Shadoworlds

Overview

Shadoworlds is an isometric real-time sci-fi RPG that was released in 1992 for the Atari ST and Amiga home computers. It was developed by UK company Krisalis Software (sometimes referred to by their previous name, Teque Interactive). It is the follow up to Shadowlands, which featured a medieval fantasy setting instead.

The game is best remembered for its dynamic lighting effects. Called "photoscaping" at the time, various sources of light will project a pre-determined radius of illumination around them. These include glowing projectiles from laser beams and flamethrowers as well as the space station's own failing light systems and spacesuit lamps belonging to individual characters. These lighting effects are calculated on the fly.

Gameplay

Shadoworlds features a four-person team of pre-generated characters that the player puts together before starting the game: they feature various cyborgs and augmented humans and the game had a distinctive anime-like theme to its character art. The player can split this party up and send them off to complete tasks in different parts of the ship, but the game stays real-time throughout and characters left alone will potentially be in danger.

The player can use darkness to their advantage to stay hidden from enemies, but they'll also need to use lights to examine or manipulate items in the environment. At any time, a character can activate the lamp inside their spacesuits for some illumination, but they'll need extra batteries to keep it on for an extended period. The team can find weapons and use them on the various hostile robots on the space station, though almost all of them require power to work: they can be recharged in various spots on the space station.