Game 507: Shadow Caster (1993)

 

Just about every site has the title as one word. There is no support for this on the title screen, box cover, or manual cover, all of which have it as two words.

      

Shadow Caster

United States

Raven Software (developer); ORIGIN/Electronic Arts (publisher)

Released 1993 for DOS, 1994 for PC-98

Date Started: 16 March 2024 

            

This is one of those games where I appreciate what they're trying to do, and I don't want to discourage them from thinking outside the box, but it's just not for me. I don't know why. In addition to soft-serve ice cream, heat pumps, free jazz, anime, and Cheetos, I just have a Thing about playing animals. I also have a Thing about shapeshifting; in the rare game that I play a druid, I almost never use the ability. 

     

The manual and opening cinematic (very well done, incidentally) tell the story of Kirt, a young man living in the big city with his grandfather. One stormy night, his grandfather sits him down and explains that neither of them are from Earth: they're actually from another dimension, from a race called simply the People, some of whom have the gods-given ability to shapeshift into creatures from still other dimensions (who in turn gain the ability to shapeshift into people, benefiting everyone). Long ago, the People had a thriving civilization, but the gods didn't favor everyone, and thus a caste system emerged. 

       

A fireplace in a high-rise apartment?! Does this city have no code enforcement?

   

Malkor, an outcast god, rallied the lower-class, non-shapeshifting malcontents and gave them shapeshifting powers--but only if they sacrificed the animals they wanted to change into. One of Malkor's followers, Veste, killed the People's Holy One, Riodn. A civil war ensued. The good shapeshifters won, but only after the destruction of nearly their entire civilization. Most of the gods, disgusted that the People had used shapeshifting to stratify society, abandoned them. One god, Tovason, stayed behind and warned the People of a future in which Malkor would return and their shapeshifting powers would be needed again. Apparently, that time has come. Kirt is some kind of prophesied hero, his choices so open that he "casts a shadow" on the gods' abilities to read the future.

        

So they went with a literal name, then.

       

As grandfather finishes up his exposition dump, a gargoyle, awakened from the side of the building, comes crashing through the window and drags the old man away. Grandfather has time to fire off one desperate spell, hitting Kirt and sending him to another dimension.

   

It was a time of darkness; it was a world of fear.

     

The game begins with no character creation, in a random alleyway, with a grotesque enemy charging down it. You better have read the manual. Kirt can activate punches with either hand or a kick by clicking the appropriate icon and then right-clicking on the screen itself (or hitting SPACE). This particular enemy (the manual calls it a "slobbering beast") dies in a few hits.

      

A tough beginning.

     

With the first enemy gone, we can catch our breath and note that the interface makes use of a near-identical raycasting engine as the previous year's Wolfenstein 3D from id Software. Indeed, John Carmack is credited as the "engine programmer" for Shadow Caster. The same year, Carmack would use another update of the engine for Doom. Shadow Caster proved that it could work for games without firearms, and Raven Software (who before this had only produced 1992's Black Crypt) would apply it accordingly to Heretic (1994) and Hexen (1995). 

         

Hey, that guy looks a little familiar.

       

You might notice that none of these other games are RPGs. Is Shadow Caster? It's a tough call. I require character development to include more than just increases in health; here, as you gain experience and level up, you increase maximum health and energy, so technically that's more than just health. I'm not sure if there's some kind of underlying power that also increases. There's also a type of "character development" in your ability to acquire new forms to shift into. I also require that character development involve some level of player agency--you should be able to control the rate or type of development. Games in which development occurs at fixed intervals (usually because the game is completely linear) generally don't qualify. I don't know if Shadow Caster passes this hurdle or not. Certainly, the beginning feels very linear, and enemies do not respawn, suggesting a closed system.

   

At least the enemies aren't derivative.

