Beyond Shadowgate (TurboGrafx-CD) Playthrough
264A playthrough of TTI's 1993 adventure game for the TurboGrafx-CD, Beyond Shadowgate.
If you'd like to see the game's alternate endings, you can find them at 1:59:03. The death scenes can all be seen at 2:01:39.
The NES version of the original Shadowgate (https://youtu.be/OcZp3nETUXQ) became an unexpected hit when it was released back in 1989, so it's no surprise that a sequel was made. What is surprising is it that it only ever appeared on Icom's platform of choice in the early 90s, NEC's TurboGrafx-16, and only in North America.
At the end of Shadowgate, Lord Jair defeated the Warlock Lord, subdued the behemoth, and was hailed as a hero whose bloodline came to be known as "The Line of Kings."
In Beyond Shadowgate you take up the mantle of Prince Erik, Jair's descendent. Erik has been framed for the murder of his father, King Aronde, and as the game begins, he has just been thrown in prison.
Beyond Shadowgate is a direct sequel to the original in terms of plot, but the gameplay has seen a thorough overhaul. It's still an adventure rooted in puzzle-solving, but it ditches the cursor-driven interface and first-person perspective of the MacVenture series. Instead of being a pure point-and-click affair, the sequel hands you direct control over Erik's movement across its 2.5D environments. The list of verbs has been replaced with a simple icon-based system, and you now have buttons dedicated to punching and crouching.
The scope of the adventure is much larger this time around, and though he does eventually make it to Castle Shadowgate, Erik's quest mostly revolves around exploring the expansive lands of his kingdom. The story does a lot to expand on the world's lore, but the experience is very different than that of first game.
Since it's no longer driven by text, the beautiful hand-painted graphics handle most of the narrative heavy-lifting and the dialog is now fully voiced. The sky-high production values and the attention to detail highlight just how much care was poured into the creation of this world, but the new style does come with a compromise: the shift from first-person to third-person robs the game of the intensely personal feel of the first. You're no longer privy to your character's inner thoughts, making it feel more like you're a puppetmaster than an active participant.
It's still fun, though, and it poses a solid challenge. The death scenes entertain this time too, and since they're not limited to text descriptions, you'll get to watch Erik meet his end in a variety of graphic ways.
Beyond Shadowgate is a good adventure, overall. It lacks the spark that made Shadowgate such an enduring classic, but if you loved that game, you'll find plenty to engage you here, too.
I posted a video of this years ago, but the encode was a blurry mess that didn't do the game justice. This video rights that wrong and includes things that I didn't show in my original upload, so I hope you enjoy it!
You can also find my playthrough of the third game in the series at https://youtu.be/Ic5QiNk3YAA
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No cheats were used during the recording of this video.
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