Sometime in early 1992, I bought a game for the Sega Genesis that I'd read about a few years earlier in a computer gaming magazine. It looked incredible and the concept of the game sounded amazing. When it was ported to the Genesis, I eagerly dropped $60 worth of birthday money on it at the nearest gaming store.

The game was called Shadow of the Beast.

What I didn't expect, however, was the game's absolutely BRUTAL difficulty level.  It looked great, had cool music, and was evocative as hell, so I really wanted to love it, but the game was just crushingly difficult. Of course, I learned decades later that the Genesis port ran at a higher frame rate than the original due to a conversion issue, so it was actually harder than the Amiga version's already infamous difficulty. 

In any event, the game stuck with me for years afterwards, even though I never managed to get more than halfway through it. When it was remade in 2016 for the PlayStation 4, I eagerly bought the new version and played it extensively. The remake captured the spirit of the original and updated the gameplay for modern audiences.

After making Revenant, I had it in my head to potentially make a follow up inspired by Shadow of the Beast, but the project was just a vague idea and I put it on the back burner. When Peach Garden Games announced that they were launching an Itch jam for RPGs based on video games, however, I decided it was time to explore the idea in more detail.

The Shadow and the Beast is a two player narrative roleplaying game that follows the Beast's journey to confront the Shadow. While the core concept is inspired by Shadow of the Beast, the game brings in some additional influences to hopefully create an evocative gaming experience. Like most Last Redoubt Games releases, there is a lot of open space for players to introduce their own ideas.

I had a lot of fun creating this game, so I hope Shadow of the Beast fans out there will enjoy my little homage.