Shadowgate 64 (N64) Playthrough
A playthrough of Kemco's 1999 first-person graphic adventure game for the Nintendo 64, Shadowgate 64: Trials of the Four Towers.
Shadowgate 64: Trials of the Four Towers is the third and final game of a trilogy that started out way back in the mid 80s on the first Apple Macintosh PCs and later appeared on several other platforms, including the NES and Game Boy Color. That was followed up in 1993 with Beyond Shadowgate, a North American TurboDuo exclusive that reviewed well but came and went with little fanfare.
The third and final entry was an N64 exclusive. There was actually a second N64 game in the works, Shadowgate Rising, but it was cancelled despite being nearly finished.
Shadowgate 64 was utterly destroyed by reviewers in the late 90s, and as I go back to read some of those reviews again, I find myself laughing in disbelief. It seems that the biggest gripe with it is that you didn't kill stuff. Seriously? It's just as much an adventure game as the previous two were, only now, you have far more freedom to explore than would've ever been possible in 2D.
I personally think it's an excellent game. It's slow-paced, certainly. There's no action, the graphics won't impress anyone, and it's too easy to become hopelessly lost in the huge castle, but the puzzles are satisfyingly difficult, the soundtrack is awesome, and the first-person view and the creepy vibe that went MIA for Beyond Shadowgate make a welcome return.
I especially appreciated how Shadowgate 64 doled out the story and puzzle clues. While a few NPCs do push you along at points, the majority of information you get about the world and the puzzles you have to solve is found in books and letters scattered about. They all provide some necessary context for what you should be doing, and just as importantly, help establish a world in a game where "human" interaction is kept to a minimum.
I've seen many people complain that the game feels lifeless, but if you take the time to read the in-game texts, I don't see how you could possibly argue that. The writing was on the wall for the adventure genre by 1998 so I shouldn't have been too surprised by the merciless criticism, but it took me aback nonetheless.
All in all, it's a worthy sequel to a classic line of games. If you love old-school adventure games and have the patience and the eye for detail that the genre has always required, you'll probably enjoy revisiting Castle Shadowgate in 3D as much as I did.
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No cheats were used during the recording of this video.
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