Dark Castle is a 1986 Mac classic that blends excellent gameplay with
revolutionary production values (for the time). It was developed for
the Mac by two guys under Silicon Beach Software: artist Mark Pierce
and programmer Jonathan Gay. Jonathan would later go on to create Flash
(yes, THAT Flash).
Dark Castle pits you - Prince Duncan - against the evil Black Knight
and his hoards of minions, from bats and rats and vultures to guards,
one-eyed mutants (basically a big eyeball with arms and legs),
gargoyles, and even a dragon. The game itself is relatively
straight-forward although the path to the end boss can lengthen easily
if you manage to fall down a pit; in most cases that won't kill you,
but merely dump you into the locked dungeon. There you have to proceed
down a couple of levels, get the key, and come back up.
The game's main hub is the central hall of the title castle, with two
doors on the left, a big door in the center, and a staircase going up
on the left. The left doors randomly send you either to the dungeon
(where you have to get that key and come back up) or to the outside of
the castle and the caves and rivers and - eventually - the wizard and
fireballs, which you learn how to use. The central door leads to the
Black Knight's chambers, following a number of puzzle rooms. And the
staircase goes up to the top of the castle and the magic shield. Both
the magic shield and fireball are required if you were to have any
chance of beating the Black Knight. Most obvious is the gargoyle that
flies in with a horrifying screech in the first room - he can only be
taken down with a fireball. If you have none, or you miss, he'll pick
you up and drop you into the dungeon.
The game has style. It had great graphics for the time, digitized sound
effects, and amusing enemies. This was before the NES classics, and it
looked (and looks) way better, even if it was in black and white. That
part didn't matter, because it was so damn clean.
The default controls include a now familiar setup - WASD to move
left/right and up/down, Q for actions, spacebar for jump, and the mouse
and mouse button to aim and fire (well, throw rocks). It isn't as
elaborate a setup as something like Abuse, for example, but it works
well given that Dark Castle has much more in common with Prince of
Persia than a flat-out action game. But it controls more precisely than
Prince of Persia, and rarely will you overstep or miss a jump due to
any fault of the controls.
Bats remain curled up hanging from the ceiling for five seconds or so
before waking up and flapping towards you, giving you a bit of time to
take them out first. Rats spawn from holes in the walls but when killed
there is a delay for the next one to come, giving you time to get past.
Guards are essentially invincible, although a rock to their tin-can
armor knocks them unconcious for about ten seconds, giving you a small
window to run past them. If not, a crossbow bolt in your back and a
retry at the level.
Vultures squawk appropriately and make a healthy splat on the ground
after you peg them with a rock. One-eyed mutants gibber unintelligibly
("Nyah-nyah-nyah-nyah!") while waving their arms in the air and stop
occasionally to throw rocks at you. And Duncan himself has a whole host
of amusing animations and sound effects, the best of which included his
dizzy spell, brought on either by falling a short distance (as opposed
to falling too far and dying) or running him full-tilt into a wall.
Stars fly around his head and he spins around for a few seconds
("Whoa...whoa..."), ending by shaking his head violently.
The game is a definition of 'classic.' It blends exploration with
platforming elements, some puzzle solving, and the control is
absolutely perfect, including revolutionary use of the mouse back then
as well as the hardware itself. It may seem hard to get excited about
an 18-year-old black and white game being displayed on a 9" screen, but
Dark Castle is just an incredible gaming experience. If you can find it
now (not the horrible other versions that lacked mouse support), play
it. Yeah, it's one of those gems.
