Life Changers: Shadow of the Beast

Welcome to Life Changers!

Shadow of the Beast is a side-scrolling platformer made for the Commodore Amiga by Reflections Interactive and published by Psygnosis in 1989. At the time, many said its most striking feature was its graphics, which were far ahead of its time. However, anyone who played the game would easily agree that it was the atmosphere that struck you the most.

It may sound a little sad but there have been many games which have had a significant impact on my life; as you'd expect, they've generally been during my childhood. Though I'd like to pay respect to all those titles right now, I think it would be more fitting, and more respectful, if I were to write about just one at a time. I sway from these words just a little as my recount in this edition of Life Changers is about the trilogy of Shadow of the Beast, three games encompassing an unforgettable experience.

I chose Shadow of the Beast for one reason: its engrossing atmosphere. Even now, nearly 20 years after it was released, it rivals the mood set in modern-day games. You played in a dark and twisted world full of evil and hideous creatures; it felt unlike anything else I had ever played and I relished every second of it.

There were many times where I would simply boot up the first game on my Mega Drive (II) to wander around soaking in the atmospheric first level. It didn't bother me that I could never complete the game - it was harder than playing Ninja Gaiden on the Xbox blindfolded - but every time I played Beast I got a little further, and with each step forward my love for the game’s world increased. I'd come home from school and get my homework done as quickly as possible for a chance to roam the wild levels of Beast. There are times even now when the game’s moody intro music will pop into my mind and I'll get a craving to put that cartridge in the Mega Drive again.

I remember going to a friend's house one Saturday as a kid; meanwhile my brother was playing Shadow of the Beast 2 on our Amiga. Beast 2 was an even darker vision of the game world and relied a little more on brains as its puzzles were quite prominent. Perhaps I'm a glutton for punishment but the game was seriously hard; sometimes you'd even be killed for solving a puzzle incorrectly. My brother being a better gamer than me (at the time) got quite far on this Saturday morning, about 90% of the way, and because of this I almost cancelled my pre-arranged visit to the aforementioned friend's house. Regrettably, I didn't.

At the end of a day of playing with Lego, I called home to get picked up. My brother answered the phone and told me he had clocked the game... I was a little upset that I missed it, but more so, I was exhilarated. All I wanted was to get back home and for my brother to show me how he finished the game and how the story ended. Turns out, all he had to do was use a conch shell near a dock and a ferry took him to the boss, a giant phantom. Sounds simple, yeah, but we were kids and had no idea what a conch shell was (Lord of the Flies a couple of years later enlightened me).

So my brother showed me all of this and at the boss's defeat an animated cut-scene rolled which I thought was the most amazing graphics in a game ever. I was literally rendered speechless with a loose jaw.

Then Shadow of the Beast 3 came out in the waning days of the Amiga; if the original Shadow of the Beast asked me out, its sequel would've taken me on a splendid date. Part 3, though, put a 25 carot diamond ring on my finger. Beast 3 was considerably easier than its formers but had a much stronger focus on puzzles which were of an incredibly clever design requiring a mature mind. I'd often find myself making the game my second home trying to figure out how to proceed. I was truly becoming a part of that world.

The Shadow of the Beast trilogy changed my life because of the way it opened a dark world of fantasy which was immersive and almost real to me. It has influenced a lot of my personal artwork over the years and made me take video games a lot more seriously. After Beast, the video game medium was no longer one resigned for cute mascots to jump on enemies - it was a canvas for any story and world a developer could imagine. If it weren't for Shadow of the Beast, I doubt very much I'd be the gamer I am today.

And for that I'm thankful.

If you too are a Beast fan you may find the following links useful...
-The entire Shadow of the Beast trilogy soundtrack is available as a legal download, go here to get it!
-Want to experience the trilogy again but don't have the games anymore? YouTube is your friend.