     

Since ORIGIN published it, one cannot help but compare it to the 3D engine that Blue Sky Studios built for Ultima Underworld. As an RPG, I would say that the Underworld engine is better. Underworld let you look up and down and explore a truly three-dimensional space, with bats flying overhead, rivers running under bridges, and jumping spells propelling you to the highest reaches of enormous caves. You could also do more in the environment. It was an explorer's engine. id's engine is perhaps a better shooter engine, particularly if you like to play with the keyboard exclusively. Its turning is fast and smooth, and there's no question whether you're aiming accurately as long as you're pointed at the enemy. There's no way to get confused about your plane.

    

Aside from the graphics, the interface works fine. There are keyboard backups to everything, which I always prefer, although attacking can involve some targeting for which you need the mouse. There's a very nice automap.

      

See?

      

Given that it's an Origin game, it's a wonder that they didn't try to shoehorn the Avatar into it. (The character on the box cover by Denis Loubet even looks like the Avatar.) In fact, MobyGames quotes designer Brian Raffel as saying that it was going to be an Ultima game for a while--after it was going to be Black Crypt II and before it was going to be Bard's Tale spinoff. The shapechanging aspect was apparently a late addition to the project.

       

But here, they couldn't help themselves.

      

Getting back to the game: As I wander through the small area, I find a Wand of Fire and a health potion. An obelisk grants me my first animal form: a six-limbed, six-foot-tall bipedal feline called a "Maorin." They apparently have special sight, powerful jumps, and devastating claw attacks but they "dislike water and drown quickly." At the same time, there's a message from my grandfather, encouraging me to accept the form. "Destroy the 4-armed guardian in the tomb to reach the temple." After that, there's nothing but the portal to the next area of the level.

     

A commenter had warned me some time ago to download the cluebook--not for hints, but because only there do you get any background information about where you are. Apparently, I'm in the "Garden Ruins," which used to be lush with blossoms but was destroyed by Veste. I'm not sure whether this happened recently or whether they're talking about the distant past. I transition to Maorin form as I go along. It turns out that each form not only has its own attacks on the bottom (my hands become claws and my kick attack turns into a "cat sight" ability) but its own inventory. The wand and potion remain with the human form. But my inventory soon fills up again with "float seeds" from carnivorous plants that roam the area. Other monsters include blue beasts that shoot lightning or something.

      

This cat has claws.

         

At some point, I enter an area with a chest floating in the air, shooting fireballs at me. Underneath it is a pedestal with triangle symbols on the side and what looks to me like a giant throne. I can't seem to reach the chest, so I turn back into human form and blast it with my wand. It breaks apart, spitting out a "triangle key." The key looks like the symbols on the pedestal, so I fiddle with it until it takes the key, which causes the "throne" to slide aside, revealing a teleporter underneath it. So we're going to have puzzles.

      

The new portal with the "throne" in the back and the (solved) puzzle to my right.

    

Being in beast form drains energy constantly, as does using special abilities. Even though I "level up" (the game says that I "feel a surge of life and power") a couple of times, I switch back to human form a couple of times and work on this entry while my health and power slowly regenerate. It looks like maybe the game tracks a separate score for each form, so perhaps they level up at different rates? I'm not sure. The manual is a bit confusing in this area. 

   

The purpose of the "float seeds" becomes clear (well, no it doesn't, but I figure it out) when I reach a swamp. Trying to cross the swamp causes you to sink and take health damage. Using the seeds on the swamp creates patches on which you can cross safely.

        

I'm curious about the specific mechanism at work here, but we'll let it go.

      

In the northeast corner, I find an area where fireballs go shooting left to right when you try to cross through. I run through, sucking up the damage. On the other side, I find some floating heads above patches of fire. Fortunately, there's a Wand of Fire nearby that lets me shoot the floating heads. When they all die, the fire disappears, letting me pass through and find a "statue head." On the way back, I can't get through the fireballs without dying even at full health. I start messing with my options, and it turns out that the "cat sight" ability lets me see the pressure plates that set off the fireballs.

      

On the other hand, it makes everything else look like a hellscape.

      

There are two teleporter pads out of this area. I take the one that appeared when the throne moved. I'm dumped immediately into water, where I'm poisoned and killed by something on the ceiling.

