Thursday, March 28, 2024

Shadow Caster: Air, Land, and Water

 
A globe shows this world to be quite a bit different from Earth.
       
As I closed the first entry, I had just gained the ability to transform into a Caun. Caun are the physical size of toddlers, but they have a number of special abilities, including faster regular healing, a healing spell, sneaking, the ability to create light, the ability to create a shield, a kind of "insect swarm" spell, and the ability to grab things at a distance. They are the rogues to the Maorin's fighter.
   
Although he isn't a great warrior, I spent much of the early part of this session as a Caun, just so I could level him up. The human gains a small percentage of experience from the other forms' kills, but the forms do not grant experience to each other. Since the Caun doesn't last very long in combat, I had him kill enemies with the shuriken.
        
The Caun can barely see above the shuriken to hit the skeleton.
        
I'm glad I took MorpheusKitami's advice and let myself look at the cluebook. First of all, it's the only way to assign names to the areas and the monsters, and it's the only way to see how much relative damage your weapons do. That's one Dungeon Master tradition that I wish other games had not adopted. Unfortunately, it also means that I know exactly how many areas the game offers. I had finished the Garden Ruins, the Flooded Palace, the Misty Ruins, and the Dark Temple during the first session. There were 10 more--which isn't a lot, even accounting for the probability that they'll get larger and more complex as the game goes on.
   
This session opened in the Temple of the Dark God, where Veste had sacrificed two of his top lieutenants to gain the power needed to defeat the People. It was a small map, consisting of one long corridor with chambers on each end (entrance and exit) and four apartments, two on each side. Each of the apartments had a "Disk of Woe" high on the wall that I had to destroy to access the final chamber. The space in between was the home of roaming skeletons, blue phantoms, and rice snakes. The skeletons and rice snakes had no ranged attack and were thus easy to kill with the shuriken. The blue phantoms had a blast attack, but it got caught up on walls and corners easily, as did the enemies themselves.
       
About to die to "rice snakes."
       
Destroying the four disks opened the last chamber, where another six-armed Zardaz Guardian attacked. He had a powerful ranged attack, and it was easiest to take him out by switching to the Maorin. Thanks to the manual, I know that the Maorin does 2-8 damage with his claw attack.but 8-14 with the magic sword, so I equipped him with the weapon, and he took care of the guardian while losing about half of his health. I switched back to the Caun to heal up (if one form heals, all heal, but some heal faster) before moving on.
    
The teleporter from the temple brought me to Castle Dorneon, "the oldest structure in the worlds known to shapeshifters," although it doesn't specify that shapeshifters lived there. Honestly, the world-building in this game is so bad that they might as well have not even tried. Veste conquered it with werewolves--whether these werewolves were forms offered the disgruntled members of the People or an external force is unclear.
     
Some interesting artwork in the castle.
      
The area starts in the dungeon, with a werewolf right in front of the arriving player. I lost a ton of health killing it. The arrival area turned out to be one of many dungeon cells in a long corridor. A chain at the end of the corridor unlocked the cells. There was a guy in one of the cells, but I couldn't get him to talk or otherwise offer anything.
      
Just say one thing and this game's GIMLET goes up 2 points.
       
The rest of the level wound through a torture room and a large room with skeletons on the floor. There were barrels that I had to switch to Caun form to jump over. The same barrels trapped the werewolves, so I could kill them (although it took a long time) with the shuriken.
       
Making use of the Caun's special talent.
       
The torture room had a swampy area with a chain hanging from the ceiling. Pulling it (for some reason) caused a piece of armor to pop out of the swamp. I started to swim for it, taking damage, before I remembered the Caun's "far grab" action. The armor was called Caun armor, so I naturally gave it to him. I hope it's enough to just put it in the inventory. There doesn't seem to be any way to actively wear it. I could be missing something. The controls can be confusing. It's not entirely clear when you're supposed to right-click and when you're supposed to left-click. Every time I want to use something like a potion, I have to bumble around until I get it right. Sometimes you have to turn off the attack actions to interact with something in the environment and sometimes you don't. I should also note that the numberpad allows you strafing options, but that doesn't work well with the right hand on the mouse (which you really need--too much in the game requires precise aiming), so it forces you into an awkward hand configuration unless you're lucky enough to have an external numberpad. That still doesn't excuse this Alienware gaming laptop from not having one, Dell.
 
I also found a Power Potion, a Frost Wand, and a Silver Sword in the dungeon. Without the cluebook, I would have twisted myself into knots wondering if the Silver Sword was better than the Magic Sword or vice versa, but thanks to the cluebook I know that the Magic Sword is better, except against werewolves.
      
