Shadowgate trailer explains the backstory

This sight should be pretty familiar to those who played the original. Particularly if you… actually, no, let’s not spoil that one.

The re-imagining of retro adventure Shadowgate got a new trailer today, detailing how your quest began.

It turns out that the villainous Warlock Lord is actually a chap named Talimar the Black, and he’s after a staggering power buried deep within the “living castle” Shadowgate. As such, it’s up to you to head on in there and make sure he doesn’t get his hands on it.

The original Shadowgate was one of the most brutally unfair adventures ever made. It would kill you at every turn, often without warning, and often just because you picked a door or a path that would result in sudden and unexpected murder. I loved the hell out of it and spent more time trying to puzzle my way through its traps and secrets than I’d care to say.

This re-imagining has roughly the same setting, but features all new cutscenes, new puzzles, new locations, and some rejigged tricks and twists. It’ll also have multiple difficulty modes depending on just how sadistic an experience you’re after, ranging from “Master” (aimed at matching the original game’s brutality) to “Apprentice” (aimed at being a bit more forgiving, with easier puzzles). Said difficulty levels will apparently change the structure of the game a bit, too, although whether that just means “you won’t see this room because there is nothing relevant in it on this difficulty”, I don’t know.

Shadowgate is due out on 21 August. The backstory trailer can be seen below.