But having a conversation with a goblin because you made choices that allow you to low-key align with them in their war against trolls is incredible. Sure, it’s broken and dodgy no matter which version you play. But in those dimly lit corridors where goblins lurk and traps are a constant, there’s tremendous beauty in the design. It stands high above kicking sand at you, shouting, “I’M A MOTHERFUCKER!” It’s “What if the entire game was Sen’s Fortress?” It’s violent, it’s confusing, and it’s obtuse. The Immortal is a mean bastard of a game. Which is to say, we’re in a complicated BDSM relationship, and it’s great. But in the way that I hate when Ornstein and Smough put their boots on my neck when I don’t pay attention and still manage to be a roadblock after all these years. I can call it a classic because Nintendo just released the port on the Switch (which is the best way to play this if you’re not in possession of an actual IIGS), so clearly it’s a classic, even if everyone hates it but me. What’s unreasonably difficult and yet one of the most satisfying and nerve wracking dungeon-crawling experiences you can have on the Apple IIGS? Well, it’s IMVU founder Will Harvey’s 1990 classic for EA The Immortal.
And when you die, which you will, you’re treated to one of the most iconic death screens in videogame history (and each death bears with it a unique and gratifying description of how you died). Learn the solutions, go faster, waste less movement. Every run of Shadowgate is a speedrun because a limited torch system keeps the tempo. By the time you finish Shadowgate, you should be able to restart and finish the game in little over an hour.
Why is it so memorable and noteworthy then? Because of the brutal efficiency in which it will kill you and end the loop. Learn the patterns, be efficient, survive. In this light, Dark Souls isn’t terribly special. Even in RPGs like Persona, you learn the elemental weaknesses to enemies and cast the right spell to finish the fights efficiently and maintain enough resources to survive the dungeon. You learn the jumps in a Mario game until you don’t fuck them up and finish the level. If we’re really honest, most games require players to learn sequences and how to respond to them appropriately. Death is an equation, solve it, and avoid it.