It's cat vs. dog!
       
The exit from the dungeon led upward, but there was a quick foray down to a wine cellar--casks lined the walls--with more clerics and a chest. The chest had a journal in it. The final entry read: "The Opsis fled the castle when the werewolves came. I have locked myself in the wine cellar, but I fear I'm losing my sanity. The howling, howling . . ." This wouldn't make much sense without the cluebook's backstory.
  
The way onward was up a flight of stairs to the castle keep, which apparently once boasted a vast library of tomes from other worlds, replaced by books doing nothing but glorifying Veste and Morloch. Other than werewolves, the level had flying blue eyes called blue monitors and robed figures called clerics. The throne room was large and airy, with columns, tapestries, frescoes, and shields. The graphics are about as good as they could be for the era, which is not quite good enough to really immerse you. A couple more years are going to make a big difference. As it is, I spent a lot of time wondering what some complicated blobs are supposed to be depicting.
      
The castle hall is almost there, not quite.
      
The library, accessed from a teleportation pad in the throne room, was full of more blue phantoms and clerics. I had to retreat to the throne room a few times to rest and heal. When I had cleared them out, I found a single book that told of pools of magic water that refresh power. "One such pool is said to be located in the north side of this castle!" I had found the pool but didn't realize what it was. When you stand in it, it slowly refreshes your magic power. It apparently only has a finite amount of power, though, as it dried up while I was standing in it. So it's basically a potion you can't take with you.
      
Nice try, Tyranthraxus.
      
From the keep, the only exit went down again. I found myself in another section of the Dark Temple that I had conquered earlier. I faced about a dozen werewolves and a werewolf lord, who dropped a Staff of Power and an obelisk tip. A nearby room had a Chalice of Power, a Crystal of Light, and a Caun Sword. The cluebook clarifies that the Caun Sword is "Caun-made, not specifically for the Caun." It does less damage than the other two swords despite looking cooler.
 
When I put the obelisk tip on the nearby obelisk, I got the form of the Opsis, "a magical race with many powers." The obelisk bade me to then "restore the Tree of Life in the Mines."
      
Let's hope it doesn't require sunshine.
     
Aside from being a disgusting one-eyed beholder thing with two tentacles, the Opsis is pretty cool. His tentacles do a paltry 0-1 damage and he moves quite slow, but he has five awesome spells: "Fireball," "Cold Blast" (which was needed almost immediately to put out some fire squares), "Slow Time," "Mortal Terror," and "Death Blast." The last one straight-up kills anything you point it at, although it takes about a third of the mana bar. I used it to kill the next few enemies I faced, including another Zardoz Guardian.
        
The new guy makes his first kill.
     
This time, the only exit led to what the book calls the Slave Mines, where Veste put Caun slaves to work mining crystals.They were apparently prized for their ability to see in the dark and heal rapidly from wounds, including those caused by the mining explosives. A Caun resistance fighter named Geirob thought he could buy his people's freedom by smuggling in a seed of the Tree of Life and planting it, but he was captured before he could see his plan to fruition. Veste, the book reports, "ordered the seed planted and tended, but starved of water and nourishment so that it would bear no fruit, as a symbol of the absolute stranglehold he had on the Caun."
 
I ignored the little Caun as I explored picking up blue and red bombs. Enemies were large, tusked boars led by a Boar Lord. None of them could fit through the narrower corridors, so it was easy to kill them at range, though it took forever. There were also hostile mushrooms in one section of the mines.
    
The boar guards can't fit down the corridor.
      
At the end of the level, I found something that looked like a stick in the ground. I just touched it, and the game said: "With the tree restored, the slaves will be free from Veste's tyranny. You're doing well, Kirt, very well. Go to the Mines below these and restore the obelisk." I'm not really sure how the tree keeps the Caun free, but I guess I'm happy to help. The tree drops red and blue fruit, which act like health and mana potions. I was starting to run out of inventory space as I went through the portal to the next area. 
   
I arrived in a very dark place. While I was trying to figure out how to get the Light Crystal to work, spiders came crawling along the walls and floors and killed me despite my swinging away at them. On a reload, I started tossing bombs at them, and I was satisfied at how quickly they vaporized. The Opsis's "Cold Blast" also did a good job. There were much larger spiders later on in the level.
        
Greeted by ceiling and floor spiders.
      
