Shadow Caster: Won! (with Summary and Rating)

The endgame cinematic doesn't even remember the opening cinematic. I wasn't called "Shadow Caster" because I cast a shadow on your future; it was because I cast a shadow on the ability of others to read my future.

       

Shadow Caster

United States

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

Released 1993 for DOS, 1994 for PC-98

Date Started: 16 March 2024

Date Ended: 27 March 2024

Total Hours: 13

Difficulty: Moderate (3.0/5)

Final Rating: (to come later)

Ranking at time of posting: (to come later)

      

The adventure continued in what the cluebook calls the Flooded Caverns, a large map where areas of water alternated with areas of what I thought was lava, but I guess was acid. To get across the acid, I either had to jump with the Caun or fly with the Opsis, though in the latter case, I had to fly at the top of the screen to avoid "acid bursts" that kept popping out of the acid pools. Thanks go to MorpheusKitami for alerting me to the controls on the side of the main game window that raise you up and down. They were key to this area.   

    

Enemies on the level included spinning mines and red Ssairs, which I had encountered before, as well as two new ones: a "tar creature" that camouflages himself as a rock until you get close, and a "morpsphere," which looks like an asteroid, but it can shoot fire. I made things more difficult for myself by insisting that the new Kahpa get as much experience as possible, despite being horribly weak.

       

"Tar creatures." There weren't many of them.

    

On the level, I found weapons and armor that seemed intended for the Kahpa, including Water Armor and a Trident of Might. 

   

The book indicated that the old inhabitants of this world, who destroyed themselves in a panic when Veste started conquering other worlds, lived in both the shallows and the depths. I kept looking for a door or portal that would take me to what I assumed would be a water level. I finally realized the solution was to enter the water and use the controllers on the side of the screen to move down, beneath the surface. Only the Kahpa is able to survive more than a few seconds of this.

   

Dropping below the surface took me to a completely separate underwater map, the Sea King's Labyrinth. As underwater levels go, it wasn't so bad. At least I was playing a water-breathing character. I could move in three dimensions, and the water put natural restrictions on what types of items I could use. For instance, the shuriken naturally didn't work. I did find that the game was overly sensitive as to whether I was exactly on the right plane when I tried to attack enemies, though. I got killed a lot as I made micro-adjustments to my position so that my attacks with the trident (in particular) would actually hit. 

    

This is not a good illustration of what I'm talking about. I know I'm too far away here. I was just trying to get the shot.

     

Enemies included giant piranhas, skull mines, manta rays, and blue cousins to the flying red Ssairs. They almost all shot blue things at me. I didn't find that the Kahpa's special attacks helped much. I used a Potion of Strength with my trident to wipe most of them out, my Kahpa far exceeding the other characters in experience points in the process. I found an Amulet of Defense in a corner. I had to retreat back to the early level a few times for rest and healing.

    

The level culminated in a battle with the Sea King, which I won mostly with wands and other ranged weapons saved for that purpose. His chamber had a throne, a teleporter to the next area, and a square tablet on the floor. The tablet instructed me: "Go to the Ssairs' hall and cast the water tablet into the acid. They will allow you to touch the obelisk after you have done this."

     

The Sea King and one of his Blue Ssair minions.

    

The Ssairs' hall was on the other side of the teleporter. Four red ones were flying around the room when I entered, so I morphed quickly to the Opsis and took them out with my "Death Blast." It is absolutely worth the time I have to wait to recharge my energy after I use it. I use that time to write these entries.

        

One Ssair dissolves as another waits behind.

    

After I cleared out the enemies from what was essentially one large cavern, I threw the tablet in a river of acid and it turned to blue water. On the far side of the cavern, I found an obelisk that granted my fifth and penultimate form: a red SSair. The SSair is pretty cool. His claw attack is better than any regular weapon in the game, and he can also whip with his tail and shoot powerful fireballs. He also moves a lot faster than the other characters. The clue book has a long history of the Ssair people, a proud warrior race who could not be conquered martially, so Veste did it by poisoning their waters with drugs.

     

I liked the Ssair stained glass windows.

    

A teleporter brought me to yet another hidden area of the Temple of the Dark God (I think this was the fourth visit). I had to find my way to the central area, where a new teleporter took me to the Mud Mines, the home of a race called the Grost, a kind of stone golem with the power to create earthquakes and merge with the earth around them.

   

My Ssair sailed through their hallways, destroying giant spiders and earth elementals with claw and fireball attacks. I found the tip of an obelisk in the far northwest corner.  

      

Those are some sharp claws.

         

An area of lava with lava men (basically lava elementals), fire elementals, and fireballs constantly shooting from the walls was challenging. I stubbornly kept my Ssair active since he needed the experience most, but his fire-based attacks were useless and I probably should have switched to the Opsis, especially since there was a magic pool on the other side, and I could have restored my energy easily. 

