Wow. I had almost forgotten that this was coming my way. Back in October of 2012, I backed the Shadowgate remake Kickstarter. 3,468 people took part, helping to release a high def remake of the game many of us played on Apple IIes and the old Nintendo Entertainment System (NES). Backers who pledged $100 or more would get a special boxed edition of the game. Now I normally don’t splurge for boxed copies of PC games on Kickstarter if I have a digital option even though I’ve backed some fine games like Gabriel Knight: Sins of the Father 20th Anniversary Edition Dreamfall Chapters and the like, a physical copy of a PC game seems a bit daft in this day and age where a lot of computers don’t even have a CD-Rom or DVD drive. However, for Shadowgate and Shadowrun Returns before it, I made an exception. Why? Because I’m such a huge fan of both brands I decided it would be a neat collectable (something I rarely ever do) to look at enjoy down the road. Since there are only 600 copies of the boxed version of Shadowgate, I thought I’d do a quick unboxing for you. There isn’t much to it, but since it will rarely be seen, I figured our readers would at least enjoy seeing a copy of it.
![](http://diehardgamefan.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/10/IMG_1431-500x324.jpg)
Here’s the box waiting to be opened for the first time.
![IMG_1424](http://diehardgamefan.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/10/IMG_1424-500x335.jpg)
Here is the back/bottom of the box. Click on the picture for a larger version where you can read the sheer amount of text on the box.
![IMG_1425](http://diehardgamefan.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/10/IMG_1425-500x298.jpg)
Here’s what the inside of the box looks like. Pretty no frills for $100, right? Still, there’s something about having Shadowgate in physical form that thrills me. My wife was even more excited. She came home after a long day of work, sat down on the couch, started to tell me about my day and in mid-sentence was, “Holy ^&$%&^! Is that SHADOWGATE?”
![IMG_1426](http://diehardgamefan.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/10/IMG_1426-500x298.jpg)
What the box looks like when you remove the jewel case and its disc. Surprise! There’s a satin map folded and sealed in a bag at the bottom.
![IMG_1427](http://diehardgamefan.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/10/IMG_1427-500x284.jpg)
A look at the unfolded map. Oh man, it is super satiny soft.
![IMG_1428](http://diehardgamefan.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/10/IMG_1428-500x332.jpg)
Another look at the map.
![IMG_1429](http://diehardgamefan.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/10/IMG_1429-500x379.jpg)
Here’s everything in the box set displayed together.
So now, you’re probably saying, “That’s all you get for $100? That’s not much.” You’re right. Well, except about the $100. I actually pledged $130. However, there was a lot more to the pledge that this boxed version of Shadowgate. I was also an alpha tester. I received a second digital copy which I gave to Dave to review on the site. I received a card game called Quests of Shadowgate that was interesting, but nothing ground breaking. (I reviewed it for the tabletop side of the site). I also got a calendar, some posters, a few bumper stickers, a digital artbook and I’m sure some other stuff I’ve forgotten about over the past two years. Most importantly, I helped a whole new generation of gamers discover Shadowgate. The dollar amount was completely worth it to me, especially since I was also a backer of Zojoi’s first (failed) kickstarter based on their awesome Sherlock Holmes games.
So there you go a look at one of the few Shadowgate boxed sets made.
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