The cluebook said I was in the Spider Den, with enemies named Shrooms, Giant Spiders, Floor Spiders, Ceiling Spiders, and Skull Mines. It had been the base of operations for Geirob, but Veste defeated him by turning his only water source to poison and multiplying the spiders until one caught Geirob in his web and consumed him.
   
I couldn't find any way to productively interact with webs covering passageways and sacs hanging from the ceilings. One of the sacs looked like it had someone in it.
       
Geirob?
      
I flew the Opsis over an area of poison and pulled a chain to get access to some parts of the level. Caverns were full of Shrooms, difficult because they had a ranged attack. I found a power-restoration pool across another lake of poison. My inventory filled up with items I didn't understand: Cane of Force, Shock Horn, Tri-Wand, green and blue crystals, and so forth. I even found a second shuriken. 
       
A good place for the Opsis.
      
At the conclusion of the level, I restored another obelisk tip to an obelisk and got my fourth form: a Kahpa, or frogman. "With this form you rule the waters," the obelisk said. "Now return to the Temple; the Ssair need your help."
      
Maybe I'll find a princess.
      
The Kapha has a pathetic "claw" attack, but he has "Shock" and "Sonic" attacks, the second of which is particularly powerful underwater. He has no other special abilities. I expect I'll need him primarily for his water-breathing ability.  
   
The Kapha contemplates taking on some enemies.
      
I didn't know who the Ssair were, but teleporter took me to yet another unexplored part of the Dark Temple. It was short--a couple of Rice Snakes and Green Ssairs who apparently did not need my help because they attacked me. A hidden door brought me back to the main part of the temple that I'd already cleared, where a new teleporter took me onward to the Flooded Caverns. I enjoy water levels as much as I always have, which is not much at all, so I think I'll wrap up there.
   
Some miscellaneous notes:
   
  • I kept the music, credited to John Miles, on for a while. It's not bad. The exploration melody is sparse, with drum beats, staccato plinks, and drones that suggest half-melody, half-background sound effects. When you're in combat, everything but the drum beats and the drones fade away, but an absurdly bombastic victory tune accompanies every kill. I left it on for a little while. 
  • I didn't notice until late in the session that the player can set a difficulty level from a list of five options
        
Modern games would try to take some of the sting away from the lowest ones by calling them "story mode" or "casual," or something, but this one pulls no punches.
         
  • The perspectives and sizes of objects shift when you change forms. The Caun's perspective is closer to the floor, and he sees everything as larger, for instance.
  • The game is very linear. Once you teleport to a new area, you generally cannot go back to a previous one.
     
I end the second session feeling much like I did after the first one. The game isn't bad. It moves along at a good clip. The shapeshifting is more interesting and less bothersome than I thought it would be. I just wish it was more of a proper RPG, with proper leveling, a real equipment system, and maybe an NPC or two. At least it looks like it won't linger too long--I might be able to wrap it up in one more.
     
Time so far: 6 hours

Monday, March 25, 2024

NetHack [3.1]: Nothing Lasts Forever

 
          
"If dragons and vampire lords and demon princes don't offer any real danger, what at this point could possibly kill me?"
                          --Chester N. Bolingbroke, 1 game hour ago
      
The answer is: a cockatrice egg. I didn't even know that was a thing. If they existed in 3.0, I don't remember or never encountered one. I'm not sure how I could have told that it wasn't a regular egg.
   
I was on dungeon Level 45. I had found a boulder at the end of a hallway. Some earlier version of NetHack hid Wands of Wishing beneath boulders at the ends of hallways in Hell, so I felt I needed to smash every boulder, just in case. I smashed this one, and there was an egg. "Cool!" I thought. "A little bit of nutrition between meals!" I ate it right off the floor. I took a step, and a message flashed by that I missed. One more: "Your limbs are stiffening." Maybe something could have healed me at this point--the unicorn horn?--but I didn't recognize it for what it was. I took another, and suddenly it was "DYWYPI?"
   
I did not want or need my possessions identified, but I did check out my intrinsics. It was a pretty impressive list:
     
"You were extremely lucky" does seem to apply to this character.
     
And then, just like I told you I was going to do, I restored a backup. I had saved on this very level, when I first arrived. I went back and grabbed the egg. I threw it at the next enemy I saw, but it just missed him and splattered against the wall.
    
A couple of notable things happened before Level 45:
    
  • I ate wraith corpses on Levels 42 and 43, rising to character Level 23.
  • A master lich cursed some of my stuff on Level 46. I had to waste a few holy water potions uncursing the items. So it wouldn't happen again, I read a blessed Scroll of Genocide and wiped out all liches.
          