    

The level was large but pretty quick. At the end, I came into a small chamber with a frozen ceiling, two pressure plates in alcoves, and two boulders on the ground. It was obvious that I was supposed to put the boulders on the pressure plates. This caused lava to flow into the room, melting enough of the ceiling to expose a chain, which I pulled, opening a secret door to the exit teleportal.

       

I don't think I've ever said this before, but this game probably could have used more pressure plates.

       

The same sorts of enemies were present in the next area, the Lava Tunnels. I continued to play mostly as the Ssair, although there were enough patches of dry earth to settle down and rest if I needed to restore health or energy.

   

I got trapped at a dead end early on the level. There was a stone frog's head on the wall with an open mouth. I couldn't figure out what to do with it. I had to consult the cluebook to see that the solution was to have my Caun cast his "Insect Swarm" spell on the mouth. This caused it to close and a secret door to open nearby.

     

Kermit got frozen in carbonite.

     

After a bunch of enemies, the level brought me to an hourglass, and then to a slot clearly intended for the hourglass. Inserting it caused an obelisk to stop rotating, allowing me to affix the tip. Moments later, I had the final form: a powerful Grost. His punch does twice the maximum damage of any other weapon in the game. He has "Earthquake" and "Paralysis" special attacks, and things that would massively damage other characters just bounce off him.

       

It's clobberin' time!

     

More important, he was able to bash through some weak walls and find the exit portal, which again brought me to an unmapped part of the Temple of the Dark God. The Grost bulldozed through some Rice Demons and made it to the teleportal to the next area.

    

I was enjoying the Grost, so it annoyed me that so many of the enemies in the Maze of Madness were way up at the ceiling, where I had to use wands or change into the Opsis or Ssair forms to get at them. These included two new enemies, Green Monitors and Pterodactyls, both capable of just blasting me to pieces. The Pterodactyls are practically invisible against the level's grotesque, undulating walls. I had to spend a lot of time resting and healing.

     

These mouths move and open and close. It's creepy.

      

The maze had a central room with three pillars. Each wanted me to place a different crystal on it. I found a bone crystal and a flesh crystal (yuck) without much problem--the latter required me to put a stone sword in the hands of a statue--but I couldn't find the third. It turned out that the game wanted me to go swimming in the literal rivers of blood and use the Kahpa to swim under some of the walls. Thankfully, the automap showed the adjacent areas, or I probably wouldn't have figured it out.

     

There were tough enemies called Blood Creatures on the floor of the river. I probably didn't need to clear them out, but I figured every experience point counts. I had trouble hitting them, too, though. That seems to be a theme in general for the last few levels. On early levels, I could swing my sword or wave my claws in the general direction of the enemy, and my attacks were sure to connect. Towards the end, the game got a lot more finicky. 

       

This looks like a turkey breast affixed to the ceiling.

      

I emerged from the river of blood in a small chamber with some kind of sack hanging from the ceiling. An attack caused it to puff out of existence, leaving a blood crystal behind. That crystal lowered the last pillar and caused a teleportal to appear on the floor. 

    

I knew from the cluebook that the next area was the final one. It was mercifully small--basically just a single room with a few wings. The final battle began as soon as I arrived. I wasn't ready for it the first time and got slaughtered. I wasted some time trying to win it with the human form--I thought that was important somehow--but I couldn't even defeat Veste's first form.

      

Preparing for the final confrontation.

     

Veste started off in the guise of a cleric. As each form died, he morphed into the body of another previous boss: Zarduz, Green Ssair, Wolf Lord, Sea King, Boar Lord, and finally his native form, a gray gargoyle. I gave the Grost the Amulet of Defense and had him take a swig of a Strength Potion before battle, and from there all I had to do was stand there and punch away. I defeated Veste without even losing half my health.

       

Veste in his final form.

      

In some ways, it was good that the final fight was so easy, because the game crashed repeatedly while transitioning to the final cinematic. After four or five tries, I made it. First, Veste offers a death speech:

        

You are stronger than I thought, Shadowcaster. If the gods could not foresee your power, I cannot be faulted for a similar blindness. And now, when I am gone, you will be truly alone. I hope the gods treat you more kindly than they did me . . . Good luck, kinsman . . .

      

But why am I not a gargoyle?

     

Then, an old man appears and congratulates me, saying that my name "shall be added to the Book of Heroes." The face morphs into Kahpa and some insectoid form as it continues, saying that the power of shapeshifting will be granted to all my descendants. He finished off by saying, "Return now to your village, where your grandfather awaits you." Honestly, I have no idea who this is. Plus, my "village" is Manhattan. I've never been to the shapeshifter village, so I can't "return" to it. I thought it was destroyed anyway.

