Shadowgate: MacVenture Series
Shadowgate: MacVenture Series
Game
Game2014
Shadowgate
Developer Zojoi
Thrust into the role of "The Seed of Prophecy," players travel deep into the living castle, in hopes of defeating the evil that dwells within – the dreaded Warlock Lord. From the Steam store page
336 reactions from 4 sources (Steam reviews, Bluesky, Lemmy, Mastodon) · newest Nov 5, 2026 · last updated Nov 6, 2026 · How this works
Audience score
86
LovedLoved
158 positive · 26 negative
95% range 80–90%
| Source | + | − | = |
|---|---|---|---|
| Steam reviews | 158 | 26 | 0 |
| Bluesky * | 36 | 8 | 85 |
| Lemmy * | 5 | 0 | 9 |
| Mastodon * | 1 | 0 | 8 |
* shown, not counted in the score (label accuracy below our 85% bar or not yet audited).
Steam's own rating
Very Positive
504 of 572 reviews positive (all languages, per Valve)
What players are saying
86% recommend · 160 yes, 26 no
Counted from the reviewers’ own thumbs up/down on the 186 English Steam reviews we collected, not by the AI. Valve’s all-language rating: Very Positive (617 of 709 positive).
Players praise the faithful remake of a classic adventure game. [1][2][3] Some find the puzzles simple or the backtracking tedious. [1][4] A few reviewers report bugs like save issues that waste time. [5]
Liked
Representative posts
- [4]
I really enjoyed this game at first, then the absurd amount of backtracking ruined it for me. What makes it worse is that every time you enter a room, you have to click through the same pointless text boxes over and over, and you do a TON of backtracking midway through the game. It's even worse if you don't actually know where you're supposed to go, and you wander around for hours without realizing you have to …
- [1]
Solid remake of a classic adventure game. The puzzles were kind of simple to be honest but the story was still enjoyable and that's really what matters most in an adventure game in my opinion. Worth a play through or two to me!
- [11]
In my ongoing and likely futile effort to write a Steam review for every game in my library (#453 out of 612)... it's time for Shadowgate. Shadowgate is, I believe, a remake of a classic adventure game—one that I've already reviewed, I think, in the "MacVenture" series. The original, uh, hadn't aged very well. This remake is gorgeous and slavishly faithful to the idea of the original game if not the original game …
- [3]
A faithful and quite enjoyable installment in the Shadowgate series, for fans of the original Macventure and/or NES versions of the original game. A total of 4 different difficulty modes including "normal" (should probably be called something else such as novice/beginner) which caters to people unfamiliar with the series and/or point and click adventure games in general. I grew up playing the NES game as a kid and …
- [2]
Updated classic! I loved playing this on the NES back in the day. Serious retro vibes even though everything has been updated.
Summarised from 34 of the 306 public posts collected about this game; every point cites the posts behind it ([n] opens the post) and the split is counted from the posts’ own ratings. Updated Oct 13, 2026. How summaries are made
RottenBot@rottenbot · automated account
Players who liked Shadowgate talk about beautiful graphics and atmospheric music; those who didn't talk about cumbersome movement and forced move limit. Which matters more to you?
Reactions
60 of 336 · most liked firstWith this episode I have officially ranked 500 NES games. Plenty more to go, but this week includes Bartman Meets Radioactive Man, Shadowgate, and more. youtu.be/UrPCeUCTAIM
neutral · AI labelView post →NES Works this week covers the excellent NES version of Shadowgate, a game that feels very much ripped from today's headlines, in that there's essentially no penalty for failure so you can keep doing stupid things over and over again until you win: youtu.be/56Dzv004W9s
neutral · AI labelView post →First retro game beaten in 2026: Shadowgate for NES!! We actually started this months ago. Got stuck a couple times but after returning to it with some days to think, we slowly figured it out. Using the platinum horn after placing the crest key took the longest to figure out. Like, weeks. #nes
positive · AI labelView post →Somebody fund me to make an Etrian Odyssey game except it's post-apocalyptic and all the classes are eldritch horrors and mutations. Also, instead of 3D movement, each square is displayed as a small room like Sword of Hope or Shadowgate.