Knowing that Scrolls of Genocide exist, you'd think monsters would be extra nice to adventurers.
      
  • On Level 44, I missed a trap door and dropped two levels.
  • On Level 46, there was a large square area that I couldn't access in the middle of the level. I couldn't find a door into it, and digging didn't work. I figured this was the bottom of an area that could only be accessed from an upper level, so I returned to Level 45, where we picked up the adventure above.
      
Well, there's something to look forward to.
      
After the reload, I finished exploring the rest of 45 and didn't find a way down into the square area. I then went back up to Level 44, which I'd only explored a small part of. The stairs brought me to the southeast corner of some kind of fortress crawling with demons and undead, and a demon lord named Orcus. But he generated friendly, so I didn't have any problem with him except that he kept teleporting next to me and blocking my progress. I eventually killed him on some return trip so he'd just leave me alone.
   
A nurse attacked me as I was cleaning out the area, and I know from spoilers that if a nurse hits you when you're naked and unarmed, she will heal you. If you're already at maximum health, there's a small chance that she'll increase your maximum hit points. She usually then teleports away, but this was a no teleport level. I figured I could stand there and mine her hit point increases indefinitely. But I guess the "no teleport" rule doesn't apply to nurses, because after a couple hits, she was gone. I should mention that I was standing right next to Orcus when I stripped, so I was really trusting that "friendly" flag.
    
It's kind of a fantasy of mine.
      
The rest of the level seemed to be some kind of ruined town. There were a couple of abandoned stores with more mimics than loot, and nothing I particularly wanted. I found one Scroll of Enchant Weapon and one wraith to bring me to Level 24. I found an altar to Moloch last, long after every enemy I had slain on the level had rotted. I briefly considered trying to kill Orcus and then sacrifice him to my god on the altar, but I decided that isn't the sort of thing I would even consider if I didn't have a backup.
   
Level 47 had another central square area that I couldn't access, so I continued downward. Same story again on 48. I vaguely remembered a similar "tower" in the last NetHack version, where you had to find an entrance on the bottom level. But Level 49 was a regular maze level with no stairway up to that central area. I went back to 48 and spent longer than made sense trying to dig my way into it before continuing on. I figured I'd find the bottom level and then backtrack if necessary. In fact, at this point, I got impatient (the mazes really are exhausting). I started digging in the floor, dropping down levels, until I reached a level where the floor was "too hard": Level 55. 
     
I gained nothing by coming here early.
     
I wandered around until I found the "strange vibrating square," which I marked with a pile of gold, then started to work my way back up. On Level 52, I found a central area shaped like a "+", surrounded by water. In earlier versions of NetHack, this is where you found the Wizard of Yendor with the Amulet of Yendor, but I knew things were different here. I put on my Ring of Levitation, crossed the moat, and hacked a hole in the wall. Where the Wizard stood in earlier versions was a teleporter, which took me to the central square on Level 48. 
       
I miss the old version, where I'd be an hour away from ascending right now.
     
I fought through lots of demons (and more killer bees with royal jelly) on the lowest tower level. On the second, more dragons and demons with a large central room full of gold that I didn't bother to take. The top level had still more battles. Someone dropped a Potion of Gain Level, which brought me to 25. A Scroll of Enchant Weapon got Grayswandir up to +4.
   
The top level had another "+"-shaped area surrounded by water, which I approached the same way as the first one. This time, the Wizard of Yendor was inside. I backed off diagonally to deal with his vampire first, but the Wizard teleported outside the room and next to the moat where I was. I blasted him with a Wand of Death and missed. I hit him a second time and he died, dropping the Book of the Dead, which I verified with an "Identify" scroll.
      
Now it gets real.
         
Killing the Wizard before I absolutely had to was a huge mistake. Throughout the rest of the game, he kept appearing at the most inconvenient times, usually right next to me, and attaching, cursing my stuff, summoning packs of monsters, and stealing things. He doesn't even need to appear to curse you; you just get a message that you've been surrounded by a malignant aura at random intervals. He's nearly impossible to kill; get a couple of lucky hits, and he teleports away. I learned to fire a Wand of Death at him the moment he appeared, but I only had about 10 total charges. I envisioned having to get some Recharging scrolls at some point. Later, I found some more wands, fortunately.
   
