Shadowgate

The player must solve a series of puzzles throughout the castle in order to proceed to the Warlock Lord's chamber. Due to the castle's perilous nature, at least one lit torch must be in the player's possession at all times; if the torch is extinguished, the player soon stumbles, breaking his neck and must continue from a saved game (the area in which they died on game consoles). The game is notorious for its many opportunities of death, including being burned by a dragon's breath, attacked by a cyclops, sucked into outer space through a broken mirror, dissolved by acidous slime and mauled by a wolf-woman. These deaths were often graphically described in the game's text, even in the NES version (regardless of Nintendo's policy of censorship at the time). Many of the game's puzzles rely on a system of trial and error. Subtle hints can be found in books and the descriptive game texts. In the NES version, these are replaced by an outright hint feature which gives vague clues about what is noteworthy in any given room in the castle. The further the player progresses, the more useless this feature becomes, however, deteriorating into nothing but encouraging messages by the game's end.