Shadowcaster

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For the Dungeons & Dragons character class, see Shadowcaster (Dungeons & Dragons).

Shadowcaster

Developer(s)	Raven Software
Publisher(s)	Origin Systems
Engine	Wolfenstein 3D
Platform(s)	DOS, NEC PC-9801
Release date	1993
Genre(s)	first-person shooter/role-playing
Mode(s)	single player

Shadowcaster is a first-person shooter/role-playing computer game from 1993 developed by Raven Software. It was released by Origin Systems, Inc. after Electronic Arts Inc. acquired them.

The player takes the role of Kirt, a human with powers of shapeshifting. Among other forms, Kirt can become a huge cat-like animal, a floating tentacle-wielding gazer, and a dragon. In the beginning of the game Kirt finds out that he is not in fact human, but comes from a parallel world where there was a war raging between shapeshifters for centuries. Kirt, and his grandfather, are the last of their kind, and now the evil ones have found them. Kirt's grandfather opens a portal back to the homeworld, and that is where the story begins. Kirt's mission is to stop the demons once and for all, but first he will need to awaken his innate shapeshifting powers, which is where the obelisks come into play. Going up to one of these and touching it will unlock a new form, and the first is the cat form.

Shadowcaster's game engine is a modified Wolfenstein 3D engine,^[1] with support for height differences in the ceiling. It also has a few features that Wolfenstein does not, such as sloping floors^[2].

The main character of Kirt was based on the name of the game's software developer, Kurt Schallitz, and included his brown leather jacket. The face of Kirt is actually that of Raven software's owner Brian Raffel.^{[citation needed]}