I knew from spoilers that I still needed a Candelabrum of Invocation, which I'd find in Vlad's Tower, which was somewhere above me, via a staircase that I had missed. I followed Broken25's advice to wish for a Spellbook of Magic Mapping, which I memorized and cast on every level on the way up, quickly identifying the stairs. I found the second stairway to Vlad's Tower on Level 43. I fought through two levels of demons and whatnot, made it to his throne room, hit him twice, and watched him read a Scroll of Teleportation and disappear.
     
Arriving in Vlad's Tower.
     
After not being able to find him anywhere in the tower, I started working my way up the levels with my blindfold on, looking for him. By the time I reached Level 23, where I knew there was a friendly altar, the Wizard of Yendor had cursed just about everything I had. I dipped a stack of potions in the swamp level and brought them to the altar, then dropped them, forgetting I was still levitating. The potions, falling from the extra distance, smashed on the ground. I still had a few other potions, so I went and dipped those, came back, took off my Ring of Levitation, dropped them on the altar, and prayed. Now my god decided to give me a weapon: Stormbringer. But he didn't bless my potions. I tried praying again, but because I had just prayed, he was displeased with me. Annoyed, not knowing where the damned vampire was, looking at my cursed items and rapidly-diminishing uses of Wand of Death, I quit and restored from way the hell back on Level 51.
      
Given this, I probably should have used the sword at least once.
     
I returned to the tower, fought my way up again, and destroyed Vlad this time, taking from his corpse the candelabra. Now possessing the bell, book, and candelabra, I headed back down the various levels to the bottom and its vibrating square. I'm eliding the boring combats and the occasional blasting of the Wizard of Yendor with the Wand of Death on the way. My stock of holy water got low as I kept uncursing items.
    
  
     
I knew I had to perform a ritual with the bell, book, and candelabra at the vibrating square, but I didn't know the order. First, I readied the candelabra by attacking a stack of 7 tallow candles to it. I found those in a shop, I think. Then I tried bell, book, candelabra. When I got to the book part, the game said I "raised the dead," and a bunch of wraiths and zombies appeared. I'm not going to complain about wraiths. Only one left a corpse, but that's another level.
  
I started again with the book and raised a bunch more dead, one of which read a Scroll of Create Monster, turning the whole place into a circus. I teleported out of there and returned slowly. That took another half hour to clear up. 
     
Oh, for the love of god . . .
     
With "book" out as the first option, I tried candle, bell, book next. That worked. There was a blast in the area around me and a bunch of squares got replaced by water. Another wraith appeared just then, left a corpse, and got me to Level 27 when I ate it. I then went down to the bottom level of the dungeon.
   
The result of the completed ritual.
    
The bottom level was full of vampires, ghosts, wraiths, zombies, vampire lords, devils, demons, and mummies. Man, did I get sick of acknowledging combat messages. Not one of a dozen wraiths left a corpse, the bastards.
      
The next time I play, I genocide giant insects first.
      
I opened a door and got attacked by a swarm of Moloch's priests and priestesses, all of which seemed to have the ability to summon giant ants and beetles. I mowed my way through them to a central chamber surrounded by fire traps. There were no openings in the wall, and I couldn't bash or dig through it. Storing my flammable stuff in my Bag of Holding, I began circling the building (I take no damage from fire traps) looking for a secret door. I finally found one on the back side.
    
What if I just offered it immediately on that altar? I didn't think to try.
      
As I entered, the High Priest of Moloch intoned, "Infidel, you entered Moloch's Sanctum! Be gone!" He ran up as I entered. I instantly blasted him with the Wand of Death. On his body, I found the Amulet of Yendor.
   
Taking extra care between moves, I slowly made my way back to the stairway and prepared to ascend 56 levels. I soon ascertained that I could no longer teleport on demand. Random Teleportitis still kicked in occasionally, and I was happy when it did. (I cursed the special levels where teleportation didn't work.) I was also happy I'd used so many Wands of Digging to blast shortcuts through the maze levels. About a third of the time I tried to go up a set of stairs, the game said, "A mysterious force momentarily surrounds you," and I got teleported somewhere else on the level instead. 'Cause that's what this game needed. I also kept getting messages that I felt "vaguely nervous." 
      
I get teleported from the stairs to the center of the maze. This nonsense stopped after I got out of Hell.
       
A wraith corpse on Level 40 got me to character Level 28. In addition to the Wizard of Yendor, Baalzebub dogged me all the way up, frequently appearing and stunning me. (Fixing it just meant touching the unicorn horn, but it was still annoying.) On Level 33, Asmodeus joined him. They kept teleporting away when I actually hit them. I didn't want to waste the Wand of Death on them. I eventually killed them both with my sword on Level 31.
   
