nicer while still feeling like it would belong in the NES library along side it's older brother... in fact this "the same but better" could be said about just about every aspect of this game. The only thing I have to knock it at all for is this time felt a lot more linear then the original game did, but I expect that is more the price of the scope the game has of an adventure across the lands instead of residing within a single castle and the need to keep the player somewhat on target while doing so. Overall this was just a fantastic title.
This is honestly a great horror game. I don't believe that can be denied. It plays great, adds to the formula setup by the first, and ends on a note that is somehow obscure and yet satisfying. In addition it expanded on the formula for gameplay from Outlast and does so amazing well. But it is not without it's flaws, adding new types of gameplay that overall work great, but manage to stumble from time to time. If it were not part of the Outlast series, I expect people would be singing it's praises, and in fact unless you found those same specific details I keep talking about, it might as well not be. However, that connection is perhaps the biggest issue the game has. It's absolutely vital you get it if you want to really understand what just happened in this game at all, and without it, the game is a weird mix of two stories that work on their own but are not related beyond memories surfacing for "reasons" while Blake is trying to find his wife. In short it seems like this game's biggest crime is being "somehow" connected to the previous game and just not being as good as that last game was, however good it is in it's own right.
This is an absolutely well made DLC. It really doesn't give anything from the main game away, but rather plays as a parallel story of another survivor of this madness: This time that of a man who saw the evil going on from inside and tried to warn the world what Murkoff is really up to, only for it to cost him having a turn living through the nightmare as punishment. And as such, this is perhaps an even more horrific, if much shorter slice of that Hell. If you are a horror game fan who isn't squeamish, this is going to be one hell of a ride. But again, especially during it's final act, this one is going to turn a few people away.
...one puzzle at a time. Originally I knew I was getting this expansion because I wanted more of what I experienced with the base game. However it did not take me long to see that the game was going to offer a lot more then just a bunch of new puzzles. Enjoy everything this expansion offers, because this is DLC done right.
