Dark Castle is a 1986 platform game for Macintosh published by Silicon Beach Software, later published by Three-Sixty Pacific for other platforms. It was designed and illustrated by Mark Pierce and programmed by Jonathan Gay. In Dark Castle, a young hero named Duncan tries to make his way to the evil Black Knight, dodging objects as well as solving occasional puzzles.

A sequel, Beyond Dark Castle, was released in 1987. A second sequel, Return to Dark Castle, was announced in 2000, but it was not released until March 14, 2008.

Plot

When the evil Black Knight terrorizes the townspeople, Prince Duncan decides to topple his throne, but in order to do that, he must travel to the four sections of the castle: Fireball, Shield, Trouble and Black Knight.

After collecting the Fireball and Shield, Duncan makes his way to the Black Knight’s throne room, where he topples the Black Knight’s throne, and the Black Knight stands up shaking his fist, as a gargoyle takes Duncan to Trouble 3.

Gameplay

Though released in 1986 with B&W graphics, the Mac version of Dark Castle featured detailed graphics, animated enemies, climbable ropes, and walkable ledges.

The game opens with a vista of the castle with storm clouds in the distance. The opening notes of Bach’s Toccata and Fugue in D minor play and are followed by thunderclaps. The title along with the programming and development credits are shown on this screen.

Movement within Dark Castle is typical for most platformers. Duncan can run, jump and duck, and can throw a limited supply of rocks at his enemies. More rocks can be found in little bags along the way, as well as bottles of an elixir that provide a one-time antido