I can't tell you how thrilled I was when I finally made it to Level 26 and started seeing regular dungeon walls again. I don't remember the maze levels in the previous versions sucking this bad. I would give anything for a spell that just blasts the hell out of maze walls in all directions.
      
I am so happy to be out of the maze.
     
On Level 25, I tried blessing some potions again, and thankfully it worked this time (I also got Stormbringer). I was able to uncurse most of my stuff that the Wizard had cursed, including my blindfold, magic lamp, and one of the Wands of Death. At this point, I had four wands with six charges total, plus one wish left on my Wand of Wishing. The one good thing is I had plenty of food--so much that I forgot about my cached rations on the castle level.
     
And, eventually, I was on Level 1. I wasn't quite sure what to expect at this point. The last version I played had one final level after you ascended, but I thought I remembered that this one had multiple. As I went up the stairs, the game warned me there would be no return. I continued. "Well done, mortal!" it said. "But now thou must face the final Test . . . Prove thyself worthy or perish!"
     
Believe me, I have seen enough of this place.
   
It was pretty late at night at this point, so I decided to save the endgame area for a new session. Obviously, I've already lost the ability to win "legitimately" in the eyes of most NetHack players, but I still want to see the endgame, analyze my experience, and figure out what I'd do better next time.
   
Time so far: 36 hours. This character is going on 30 hours, incidentally. I have no idea how so many people win it so fast.

Saturday, March 23, 2024

Game 507: Shadow Caster (1993)

 
Just about every site has the title as one word. There is no support for this on the title screen, box cover, or manual cover, all of which have it as two words.
      
Shadow Caster
United States
Raven Software (developer); ORIGIN/Electronic Arts (publisher)
Released 1993 for DOS, 1994 for PC-98
Date Started: 16 March 2024 
            
This is one of those games where I appreciate what they're trying to do, and I don't want to discourage them from thinking outside the box, but it's just not for me. I don't know why. In addition to soft-serve ice cream, heat pumps, free jazz, anime, and Cheetos, I just have a Thing about playing animals. I also have a Thing about shapeshifting; in the rare game that I play a druid, I almost never use the ability. 
     
The manual and opening cinematic (very well done, incidentally) tell the story of Kirt, a young man living in the big city with his grandfather. One stormy night, his grandfather sits him down and explains that neither of them are from Earth: they're actually from another dimension, from a race called simply the People, some of whom have the gods-given ability to shapeshift into creatures from still other dimensions (who in turn gain the ability to shapeshift into people, benefiting everyone). Long ago, the People had a thriving civilization, but the gods didn't favor everyone, and thus a caste system emerged. 
       
A fireplace in a high-rise apartment?! Does this city have no code enforcement?
   
Malkor, an outcast god, rallied the lower-class, non-shapeshifting malcontents and gave them shapeshifting powers--but only if they sacrificed the animals they wanted to change into. One of Malkor's followers, Veste, killed the People's Holy One, Riodn. A civil war ensued. The good shapeshifters won, but only after the destruction of nearly their entire civilization. Most of the gods, disgusted that the People had used shapeshifting to stratify society, abandoned them. One god, Tovason, stayed behind and warned the People of a future in which Malkor would return and their shapeshifting powers would be needed again. Apparently, that time has come. Kirt is some kind of prophesied hero, his choices so open that he "casts a shadow" on the gods' abilities to read the future.
        
So they went with a literal name, then.
       
As grandfather finishes up his exposition dump, a gargoyle, awakened from the side of the building, comes crashing through the window and drags the old man away. Grandfather has time to fire off one desperate spell, hitting Kirt and sending him to another dimension.
   
It was a time of darkness; it was a world of fear.
     
The game begins with no character creation, in a random alleyway, with a grotesque enemy charging down it. You better have read the manual. Kirt can activate punches with either hand or a kick by clicking the appropriate icon and then right-clicking on the screen itself (or hitting SPACE). This particular enemy (the manual calls it a "slobbering beast") dies in a few hits.
      
A tough beginning.
     
With the first enemy gone, we can catch our breath and note that the interface makes use of a near-identical raycasting engine as the previous year's Wolfenstein 3D from id Software. Indeed, John Carmack is credited as the "engine programmer" for Shadow Caster. The same year, Carmack would use another update of the engine for Doom. Shadow Caster proved that it could work for games without firearms, and Raven Software (who before this had only produced 1992's Black Crypt) would apply it accordingly to Heretic (1994) and Hexen (1995). 
         
