Nightshade (1985 video game)

Nightshade

Developer(s) Tim and Chris Stamper
Publisher(s) Ultimate Play The Game
Engine Filmation II
Platform(s) ZX Spectrum
Amstrad CPC
BBC Micro
MSX
Commodore 64
Release date(s)
  • October 1985 (Spectrum)[1]
  • Nov/Dec 1985 (MSX)[2]
  • Early 1986 (Amstrad)[3]
    Early 1986 (Commodore 64)[4]
Genre(s) Action-adventure game; Maze game
Mode(s) Single-player
Distribution Cassette

Nightshade is a ZX Spectrum video game developed and released by Ultimate Play The Game in 1985. Building upon the earlier titles Knight Lore and Alien 8 using the flip-screen, isometric gameplay branded Filmation, Nightshade introduces a scrolling isometric environment branded Filmation II.[5]

Gameplay

A green-hued, infected player is pursued through the village of Nightshade by foes

The player takes the role of a knight who enters the plague-ridden village of Nightshade to vanquish four demons who hold sway over it. Similarly to the major foes in Underwurlde, each demon is vulnerable to a particular object which must be collected by the player (a hammer, a Bible, a crucifix and an hourglass). To help the player locate the demons, these objects also glow when in close proximity to the demon they destroy.

Aside from the demons, Nightshade is densely populated by several different types of plague-carrying monsters. Contact with these monsters infects the player, with repeated contact turning the player's color from white to yellow to green then death. Rather than relying on more convention weapons such as sabres, the player can collect a range of "antibodies" which materialise within the buildings of Nightshade. These "antibodies" can be fired at monsters to destroy them, but each only kills a specific type of monster - if fired at the wrong monster, it will "mutate" the monster into a different, and possibly worse, foe.

References

  1. ↑ Nightshade first appears in the Gallup Software Top 30 chart as a Spectrum-only new entry in the November 1985 issue of C&VG, p.30, and is reviewed in the same issue.
  2. ↑ Knight Lore, Alien 8 and Nightshade MSX pre-release promotional brochure, published by Ultimate Play The Game in October 1985. Available to view at World of Spectrum:
  3. ↑ Reviewed in February 1986 editions of both Amstrad Action (issue 5) and Amtix (issue 4, p.18-19).
  4. ↑ "Nightshade", Zzap!64 (Newsfield Publications) (11), March 1986: 24
  5. ↑ "Looking For An Old Angle". Crash Magazine, Issue 51. Newsfield. Retrieved 2006-10-03.

External links