Seeking adventures from the archives of the past, one story at a time. I love taking a look at the history of RPGs, the tales they spin, and in shining a light on these from time to time in my threads. Let's explore together!
Dungeonbuster
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Aiming to put Elder Scrolls on everything in much the same way Skyrim would haunt re-releases years later, Bethesda's mobile hopes with Shadowkey aimed to be as ambitious as the N-Gage only to fall short. Still, for some, it was an interesting (if flawed) look at Tamriel before the events of Arena!
Hit boxes seemed random regardless of how many points were crammed into Agility and magic felt like an afterthought especially when you had unlimited arrows/bolts to shoot with. Critics hammered its technical faults while also expressing disappointment elsewhere with its gameplay elements.
This bite-sized entry on Nokia's N-Gage winnowed Bethesda's open world down into a first-person adventure with just enough of an Elder Scrolls vibe backed by Jeremy Soul's music borrowed from Morrowind. Familiar classes like Battlemage and Spellsword with races such as Khajiit and Nords made it in!
But unlike its larger siblings with their catalog of skills to build a character around and improve via use and training, Shadowkey offered none. Instead, its simplified character system went back to improving only your core attributes with points awarded per level with gear handling the rest.
Shadowkey did its best with the N-Gage's hardware though it was rough going. The extremely short draw distance made it feel as if you were walking inside a personal reality bubble everywhere you went and monsters' strange behavior created the impression of slow moving, door hating automatons.
Kingdom Hearts IV teased. No release date yet, though.
"Available at launch on Nintendo Switch 2"
Silvern Castle: The Lost Crystal Orb (1988) | RPG | Apple II | Jeff Fink
Originally an unpublished RPG from Softdisk who had purchased it in 1988, Jeff Fink reclaimed the rights to his Wizardry-like that he had written using AppleSoft BASIC and released it as freeware, updating it over the years.
It kept alive the open world spirit of the series, the kind that could get you killed for wandering into places that laughed at your meager starting gear. Nothing forced you to follow the main story leaving it up to your own curiosity on just how lucky you feel. And you could save at any time, too!
The Elder Scrolls Travels: Shadowkey (2004) is an action RPG for the N-Gage by Vir2L Studios. In the last years of Jagar Tharn's masquerade as the Emperor of Tamriel, the shadows dancing at his fingertips scheme far from the throne, drawing you and your village into their plans! (a plotting thread)
The Elder Scrolls Travels: Shadowkey (2004) is an action RPG for the N-Gage by Vir2L Studios. In the last years of Jagar Tharn's masquerade as the Emperor of Tamriel, the shadows dancing at his fingertips scheme far from the throne, drawing you and your village into their plans! (a plotting thread)