Hey, that guy looks a little familiar.
       
You might notice that none of these other games are RPGs. Is Shadow Caster? It's a tough call. I require character development to include more than just increases in health; here, as you gain experience and level up, you increase maximum health and energy, so technically that's more than just health. I'm not sure if there's some kind of underlying power that also increases. There's also a type of "character development" in your ability to acquire new forms to shift into. I also require that character development involve some level of player agency--you should be able to control the rate or type of development. Games in which development occurs at fixed intervals (usually because the game is completely linear) generally don't qualify. I don't know if Shadow Caster passes this hurdle or not. Certainly, the beginning feels very linear, and enemies do not respawn, suggesting a closed system.
   
At least the enemies aren't derivative.
     
Since ORIGIN published it, one cannot help but compare it to the 3D engine that Blue Sky Studios built for Ultima Underworld. As an RPG, I would say that the Underworld engine is better. Underworld let you look up and down and explore a truly three-dimensional space, with bats flying overhead, rivers running under bridges, and jumping spells propelling you to the highest reaches of enormous caves. You could also do more in the environment. It was an explorer's engine. id's engine is perhaps a better shooter engine, particularly if you like to play with the keyboard exclusively. Its turning is fast and smooth, and there's no question whether you're aiming accurately as long as you're pointed at the enemy. There's no way to get confused about your plane.
    
Aside from the graphics, the interface works fine. There are keyboard backups to everything, which I always prefer, although attacking can involve some targeting for which you need the mouse. There's a very nice automap.
      
See?
      
Given that it's an Origin game, it's a wonder that they didn't try to shoehorn the Avatar into it. (The character on the box cover by Denis Loubet even looks like the Avatar.) In fact, MobyGames quotes designer Brian Raffel as saying that it was going to be an Ultima game for a while--after it was going to be Black Crypt II and before it was going to be Bard's Tale spinoff. The shapechanging aspect was apparently a late addition to the project.
       
But here, they couldn't help themselves.
      
Getting back to the game: As I wander through the small area, I find a Wand of Fire and a health potion. An obelisk grants me my first animal form: a six-limbed, six-foot-tall bipedal feline called a "Maorin." They apparently have special sight, powerful jumps, and devastating claw attacks but they "dislike water and drown quickly." At the same time, there's a message from my grandfather, encouraging me to accept the form. "Destroy the 4-armed guardian in the tomb to reach the temple." After that, there's nothing but the portal to the next area of the level.
     
A commenter had warned me some time ago to download the cluebook--not for hints, but because only there do you get any background information about where you are. Apparently, I'm in the "Garden Ruins," which used to be lush with blossoms but was destroyed by Veste. I'm not sure whether this happened recently or whether they're talking about the distant past. I transition to Maorin form as I go along. It turns out that each form not only has its own attacks on the bottom (my hands become claws and my kick attack turns into a "cat sight" ability) but its own inventory. The wand and potion remain with the human form. But my inventory soon fills up again with "float seeds" from carnivorous plants that roam the area. Other monsters include blue beasts that shoot lightning or something.
      
This cat has claws.
         
At some point, I enter an area with a chest floating in the air, shooting fireballs at me. Underneath it is a pedestal with triangle symbols on the side and what looks to me like a giant throne. I can't seem to reach the chest, so I turn back into human form and blast it with my wand. It breaks apart, spitting out a "triangle key." The key looks like the symbols on the pedestal, so I fiddle with it until it takes the key, which causes the "throne" to slide aside, revealing a teleporter underneath it. So we're going to have puzzles.
      
The new portal with the "throne" in the back and the (solved) puzzle to my right.
    
Being in beast form drains energy constantly, as does using special abilities. Even though I "level up" (the game says that I "feel a surge of life and power") a couple of times, I switch back to human form a couple of times and work on this entry while my health and power slowly regenerate. It looks like maybe the game tracks a separate score for each form, so perhaps they level up at different rates? I'm not sure. The manual is a bit confusing in this area. 
   
The purpose of the "float seeds" becomes clear (well, no it doesn't, but I figure it out) when I reach a swamp. Trying to cross the swamp causes you to sink and take health damage. Using the seeds on the swamp creates patches on which you can cross safely.
        
I'm curious about the specific mechanism at work here, but we'll let it go.
      
