Shadowgate (1989)

Genre: Adventure | Players: 1 | Developer: ICOM Simulations Inc.

In this Kemco point and click adventure the player finds themselves abruptly thrown into a high-fantasy yarn where the goal is to stop a nefarious wizard from summoning the ultimate beast: the mighty behemoth! Isn’t there a million of those running around in the Final Fantasy universe? Oh well, this one is special, I guess~

Thankfully, I was never actively mislead or berated by this game and I had a relatively pain-free experience as a result. I did have a few conversations about it with a friend who also played these games years ago, however, and I’d recommend you to do much the same. You don’t need to be so specifically fortunate, though, since you can always try to convince someone else to take these journeys with you right now. Checking a FAQ will usually feel like cheating but playing concurrently with someone else is a shared experience, in my opinion.

Returning to the specifics of gameplay, Shadowgate’s defining feature is its torch system. This game revels in its hyper-specific causes of instant death, so never let your torches go out. There are quite a few available but I would still recommend save scumming like a boss. Do something significant? Save. Work your way through as usual and as soon as you figure something else out, reset and do it again as fast as you possible can. Rinse and repeat. It should be noted that the cursor even moves at a speedier clip to accommodate this de facto time limit.

There are also a number of respawning instances that require resources of limited quantity. Scumming helps in this regard as well, cutting down on backtracking which could get you stranded if you do it too many times. I never did come across a place to pare down my inventory like in the other games, but I didn’t have too much trouble without it, to be honest.

Ultimately, alongside Uninvited, Shadowgate is very much worth your time if you can get behind the genre and setting, and have the patience befitting.

Buyer’s Guide: Available on Apple IIGS, Mac, Atari ST, Amiga, DOS, NES, Windows (Pocket PC), Palm OS, and Game Boy Color.

4 Deadly Renaissance Faires out of 5

Deja Vu (1990)

Genre: Adventure | Players: 1 | Developer: ICOM Simulations Inc.

This entry in the NES Kemco-Seika trilogy finds you passed out in a seedy bathroom stall with no memory of who you are and very few clues to go on. They roll in at a fast enough pace, however, and before you know it you’re at the center of a small detective tale.

Compared to the mostly straight forward gameplay of Uninvited, Deja Vu opts to include several random elements in its narrative. These are ultimately harmless and can be worked around if you have the patience to abuse the save system and your reset button. On top of that, you will be gambling for cab fare and the math can work out such that you could be left stranded. I didn’t bother to find out what happens if you are, but you’re more than welcome to experiment on your own.

Again, the music falls equally into the discrete categories of awesome, okay, and ear-wrecking. Thankfully, I can only think of one screen where the last is an issue. I would also like to note that if you rapidly skip text on the final screen of the game it will happily erase your file. I was able to replicate this several times and I have no idea why it happens. The option to continue is the default on the game over splash and even then selecting end doesn’t erase your file any other time. It is a mystery.

Okay, I’m going to save you a LOT of frustration by sharing this game’s biggest fault: You’re going to face an obstacle detectives come across repeatedly in their work. You’re going to want to use a logical solution for the ones that cannot be circumvented by the standard means. It won’t work most of the time and the game will actually mock you for trying at one point. The problem is it does work a small number of times, and for me these instances came up after I had been chastised. My inclination to continue trying had been brought to zero. In short, keep trying solutions every time they are applicable.

In the end, the game can become an exercise in trial and error, with the final failure screens guiding you on how to fully prepare yourself. The process of how this is done left a bad taste in my mouth and I can’t help but feel Phoenix Wright would be ashamed.

I still have a fondness for Deja Vu but it is assuredly the annoying-ass little brother of this family of games.

Buyer’s Guide: Available on Apple IIGS, Mac, Atari ST, Commodore 64, Amiga, DOS, NES, Game Boy Color, and Microsoft WIndows (Pocket PC). The GBC version includes its sequel.

2 Really Bad Tacos out of 5

Uninvited (1991)

Genre: Adventure | Players: 1 | Developer: ICOM Simulations Inc.

Through the late 80s and early 90s, Kemco-Seika were kind enough to port three of their notable point and click adventures to the NES. I preferred Uninvited as a child, and I’d argue that it remains the best realized of the lot. Modern gamers may find adventure games of this vintage to be incredibly hokey and/or frustrating but this one still oozes atmosphere if you can let yourself succumb to its charms. The potential for dead stops is certainly present, but I have to give Uninvited credit for its non-damning drop system. Attempting to drop items in the designated locations allows you to pare down your inventory to only the most essential items.

In veeeery loose terms, Uninvited is the Resident Evil of this trilogy. You’re trying to find your sister after crashing your car in front of a foreboding mansion. That’s all you’re getting out of me. The presentation is competent, if bare-bones, and is carried along by a wonderful sense of humor that is present not only in flavor text but also some of the puzzle solutions and item placements. There’s even an easter egg for another Kemco game!

On the music front, two of the tracks are among the funkiest and best I’ve heard on the NES. Mega Man caliber. The nothing’s-going-on tunes are perfectly serviceable, but some of the danger cues can be annoying as fuck if you let them grate on long enough.

There was one major thing that impeded my enjoyment of the second half of the game. I’m not going to tell you what it is, though, because upon completion I discovered it was a result of my own stupidity. The great thing is that the problem in question was made tolerable by the game’s insanely convenient continue mechanic. You will always continue one screen back from where you met your untimely demise. Nothing is lost beyond a few clicks worth of work, no matter what befalls you. You only need worry about saving when you want to end a session.

I can’t recommend this game to everyone, but I can absolutely recommend it to anyone with the patience and imagination this genre necessitated at the time. Kemco’s works may not be as beloved as many of Sierra’s ambitious endeavors, but they have a very special place in my heart (and on my wall), regardless.

Buyer’s Guide: Available on Apple IIGS, Mac, Atari ST, Commodore 64, Amiga, NES, Famicom, PC (DOS and WIndows), and Windows Mobile (Pocket PC).

4 Seemingly Useful Fruit Bowls out of 5