ADVENTURE REVIEWS The Shadows of Sergoth
Author: Raster Wizards Released: 2021
The Shadows of Sergoth is a dungeon crawler that was originally released in 2018 for the 8-bit power house that is the Amstrad CPC 6128. Fast forward to th the tail end of 20 2021 and the m much-teased A AMIGA version of the game has finally been released. Created by a dedicated team including Colin Vella on code, Ten Chu on graphics and Mike Richmond on music, or the ‘Raster Wizards’ as they like to call themselves, the game is set in the medieval kingdom of Chrisandia which is slowly but surely healing its wounds caused by many years of fighting a dark enemy. As the main protagonist you play an unknown adventurer who has arrived in the lands with no knowledge of this dark period. However, after a good few drinking sessions in the local tavern you start to hear rumours of children and farm cattle going missing, never to be seen again. Keen to investigate these strange happenings you set about trying to put together a team of adventurers to aid you in your quest, but sadly this comes to no avail. Out of desperation you seek out the mythical priests of Kukulkan who bestow upon your body powerful runes that gift you the strength of the warrior, dexterity of the thief, endurance of the dwarf and the ability to conjure magic, all of which makes you one formi
dable foe and ready to face the darkness that lurks within the shadows of castle Sergoth.
Starting the game, you get to choose your race and class which vary from elves, humans, half-orcs, dwarfs and lizardmen, who all of course have their own unique character traits and abilities. As you progress, you’ll earn experience points which will allow you to level up your skills. The main gameplay screen features a decent sized gameplay window with health and magic bars, directional controls with adjacent handy compass, a small view of your map, ten inventory boxes, your current attributes, and an image of your body where you can equip clothing and weapons. At the bottom of the screen is a status bar which keeps you informed of such things as movements, combat and when objects are used. Thankfully, while the aforementioned may sound an awful lot to display in one place, the screen has been very well laid out and designed to ensure nothing feels cluttered.
Moving around the dungeon is smooth and easily achieved with the simple click of the left mouse button. The game also auto-maps your progress so no need for the old pencil and paper here, which is good seeing as there are twenty good sized levels to explore. As well as the usual host of fantasy weaponry at your disposal you will also very quickly acquire a Book of Spells that allows you to learn and utilise up to twenty-four different types of spells. Another interesting mechanic of the game is that the rules of the game are based on Microlite20, a very simplified version of the Advanced Dungeons & Dragons rules.
Graphically the game looks stunning and artist Ten Chu has done a fine job in capturing the look and feel of an epic dungeon labyrinth. There’s even some 3D movement affects which enhance — the overall gameplay experience if you have the relevant chip RAM of course. Musically the soundtrack by Mike Richmond is excellent and despite repeating, it never gets tired. It complements the game so well and once again shows how good the AMIGA is at producing outstanding atmospheric music.
The game can be downloaded as a digital ADF file or if you’re a collector like me, you can order a boxed collector’s copy via Double Sided Games’ website. The collector’s edition includes three 3.5” disks containing the game, a manual, stickers and feelies which comprise of a working compass and a nice D20 dice.
So far, I’ve found playing The Shadows of Sergoth a very memorable dungeon crawling experience. It’s a joy to play and for me captures the look, feel and essence of a quality old school adventure game but with the benefit of enhanced graphics and a simplified, yet engaging dungeon experience. I still have a way to go before completing the game but for those who have there’s the added bonus of a level editor which features scripting support. The collector’s edition is a thing of absolute e bea beauty and I highly recommend mend you go a and order your copy now!