neutral · AI labelView post →Oooh, the Cursed remake came out the other day! Must've missed it. The trilogy are very Shareware-era point & click adventures riffing off the likes of Shadowgate, etc. All three free. The first one was very 'my first game' but the developer has been redoing it all from scratch. Cursed 3 is *WILD*
neutral · AI labelView post →Coming soon is InfestedX, a remake of our 2016 Shadowgate-style game, Infested. This time featuring updated 16-bit graphics, tons of animations, and multiple endings... ...and like the original, this one will be FREE on #itchio #GameDev #IndieDev #IndieGame #PointAndClick #PointAndClickAdventure
neutral · AI labelView post →Shadowgate & The Immortal - NES Games That Want You Dead. Stumbled upon this youtuber and I really like her style. As much as I enjoy digging through massive lists to find niche retro games to play, it can be nice to just kick back and watch a video review now and then.
neutral · AI labelView post →Flat2VR Studios, which has 4 PSVR2 titles set to release this month, and a fifth game in 2026. These titles are VRacer Hoverbike, Audio Trip, Roboquest VR, Shadowgate VR: The Mines of Mythrok and Rager (2026).
neutral · AI labelView post →Might some time down the line be getting back into streaming as an occasional thing & have been rotating in my mind a recurring Fieldies day… playing old Sword of Moonlight engine games… modern KF-influenced games….. the one weird Shadowgate game for the N64…. And so forth
neutral · AI labelView post →INFESTED DX is now available for purchase on Steam! $9.99 USD, with a launch discount of 20% off! Thank you everyone for your support and I look forward to hearing your thoughts about the game. #IndieGame #PointAndClick #PointAndClickAdventure #Shadowgate store.steampowered.com/app/4964640/...
neutral · AI labelView post →Shadowgate 64 is a 6/10 game for the real 6/10 sickos
neutral · AI labelView post →For fun, I put together a proof of concept of what a Sherlock Holmes game would look like in the NESventure style of Shadowgate, Beyond Shadowgate, Deja Vu, and The Uninvited #SherlockHolmes #Shadowgate #PointAndClickAdventure #ConceptArt #PixelArt #pixel
neutral · AI labelView post →Last weekend I played (and finished) Beyond Shadowgate by @zojoi.bsky.social @thechrism.bsky.social and GrahfMetal. An epic blast from the past with modern game design considerations. Check it out! store.steampowered.com/app/2332240/... 🏰✨💀⚔️🧙♂️
positive · AI labelView post →It has been 38 years since Shadowgate was released for the NES. This iconic point-and-click adventure game may not have aged particularly well, but it did spawn half a dozen follow-ups of varying qualities that could be worth checking out. Review: www.rpgfan.com/revie...
neutral · AI labelView post →🄵🅁🄾🄼 🅃🄷🄴 🄵🄰🄻🄲🄾🄽 🅅🄰🅄🄻🅃🅂 #365xFalconGames25 A game a day keeps the doctor away! Game 1️⃣9️⃣4️⃣ This is Shadowgate! I was always attracted by that beautiful cover. Turns out it’s a good game too. What are you sharing today? #gaming #GamersUnite
positive · AI labelView post →A decade ago I reverse engineered the Macventure game engine, allowing you to play Shadowgate and Deja Vu etc on modern oses. The current copyright holder then paid me to iron out the rough edges and create the official ports currently on steam.
neutral · AI labelView post →Solid remake of a classic adventure game. The puzzles were kind of simple to be honest but the story was still enjoyable and that's really what matters most in an adventure game in my opinion. Worth a play through or two to me!
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Day 100: Beyond Shadowgate (PC) Catch up post for February 13, 2025 Happy 100th Game Over!!
neutral · AI labelView post →I've seen some people question why Shadowgate is in BBG this year, and I fully expected that. Turns out the game is considered kusoge in Japan due to the translation, and the text is unskippable in that version; we wanted to include it specifically for our Japanese audience!
neutral · AI labelView post →Remake of an early Macintosh first-person point-and-click adventure from 1987. Nice graphics that had a painting-like quality to them. Lots of screens to explore. Atmospheric with good music. Puzzles were pretty good with lots of possibilities. And if you play in classic mode at journeyman or master, there will be more and harder ones. Lots of red herring items at difficulties other than the default normal. You also encounter creatures but each one has to be dealt in a simple different way,…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →The console awards get a little unusual. This might be the only time an award was given out specifically for Best Martial Arts Videogame. There was also a niche award for best console port of a computer game. Shadowgate for NES won. Tough to argue with that!