In the northeast corner, I find an area where fireballs go shooting left to right when you try to cross through. I run through, sucking up the damage. On the other side, I find some floating heads above patches of fire. Fortunately, there's a Wand of Fire nearby that lets me shoot the floating heads. When they all die, the fire disappears, letting me pass through and find a "statue head." On the way back, I can't get through the fireballs without dying even at full health. I start messing with my options, and it turns out that the "cat sight" ability lets me see the pressure plates that set off the fireballs.
      
On the other hand, it makes everything else look like a hellscape.
      
There are two teleporter pads out of this area. I take the one that appeared when the throne moved. I'm dumped immediately into water, where I'm poisoned and killed by something on the ceiling.
      
Cat's don't like water! I just got it.
      
I reload and try the other pad. I appear in an outdoor area with more interesting graphics than anything the game has shown so far. There are tall pillars and a misty quality to the air. Gnarled trees rise out of the fog--as do skeleton warriors and these little one-eyed things with spears. The automap shows that I'm on Level 4.
       
He's so cute!
      
There's a water area in the northeast part of the level, but it turns out that the human version of Kirt can swim just fine. In the center, I find an island with an obelisk in the center. The obelisk has statues in its recesses, and four of them are missing their heads. I restore the head I previously found, and a second that I find on the island. I go off hunting the last two.
      
I assume the puzzles eventually get harder.
       
In a wide open area, I see a key on the ground. The moment I pick it up, a ring of stakes pops up out of the ground, surrounding me, and those little one-eyed minions appear around the perimeter. Not very clever since they die in two hits from my claws. Soon after this area, I find the third head.
     
You want to make the spikes come up under the key, morons.
     
I found a shuriken at some point. I test it, realizing that it's a magic shuriken that automatically returns. I decide to morph back to my human form for a while, since the damned cat is getting all the experience and leveling. In addition to the shuriken, I also have plenty of wands--fire, ice, acid, and a "tri-wand." I'm already doing what I do in most RPGs--hoarding wands. 
    
Killing a skeleton with a shuriken.
       
I can't find the fourth head, so I assume it's in that water area I explored before. I return through the teleporter pad to the first area, go to the other pad, and get dumped back in the water. I try to kill the enemies on the ceiling with wands and the shuriken, but they don't seem to die. Eventually, I find a chain that drains the water, and they leave me alone.
   
I find a head hovering over a pedestal in one room. At first, I think it's the fourth stone head, but it's dead and withered, not stone. I soon find a "throne room" with a headless corpse sitting on a chair. I restore his head, and he rises and attacks. He dies in half a dozen blasts from my ice wand. His death opens the way into a treasure room, where I find the fourth stone head, a power potion, a magical sword (no more hand attacks for Kirt), and armor intended for Maorins. I didn't know you could find armor in this game. I can't figure out how to put it on. Is having it in the inventory enough?
     
This felt like a mistake, and it was a mistake.
     
Back in the main area, I forget where I am and wander into the fireball corridor again, taking damage. Coming to my senses, I find the teleportal pad that returns me to the misty area. I make my way back to the obelisk, put the heads where they belong, and a stairway opens into the darkness. 
            
Onward and upward.
          
The stairs bring me to a blue-walled area with minions everywhere. I force myself to use my wands, then kill them with my sword. A chest holds a power potion and a strength potion. A room has a lava floor, but there's some kind of orb floating above it, and by killing it, a bridge appears to cross the floor. I round a corner and see a tall guy with four arms and a helmet--the "four-armed guardian" that Grandfather warned me about. Fortunately, he gets hung up on a corner and doesn't bother to attack me. My shuriken does nothing to him, but the magic sword kills him in a few hits. I gain another level as he dies. A chest beyond him has a "dragon horn."
       
Thank the gods for bosses with lousy pathfinding.
      
Beyond that, I get my next form at another obelisk: Caun, the Healer. He's a little pointy-eared guy with tiny fists, but his special attack is to rapidly convert energy to health. 
        
"Caaaaaaauuuun!"
        
"Through the door to the north is the temple," Grandfather said. "There you will find the way to the castle." A teleporter inside a gaping maw awaits me.
       
That looks inviting.
       
At the end of this first session, I find Shadow Caster . . . okay. It's certainly a contrast to NetHack. I wouldn't mind more RPG elements, nor a more standard RPG inventory, nor--if I'm being frank--if the protagonist was just a regular human hero exploring the ruins of a castle or something. But I'm enjoying it more than I expected. It moves along at a good clip; this is one of those rare games that takes longer to write about than to play. Commenters have told me that it isn't very long, so I'll be happy to see where it goes.
   
Time so far: 2 hours