Schattenfels Brings a Gothic Point-and-Click Adventure to Commodore 64 EasyFlash Cartridges

retro-modern releases Schattenfels: Chapter 1 — Beyond the Gate on C64 EasyFlash cartridge format, featuring two playable characters in a gothic vampire mystery.

The Commodore 64 has received a new Halloween adventure that combines mysterious castles, eccentric characters and traditional point-and-click puzzle solving. Developer retro-modern has released Schattenfels: Chapter 1 — Beyond the Gate, a free adventure available in both English and German. Set on October 31, 1886, the story follows Professor Fledermann, a specialist in vampires, and his young assistant Emil. The professor believes that Count Ottokar lies asleep inside Castle Schattenfels and will awaken at midnight. Unfortunately, the professor is reluctant to investigate personally, leaving Emil to explore the castle while he remains outside near the graveyard. Players can switch between the two characters, each possessing a separate inventory and access to different locations. The opening chapter contains nine rooms and three interconnected puzzle threads, allowing progress in one area when another problem proves difficult. The developer has deliberately avoided unfair dead ends and sudden deaths, making the experience more approachable than many old-fashioned adventure games. Presentation features include an original SID soundtrack, a detailed title image, atmospheric candle effects and sound cues. The game was created using FABULA C64, an adventure-development environment designed to simplify the process of building rooms, interactions and scripts. Distribution uses EasyFlash-compatible cartridge images rather than a conventional floppy disk. Supported devices include EasyFlash, Kung-Fu-Flash, Ultimate-compatible hardware and suitable emulators. PAL and NTSC operation are supported, while controls accommodate a joystick or compatible mouse. The release is explicitly the first chapter of a larger project, so players should not expect the entire mystery to conclude immediately. Nevertheless, Schattenfels provides a timely reminder that Halloween gaming does not always require expensive graphics or enormous monsters. Sometimes an old castle, a ticking clock and one very suspicious coffin are quite sufficient.