neutral · AI labelView post →Never beat a Shadowgate game before, but I conquered the OG Macintosh version on stream tonight, hooray! Definitely need to tackle the NES version next, it's been taunting me since childhood
positive · AI labelView post →Mixed. The art is great, the game is large with much to explore and interact, and the narrative text never seems to take things too seriously despite the setting; unfortunately, the movement is cumbersome and the enforced move-limit restricts the exploration and interaction. Several game modes offer a nice twist on difficulty levels from completely removing the move limitation to adding additional puzzles and obstacles. If you have nostalgia for the original (or other classic…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →#RandomGameSaturday Haven't done this for a while, but have some Shadowgate Classic on Game Boy Color! To date, the only way I have experienced Shadowgate.
neutral · AI labelView post →It's not an exaggeration to say that Arisa has been a fundamental part of me becoming a game developer. All the support with getting games on Catalog and the amazing experience with Shadowgate PD in @play.date Season 2! Thanks Arisa! We'll miss you more 💛
neutral · AI labelView post →Our #PointAndClickAdventure #Shadowgate -style #IndieGame, Spectacle, released in 2020, is FREE on #itchio (link below) Check it out, and let me know what you think! I even wrote a step-by-step guide for the game (Bottom link) grahfmetal.itch.io/spectacle grahfmetal.itch.io/spectacle/de...
neutral · AI labelView post →Just spent over 6 hours getting to the end of this game only to find out the game had never autosaved once, and would not let me save the game manually. So when I died I had to restart the game entirely from the beginning. Why in the world is a bug like that, that literally wastes hours of your time allowed to still be in a game 6 years after launch?
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →The Mines of Mythrok section of #BeyondShadowgate was based on the #Shadowgate VR game of the same name. I don't do VR, so in order to draw rooms for that section, I watched a playthrough uploaded by a team member. I would periodically take screenshots, then trace over them in my 8-bit style.
neutral · AI labelView post →5 year old Sprock picking Shadowgate as the NES game he rented for the weekend; Yes! I did cry when I saw what it was
negative · AI labelView post →Here's my unboxing and review of Beyond Shadowgate for the PC! (Note that this is not the same as the 1993 Turbo Grafx CD game of the same name.) It's a sequel to the NES version, and looks and plays just like it! Check it out here: www.youtube.com/watch?v=HsG0...
neutral · AI labelView post →And as pointed out by others, Steam also has the NES version of Shadowgate! The only versions it doesn't have are the Turbografx version of Beyond Shadowgate (which is an entirely different game to the current Beyond Shadowgate), or Shadowgate 64, which is *also* a sequel to the original. Weird.
neutral · AI labelView post →In 1990 Scholastic published these Nintendo game themed story books WORLDS OF POWER Sprinkled with game hints and a tear out trading card inside. I have the Castlevania II: Simon's Quest wish I had the rest especially Shadowgate book
neutral · AI labelView post →Shadowgate 64 is a fascinating game in how it so elegantly combines the qualities of being strangely compelling and sucking ass
neutral · AI labelView post →I am live now finishing up Carl's new kaizo SMW hack, then doing some SPEEDRUNS of it. It's pretty fun, and I think I wanna try to learn it! Later, we start a new N64 game, Shadowgate 64. I am terrified twitch.tv/thabeast721
neutral · AI labelView post →I bought the MacVentures version of this game on Steam for a quarter that turned out to so buggy as to be unplayable but I'll be damned if I don't play SOME version of Shadowgate today
negative · AI labelView post →It’s finally hereeee it’s Shadowgate PD from @pixelghost.bsky.social which means it time to die way more than anyone has ever died in a Pixel Ghost game. play.date/games/shadow...
neutral · AI labelView post →Side Quests is back and this episode's host is the perpetual podcasting sidekick and imprisoned Fenling, @poppykeaton.bsky.social! The game he is talking about today is Beyond Shadowgate (2024) by Zojoi. funandgames.libsyn.com/side-quests-...
neutral · AI labelView post →One of the things I didn't even imagine I would ever get in my life: Beyond Shadowgate!! I played the original Shadowgate as a teen and I absolutely loved it, even tho I sucked at it. I listened to the soundtrack for so many years, I never imagined one day we would get a sequel!!
