Tijn wrote on 2020-06-22, 19:44:

As some might know, Frederik Pohl's Gateway (1992) by Legend Entertainment is the DOS Game Club of the month right now. I normal […]
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As some might know, Frederik Pohl's Gateway (1992) by Legend Entertainment is the DOS Game Club of the month right now. I normally like to watch one or two video reviews on our games of the month to prepare for our podcasts, but bizarrely I couldn't find any videos on this game.

So I decided to make my own.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qfB385CFN9E

Enjoy!

One of my all-time favourites . I was lucky enough to get a digital copy when they were giving it away free in the late 90s .

darry wrote on 2020-06-22, 19:47:

One of my all-time favourites . I was lucky enough to get a digital copy when they were giving it away free in the late 90s .

Cool! I never knew at the time it was released as freeware, but I did learn it when researching for this video. There's a small section about it in the end 😀

Definitely a very cool game! That's why it shocked me to learn there wasn't a single review or retrospective of this on YouTube. Glad that's fixed now haha

Tijn wrote on 2020-06-22, 21:14:

darry wrote on 2020-06-22, 19:47:

One of my all-time favourites . I was lucky enough to get a digital copy when they were giving it away free in the late 90s .

Cool! I never knew at the time it was released as freeware, but I did learn it when researching for this video. There's a small section about it in the end 😀

Definitely a very cool game! That's why it shocked me to learn there wasn't a single review or retrospective of this on YouTube. Glad that's fixed now haha

I will watch the video when I get a chance . This game does not get talked about enough .
Is it available on any online store ?

The fact that it was free at some point does not necessarily imply free to redistribute forever . I wish that could be cleared up by the publisher and possibly Pohl's estate (depending on what their contract was ) .

darry wrote on 2020-06-22, 21:27:

I will watch the video when I get a chance . This game does not get talked about enough .
Is it available on any online store ?

The fact that it was free at some point does not necessarily imply free to redistribute forever . I wish that could be cleared up by the publisher and possibly Pohl's estate (depending on what their contract was ) .

Yeah, I agree this game definitely doesn't deserve to be forgotten. That's why I made this video haha

Here's what I said about the freeware status of Gateway in the video. It's not for sale anywhere and the current right holders haven't commented on it. The original download is gone, but archive.org still has a copy.

Thank you for the stable data.
Until every moment.

I used to rent this one from a software store in the early 90s. Later I picked up a later edition on CD-ROM in a slim box which I still own. Sadly the CD-ROM version doesn't contain any extras. The soundtrack and illustrations in this game are great. I got a real MT-32 just to play this game in MT-32 mode.

Haha, awesome. I didn't even know it supported MT-32 until I made this video tbh

Does it hold up to the novel it's based on? 😀

I wrote a review of this myself quite some time ago.
http://www.hardcoregaming101.net/gateway/

I didn't really pay any attention to the MT-32 soundtrack, and I still don't expect it would enhance the experience much.

VileR wrote on 2020-06-23, 17:15:

Does it hold up to the novel it's based on? 😀

The game is an amusing diversion, but the novel is pretty different.

VileR wrote on 2020-06-23, 17:15:

Does it hold up to the novel it's based on? 😀

I've not read the novels myself, but I've been told they're more grim than the game is. Also the novels no doubt contain more details than the game, as is expected I suppose.

But that said, I think the game is great and definitely holds up in its own right!

Great game. I love the original Legend Ent. Titles with the text interface. Time Quest is fantastic.. s101 is probably the best of the 3 series imo.. The two Gateways are amazing. Eric the Unready feels the most infocomish to me. 😀

all great games!

Jorpho wrote on 2020-06-23, 17:50:

I wrote a review of this myself quite some time ago.
http://www.hardcoregaming101.net/gateway/

Cool! It seems you're not as big a fan as me, haha.