February 5, 2015

Death Gate

Legend Entertainment Company, 1994


A game based on the Death Gate Cycle by Margaret Weis and Tracy Hickman shows what can be accomplished when a company cares more about quality than sales. The story begins when the magical Sartan race sunder the world as they felt threatened by their rivals, the magical Patryns, leaving them trapped and full of hatred toward Sartans in a dangerous place called the Labyrinth. Another race named Mench comprises of humans, dwarves and elves, lives in the rest of the world, which in also subdivided into four realms composed of air, fire, water and earth. Your quest begins two thousand years after the sundering, when you as Xar, a Patryn, finds a way to escape the Labyrinth and live in a city situated in the Sartan's realm. You help other Patryns of the Labyrinth to follow you and get settled secretly in this Sartan City. Your main goal in the game is to take revenge from the Sartan race and get back the Patryns the freedom they had before.

Death Gate not only has marvelous graphics and excellent digitized voice acting, but it also has a story that will knock your socks off. This fantastic tale is chock full of plot twists that will keep you on the edge of your seat all the way through. While the ultimate ending is rather weak, it has an interesting game design. While it is very linear, it includes several individual segments that make up the whole, each with it’s own series of puzzles to solve.