positive · AI labelView post →The memories and emotions this game brings back is almost overwhelming. My dad's best friend, whom I referred to as "Uncle Dan", introduced me to this game. Uncle Dan was a nerd before nerds were a thing. He helped make me maps in Zelda 2, he gave me his copy of Shadowgate after hyping me up about it for weeks, and moreover he was a great friend. Unfortunately, he suddenly passed away when I was about 13. I still remember the day he gifted me Shadowgate (I still own the cartridge)... and he…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →SEVENFOLD's source is open. A mini Shadowgate-like Game Boy castle crawler built in GBDK C, with a 44-room castle, virtue sacrifices, and three endings. Take a look under the hood: github.com/retroromrunn... #gamedev #indiedev #gameboy
neutral · AI labelView post →One of the more fun things to draw in #BeyondShadowgate was the world map. I loved the idea of collecting the pieces of the map as you progressed through the game, hiding puzzle hints on the pieces, and using it as the fast travel system #Shadowgate #PointAndClickAdventure #IndieGame #Pixelart
neutral · AI labelView post →Devlog link: Shadowgate PD is a Playdate port of the classic Mac game, currently in development using our web-based game maker, Pulp. Check it out! 🕴️ pixel-ghost.itch.io/shadowgatepd
neutral · AI labelView post →On the one hand, yes, it's silly that the one piece of swag I've allowed myself at two consecutive PRGEs has been a Shadowgate Game Over Skeleton. On the other, the Shadowgate Game Over Skeleton is the most kickass memento mori pixel art ever, so...
positive · AI labelView post →If you want to get some insight into my fucked up brain, the first N64 game that I'm likely to actually play all the way through from this current run through the library is Shadowgate 64.
neutral · AI labelView post →*Zak McKracken and the Alien Mindbenders*, LucasArts, 1988. It's a computer game though. It was never on the NES. Deus Ex (2000) was popular for mashing together tabloid stories to make a story, but Zak did it first. And it was way cornier. You play a tabloid reporter who is sent to Seattle to investigate a two-headed squirrel when he learns of an alien invasion (whose leader is an Elvis impersonator). The game is awesome and IIRC you almost can't lose at it, at least not *now*. The game came…
neutral · AI labelView post →Shadowgate is a good game still, even a friend who was blind on the game only needed a few hints for some of the more esoteric puzzles. The sets pretty good has a lot of the fun deaths in there so you can explore the space. 3 torch run isn't that hard once you know the critical path.
positive · AI labelView post →Shadowgate either means something to you or it means absolutely nothing at all. Though the original game was a MacVenture game - a point and click adventure series that had an odd window-based interface on the Mac's desktop - most people at the time didn't have a computer at home. Computers at home, whether PC or Mac, were pretty rare and the Internet wasn't a thing. The home console market crashed hard as well and it was Nintendo that single-handedly revived it with its NES and…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →I really enjoyed this game at first, then the absurd amount of backtracking ruined it for me. What makes it worse is that every time you enter a room, you have to click through the same pointless text boxes over and over, and you do a TON of backtracking midway through the game. It's even worse if you don't actually know where you're supposed to go, and you wander around for hours without realizing you have to backtrack through 80 empty rooms just to flick a switch, then go ALL THE WAY BACK…
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →I talked about it before, but as I kid my first console was a NES that I got from my cousins, and one game I was terrified of was Shadowgate. Looking back it wasn't that scary (really hard tho), but between me not grasping English that well, and that death screen, I couldn't look at the screen.
positive · AI labelView post →Tonight I’m joining Defeating Games for Charity to raise funds for the Video Game History Foundation! I’ll be sharing playthroughs of the original versions of Shadowgate (Mac, 1987) and King’s Quest (IBM PCjr, 1984) as well as talking a bit about their history. www.twitch.tv/robotspacer #Twitch
neutral · AI labelView post →While I can understand nostalgia (despite not having played the original myself) and appreciate some "old school" approaches, I cannot in good faith "recommend" an exploration/adventure game that stacks two different time limits on top of each other and finishes what's left of your experience off by a number of really bad puzzles. To be clear: I'm not saying all its puzzles are bad - most definitely aren't, and the game certainly has its charms if you are into this kind of gameplay. But there…
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →⚔️ Shadowgate Classic ⚔️ Did you know the iconic point-and-click adventure game, Shadowgate, was ported to the Game Boy Color with enhanced sprites and animations? Not a bad way to play the game!