      

Who are you again?

      

Nope. There are cheering, waving people standing before me as Grandfather ties a new cloak around my neck and says that the people have chosen me their leader. Honestly, this game's story is just a mess. 

      

Golly gee! A new cloak! That was worth risking my life.

      

It wasn't terrible as a game. It offered a relatively even experience from beginning to end and didn't overstay its welcome. I would have liked harder puzzles, a more coherent backstory, and a better inventory. The endgame was a missed opportunity for the character and Veste to engage in a real shapeshifting duel, each picking forms meant to counter the others.

      

In a GIMLET, I give it:

   

• 3 points for the game world. They kind of try, but a lot of the world-building is confusing and contradictory. It feels like it was created in post-production. And why did it all have to be indoors?

• 2 points for character creation and development. There's no creation. The only development is the occasional score-based level and the power that comes with it. They should have just offered a single experience statistic instead of having each form earn experience at a different rate. Because I didn't know which forms would be called into play at which times, I wasted time trying to spread out the experience.

• 0 points for NPC interaction. It doesn't have NPCs. It has cut scenes in which people occasionally talk to you.

• 4 points for encounters and foes. It gets most of that for its original bestiary. Learning their strengths and weaknesses is a key part of the game. I give another for some fairly easy puzzles.

• 4 points for magic and combat. The various forms give you an increasing series of tactics from the beginning to the end of the game, and I want to rate that higher, but a few of the characters' attacks are so obviously superior to the others that they break the system somewhat. 

• 3 points for equipment. There are only a few standard RPG swords and armor types. Most of the rest is devoted to wands and other usable items that I alternately used too soon or saved for no reason. I guess that's not the game's fault. I shouldn't have needed the cluebook to determine how much damage weapons do.

• 0 points for no economy.

• 2 points for a main quest.

• 3 points for graphics, sound, and interface. They're all generally okay, but they all also have slight annoyances that ought not be there by 1993. The graphics try too hard; the sound is too sparse; the controls are just a little uncomfortable. Movement with the left side of the keyboard should have been the first step, maybe also a "rest" mechanic that involves more than just standing there. The ability to look up and down, as in Underworld, would have been nice. Great automap, though.

• 4 points for gameplay. Linear and not very replayable, the game is nonetheless the right length for its content. Difficulty is extremely variable from level to level, but the average is good.

      

That gives us a final score of 25, a big step back from Ultima Underworld, which makes it all the more mystifying that Gary Whitta, writing for the December 1993 PC Gamer UK, wrote that, "Underworld fans will lap this up." The same magazine, in April 1994, named it the 49th best computer game of all time, "an admirable attempt to show that RPGs don't have to be boring, complex, and number-heavy." Just when I think I've heard the most absurd statements ever from a British gaming magazine, another comes along to top it. While we're at it, here's another from the December 1993 PC Format: "The best role-playing game to appear for a long, long while." It's hard to imagine that we have legions of players who refuse to accept Skyrim as an RPG, and yet in the 1990s, British magazines didn't even question whether the label applied to this relatively simplistic, short title.

     

In the January 1994 Computer Gaming World, Scorpia at least recognizes that the game isn't really an RPG ("Origin is advertising it quite accurately as an action game") and recognizes that beyond free-scrolling movement, the game has very little in common with Underworld. Bless her. She found the graphics "excellent," though--which I suppose they may have been for the era--and she seems to have found it a better action game than I did. It was even nominated for Action Game of the Year in 1994, but lost to Prince of Persia 2: The Shadow and the Flame.

   

MobyGames's review roundup shows most European magazines put it in the 70s and 80s. A year after the original release, as was the style at the time, Origin re-released the game on CD. Its principal addition is narrated cut scenes, including a new introductory cinematic in which Grandfather tells Kirt about his heritage on a bus bench, right in front of an ominous gargoyle statue.

     

Couldn't we have done this at home, next to a roaring fire?

     

The story otherwise proceeds about the same. Later cinematics play every time you transition to a new area, showing the situation and identifying the boss. Sometimes, new forms or puzzles also have cut scenes. Actor Keith Kelley, in perhaps his first commercial gig, does the narration.

       

Indeed they do.

     

Raven Software went on to a long career making Marvel games and working on parts of the Call of Duty franchise. MobyGames tags X-Men: Legends (2004), X-Men: Legends II - Rise of Apocalypse (2005), and Marvel Ultimate Alliance (2006) as RPGs, so we might see them again. 

    

In the future, I might not be as generous to games with such simple and nebulous character development, particularly if there are a lot of them. As a 13-hour mostly-action game, Shadow Caster contrasted well with the other games I was playing, which doesn't affect the score but makes the experience more interesting than my rating conveys.