Retrospectives Archives - Shadow Gaming

Vana’diel Reclaimed: Why Final Fantasy XI Was the Ultimate ‘You Had to Be There’ MMO

It is hard to explain to modern gamers what it felt like to step into the world of Vana'diel for the first time back in 2002. There were no flashing…

Chris May 23, 2026

Retrospectives

A SiN Franchise Retrospective: Why the 90s Most Ambitious Shooter is Making a Comeback

The 1998 Rivalry That Time Almost Forgot You probably know that 1998 was basically the "Year Zero" for the modern first-person shooter. We had heavy hitters like Half-Life and Unreal…

Chris May 15, 2026

Retrospectives

Sea Dogs: A Deep-Dive Retrospective

The gaming landscape is surprisingly thin on the front of "serious" pirate games. Sure, we had the lighthearted fun of Monkey Island or the strategy-lite vibes of Sid Meier’s Pirates!,…

Chris May 5, 2026

Retrospectives

The Wizards of Kirkland: A History of Monolith Productions

If you’ve ever felt the sheer visceral satisfaction of nailing a cultist to a wall with a harpoon or felt your heart skip a beat when a creepy little girl…

Chris May 2, 2026

Retrospectives

Spiders: An RPG Studio’s Legacy

It is a bittersweet day for fans of the "AA" gaming space. For nearly two decades, the French studio Spiders has been the scrappy underdog of the RPG world, consistently…

Chris April 30, 2026

Retrospectives

MMO-History 101: A Look Back at Ultima Online

In 1997, a game called Ultima Online (UO) dropped us into a world that felt less like a piece of software and more like a second life. Developed by Origin…

Chris April 3, 2026

Retrospectives

Twenty Years of Shaking the Spires: An EverQuest II Retrospective

It is hard to believe we have been wandering through the shattered remnants of Norrath for over two decades now. When EverQuest II launched in November 2004, it was the…

Chris March 30, 2026

Retrospectives

The Digital Wild West: When Norrath Ruled the World

If you were around in 1999, you probably remember a very different internet. It was a time of screeching 56k modems, AOL chat rooms, and a total lack of hand-holding…

Chris March 29, 2026

Retrospectives

The Barbarians, the Beasts, and the Blunders: A Golden Axe Retrospective

If you grew up with a controller in your hand during the late eighties or early nineties, there is a very high probability that you spent a significant amount of…

Chris March 3, 2026

Retrospectives

From Silicon to Storm: The Epic, Rollercoaster History of Blizzard Entertainment

If you’ve ever lost a weekend to the "just one more quest" loop or felt the frantic adrenaline of a Zerg rush, you’ve felt the "Blizzard Polish." But before they…

Chris February 4, 2026