neutral · AI labelView post →+20 SOCIAL CREDIT ( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°) ⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⠟⠋⠄⠄⠄⠄⠄⠄⠄⢁⠈⢻⢿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿ ⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⠃⠄⠄⠄⠄⠄⠄⠄⠄⠄⠄⠄⠈⡀⠭⢿⣿⣿⣿⣿ ⣿⣿⣿⣿⡟⠄⢀⣾⣿⣿⣿⣷⣶⣿⣷⣶⣶⡆⠄⠄⠄⣿⣿⣿⣿ ⣿⣿⣿⣿⡇⢀⣼⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣧⠄⠄⢸⣿⣿⣿⣿ ⣿⣿⣿⣿⣇⣼⣿⣿⠿⠶⠙⣿⡟⠡⣴⣿⣽⣿⣧⠄⢸⣿⣿⣿⣿ ⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣾⣿⣿⣟⣭⣾⣿⣷⣶⣶⣴⣶⣿⣿⢄⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿ ⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⡟⣩⣿⣿⣿⡏⢻⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿ ⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣹⡋⠘⠷⣦⣀⣠⡶⠁⠈⠁⠄⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿ ⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣍⠃⣴⣶⡔⠒⠄⣠⢀⠄⠄⠄⡨⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿ ⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣦⡘⠿⣷⣿⠿⠟⠃⠄⠄⣠⡇⠈⠻⣿⣿⣿⣿ ⣿⣿⣿⣿⡿⠟⠋⢁⣷⣠⠄⠄⠄⠄⣀⣠⣾⡟⠄⠄⠄⠄⠉⠙⠻ ⡿⠟⠋⠁⠄⠄⠄⢸⣿⣿⡯⢓⣴⣾⣿⣿⡟⠄⠄⠄⠄⠄⠄⠄⠄ ⠄⠄⠄⠄⠄⠄⠄⣿⡟⣷⠄⠹⣿⣿⣿⡿⠁⠄⠄⠄⠄⠄⠄⠄⠄ +1 WAIFU ⣿⣿⣿⣿⠛⠛⠉⠄⠁⠄⠄⠉⠛⢿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿ ⣿⣿⡟⠁⠄⠄⠄⠄⠄⠄⠄⠄⠄⠄⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿ ⣿⣿⡇⠄⠄⠄⠐⠄⠄⠄⠄⠄⠄⠄⠠⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿ ⣿⣿⡇⠄⢀⡀⠠⠃⡐⡀⠠⣶⠄⠄⢀⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿ ⣿⣿⣶⠄⠰⣤⣕⣿⣾⡇⠄⢛⠃⠄⢈⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿⣿…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Not terrible on its own, but not a great homage to a classic. The original Shadowgate had you exploring a dark, mysterious castle, and solving puzzles. You'd snap up every item that you saw, and tried to figure out how they were to be used, sometimes finding that they were not to be used at all. This was all narrated but a writer with wicked, dry sense of humor, with lines that seem innocuous, but are laden with snark. Perhaps one of the greatest joys - certainly the greatest unintentional…
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →It's been a Heck of a news cycle, so I don't know about you, but I can use a distraction. Let's wander around in an old video game, shall we? I'm live now with Shadowgate 64: www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ox1N...
neutral · AI labelView post →Spooky Game 13: Shadowgate (1989 | ICOM/Kemco | NES) Replay. A lurid penny dreadful in video game form, and easily the goriest game on the NES if text counts. There are a million ways to gruesomely die, and most of the fun is finding them.
positive · AI labelView post →Halloween post #20: Is it neat or freaky to have a mirror smashable into space in both Shadowgate (NES) and Beyond Shadowgate (PC)? I always thought this was a cool thing to keep between both games. The purple planet is a reference to "Infested", another game by GrahfMetal.
positive · AI labelView post →I do not think Shadowgate 64 is a good game, and I do not recommend it. But it *is* a really unique and weird sort of disaster that I'm enjoying the experience of playing.
negative · AI labelView post →Shadowgate Released in 1987 for the Macintosh and then ported to NES in 1989. was the first game my family and I sat down and played together. Gave me my love of puzzle games. Also the music is amazing. #shadowgate #retrogaming #retrogames #NES
positive · AI labelView post →reminder that the TurboGrafx “skateboarding bear who loves The Beach Boys” game, Yo Bro, was made by the same studio that did Shadowgate, Deja Vu, and the Sherlock Holmes Consulting Detective series.
neutral · AI labelView post →
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