Shadow of the Beast Legacy : An all time classic game gets a port remake [UPDATE]

Here at Indie Retro News we try to give you the latest in unusual releases that don't often get a website mention and lately there's been many of them, from homebrew games to updated Amiga titles. Yet here we are with another special release; Shadow of the Beast Legacy, a new ported remake of a set of all time classic games. Shadow of the Beast was a side scrolling platform game published by Psygnosis in 1989-1990 and featured not just revolutionary graphics but an atmospheric score by David Whittaker.

When the game was first released it was also very expensive between £30 and £35 and lucky owners still have a mint condition t-shirt that originally went with the box. You'd be hard pressed to find an original Amiga game on Ebay for anything less than £100 if it has a t-shirt.

But enough about that, it's time to move onto these remakes! Granted they haven't been overhauled in the graphics department, they don't need to be. But what the developer darkfalzx has done is to recreate the definitive versions of all three Shadow of the Beast games in a Mario All-Stars-like package for different systems. Although they are still work in progress , SOTB1 is fully beatable, SOTB 2 is only 15% complete and SOTB 3 is 65% complete you can expect a long haul of development until each one is complete and given a polish.

As with every release update we will feature them as much as we can so you don't miss out, so without further ado. Here's a direct quote from the developer and the download links!

SOTB1 - the game is fully beatable, but requires some modern polish in the interface department, so I'd say it's 97% complete.
SOTB 2 - 15% Can run around Karamoon. There are some generic enemies and some unfinished puzzle elements, but not much else.
SOTB 3 - 65% Level 1 and 2 are in, as well as the tilemap and parallax of Level 3.

The controls are:

(Use arrow keys at first game screen to scroll through each game 1-3)

Cursor - move
Z - Fire
X - Jump
C - cycle through weapons (when you get another one)
Enter - pause
Esc - (once) kill self, (twice) - quit game
You can now redefine keys from SOTB1's main menu.
Xbox360 and PS3, as well as legacy controllers are all supported.
If you are having a slowdown issue - pause the game and disable the controller.

UPDATE PATCH : 24/09/14

Minor update to all builds of the game.
Mostly changes and polish to the menus.
Added another checkpoint to the tree maze - right after killing the skeleton boss.
Might still add a checkpoint on the plains... dying next to the castle and having to start back at the well will not be a fun experience.
Added ability to continue from within the game. Pressing 'no' will send you to the main menu, where you still have all your continues.

At this point, minor tweaks and extras aside - the SOTB1 game is done. Having unlockable extras, arranged soundtracks and achievements is definitely cool - but perhaps later.

Windows build
Android console build
Ubuntu Linux build
Mac build

Forum discussion

So enjoy retrogamers and modern games alike, let us know what you think of this fine re-release ;)