      

Cat's don't like water! I just got it.

      

I reload and try the other pad. I appear in an outdoor area with more interesting graphics than anything the game has shown so far. There are tall pillars and a misty quality to the air. Gnarled trees rise out of the fog--as do skeleton warriors and these little one-eyed things with spears. The automap shows that I'm on Level 4.

       

He's so cute!

      

There's a water area in the northeast part of the level, but it turns out that the human version of Kirt can swim just fine. In the center, I find an island with an obelisk in the center. The obelisk has statues in its recesses, and four of them are missing their heads. I restore the head I previously found, and a second that I find on the island. I go off hunting the last two.

      

I assume the puzzles eventually get harder.

       

In a wide open area, I see a key on the ground. The moment I pick it up, a ring of stakes pops up out of the ground, surrounding me, and those little one-eyed minions appear around the perimeter. Not very clever since they die in two hits from my claws. Soon after this area, I find the third head.

     

You want to make the spikes come up under the key, morons.

     

I found a shuriken at some point. I test it, realizing that it's a magic shuriken that automatically returns. I decide to morph back to my human form for a while, since the damned cat is getting all the experience and leveling. In addition to the shuriken, I also have plenty of wands--fire, ice, acid, and a "tri-wand." I'm already doing what I do in most RPGs--hoarding wands. 

    

Killing a skeleton with a shuriken.

       

I can't find the fourth head, so I assume it's in that water area I explored before. I return through the teleporter pad to the first area, go to the other pad, and get dumped back in the water. I try to kill the enemies on the ceiling with wands and the shuriken, but they don't seem to die. Eventually, I find a chain that drains the water, and they leave me alone.

   

I find a head hovering over a pedestal in one room. At first, I think it's the fourth stone head, but it's dead and withered, not stone. I soon find a "throne room" with a headless corpse sitting on a chair. I restore his head, and he rises and attacks. He dies in half a dozen blasts from my ice wand. His death opens the way into a treasure room, where I find the fourth stone head, a power potion, a magical sword (no more hand attacks for Kirt), and armor intended for Maorins. I didn't know you could find armor in this game. I can't figure out how to put it on. Is having it in the inventory enough?

     

This felt like a mistake, and it was a mistake.

     

Back in the main area, I forget where I am and wander into the fireball corridor again, taking damage. Coming to my senses, I find the teleportal pad that returns me to the misty area. I make my way back to the obelisk, put the heads where they belong, and a stairway opens into the darkness. 

            

Onward and upward.

          

The stairs bring me to a blue-walled area with minions everywhere. I force myself to use my wands, then kill them with my sword. A chest holds a power potion and a strength potion. A room has a lava floor, but there's some kind of orb floating above it, and by killing it, a bridge appears to cross the floor. I round a corner and see a tall guy with four arms and a helmet--the "four-armed guardian" that Grandfather warned me about. Fortunately, he gets hung up on a corner and doesn't bother to attack me. My shuriken does nothing to him, but the magic sword kills him in a few hits. I gain another level as he dies. A chest beyond him has a "dragon horn."

       

Thank the gods for bosses with lousy pathfinding.

      

Beyond that, I get my next form at another obelisk: Caun, the Healer. He's a little pointy-eared guy with tiny fists, but his special attack is to rapidly convert energy to health. 

        

"Caaaaaaauuuun!"

        

"Through the door to the north is the temple," Grandfather said. "There you will find the way to the castle." A teleporter inside a gaping maw awaits me.

       

That looks inviting.

       

At the end of this first session, I find Shadow Caster . . . okay. It's certainly a contrast to NetHack. I wouldn't mind more RPG elements, nor a more standard RPG inventory, nor--if I'm being frank--if the protagonist was just a regular human hero exploring the ruins of a castle or something. But I'm enjoying it more than I expected. It moves along at a good clip; this is one of those rare games that takes longer to write about than to play. Commenters have told me that it isn't very long, so I'll be happy to see where it goes.

   

Time so far: 2 hours