Beyond Dark Castle

Overview

Controlled in one of the earliest uses of the WASD keyboard layout, Beyond Dark Castle pits you, Prince Duncan, against the guards and bizarre minions of the Black Knight. Fresh off the previous year's Dark Castle, the Black Knight has moved up from throwing beer steins and instead wishes to challenge you to hand to hand combat. The game was also developed by Jonathan Gay and Mark Pierce of Silicon Beach Studios, just one year after the original Dark Castle debuted.

The size and scope of the game are much greater than the original, with a less restrictive level hub and more elaborate levels. Where you were limited to dungeons and caves in the first game, the Black Knight has apparently invested quite a bit of money into his castle tweaking the old locations and adding many new rooms. Especially bizarre is the computer room, which saves your game via giant levers and periodically sends out bolts of electricity that you must duck under.

The main goal of the game is to outfit yourself with the shield and fireballs, find the five magic orbs scattered at the ends of every big level chain, and use them to unlock the Black Knight's final chamber. Gameplay hasn't changed much - Prince Duncan still runs, ducks, climbs, jumps, and throws rocks, although he can now wield maces and shovels to use in duels and fly a ramshackle helicopter pack across the lengthy forest and swamp levels. There are also bombs, which have a timed fused before exploding upwards and sideways, destroying brick walls, any enemy caught in its blast, and possibly you.

Platforming segments are still the focus of the game. Many of the moving platforms are small, move quickly, and are at higher or lower elevations, requiring you to be extremely careful with your jumps. Also carried over is the penalty for missing a jump, as instead of death you're whisked down a series of chutes into the dungeon where you have to grab a key and make your way back to the level hub to start all over again. Similar to other games of its era Beyond Dark Castle is rarely forgiving.

The main title screen depicts a castle parapet, with two guards slowly walking back and forth. Dark Castle used a clip of Bach's Toccata & Fugue in D Minor for its title; Beyond Dark Castle uses a clip from a later section of the same song, punctuated with blasts of thunder and lightning.

Levels

The levels are divided up into four main sections - the west tower, the east tower, clock tower, and the basement. Other than the clock tower, each section houses a single orb, and each of the towers also unlocks an ability - shield in the west tower and fireballs in the east. Neither of these skills are required to beat the game, but they will make your life easier in many spots.

The middle of each tower is occupied by a randomly generated labyrinth, one of the first scrolling levels found in a Dark Castle game. They're essentially a basic maze, made more difficult by the placement (or absence) of ropes to climb up or down levels, and in some spots there are spawn points to let snakes or rats drop down the ropes. Thankfully, these ropes come in clusters of three and you're free to move back and forth between them in order to dodge falling enemies. The labyrinth is also timed in a way, as your health will steadily drop. You must make it to the end before it drops completely, or pick up potions along your way. There are also a great deal of bombs and fuel for the helicopter found in both labyrinths, so detouring a little bit can help you later on.

Game map, complete with practice buttons.

The computer room found in the lower left side of the antechamber is full of switches to save your game. Proceeding upwards will bring you to the clock tower, which has two exits - the left goes to the swamp, and the right goes to the forest. Each level is a lengthy scrolling affair with Prince Duncan manning a small helipack and throwing rocks in a bizarre medieval take on a space shooter. Vultures will fly along in space invaders cluster formations, mutants will yammer and throw rocks from below, and occasionally large birds or gargoyles will soar in directly at you with the goal of knocking the pack clear from your pack. Near the end of each level is a floating eye, which follows similar shooter boss patterns and shooting rocks out at various angles. Beyond it you land the helipack, knock out a guard, and take the orb at the end.

The basement is easiest to access by running into the west tower base and falling into the pit, although you can take the more refined way down too. Its dungeon is an updated take on Dark Castle's dungeon, with a torturer whipping a group of three prisoners - knock him out from behind and the prisoners will nod or shake their heads when you're under a group of keys. Take the wrong set and get crushed by a 16 ton weight. The other variation on the original dungeon is the inclusion of five doors, with one of them is randomly chosen as the correct exit (the others simply break your key). Once you're out of there, the catacombs house the final orb with the only obstacles being brick walls (hope you picked up a lot of bombs in the labyrinth), snakes, and a floating eye that spits fireballs.

After obtaining and placing all five orbs the Black Knight's chamber is a relatively straightforward upwards affair with a duel to the death at the top.

Enemies

Most of the enemies in Beyond Dark Castle are holdovers from the first game. The simple rat returns, and along with the addition of the snake marks the only enemy that won't kill you outright if you touch it. Rats and snakes will both descend ropes if possible, although rats move at a much quicker pace as snakes tend to coil around and around the rope, thankfully giving you more time to spot and dodge them (or peg them with a rock from afar).

Enemy screen.

The yammering rock throwing one eyed mutants also return, taunting you, smacking their bottom in your direction, and lobbing rocks while cackling with glee and dancing around. The birds or vultures are back as well, hovering in a single spot before screeching and swooping down or sideways. They're one of the few enemies that is completely pattern based and easy to avoid.

Guards are also back. They still wander back and forth on their set path and if they turn towards you while you're on the same level will immediately let loose with a lethal crossbow bolt. Rocks will knock them out for about ten seconds, giving you time to run past, but fireballs will down them for good (or at least until you re-enter that area and they respawn).

There are new guards, too - beefier, lazier ones. They calmly sit in a chair until you approach, and then yank out a mace or shovel to take you on in a duel. The duels are relatively simple and only involve blocking their strikes and returning your own, and after a few of those they'll groan and slump to the ground. The only one who isn't lazy is the brewer, who casually tosses his endless supply of mead in barrels down at you in a bizarre blend of conveyor belts and Donkey Kong-esque barrel dodging.

trivia	What does the wizard in Beyond Dark Castle ...	TheCreambun
blog	An Ode to Torment	DJ_Lae

Game Name	Beyond Dark Castle
Platform(s)	Amiga Commodore 64 Mac
Publisher(s)	Activision
Developer(s)	Silicon Beach Software, Inc.
Genres	Add a new genre Action Platformer Adventure
Themes	Add a new theme Fantasy
Original US Release	need a fuzzy date?
Original US Release	1987 know the real date?
Aliases

Beyond Dark Castle

Overview

Levels

Enemies

Awesome Toy Picks: Thanos and Adam Warlock

Comic Vine Weekly News: 05/18/12