Doctor Arcana and the Secret of Shadowspire conjured up on Steam

• Announcements by Jack Allin
• Published:

Sequel to 2018 puzzler The Cabinets of Doctor Arcana available now to download on Windows PC

For puzzle fans, Halloween treats come a little early this year, as there's a heaping helping of brain-teasers up for grabs in Doctor Arcana and the Secret of Shadowspire, the newly released sequel from indie developers Monolith Graphics and The Hideout.

In 2018, The Cabinets of Doctor Arcana dropped players off at the doorstep of the old, Gothic manor of the titular magician who disappeared years earlier. Once inside, the door slammed shut, trapping you inside until you completed his "maze of riddles and perplexing puzzles" left behind. The sequel begins on Halloween night, immediately after the events of the first game. Having survived your first ordeal and escaped, you are now an initiate ready for the next rite of passage to become a "master of the mystical arts." You find yourself on a "legendary island" with another creepy old building to explore, this time the ancient castle Shadowspire. There a whole new set of obstacles awaits, presented to you by the elders of an old order called Arcanum in order to test your mettle. Accepting this challenge is a point of no return, however, as the stakes couldn't be higher: succeed and live, fail and die. 

As with its predecessor, the follow-up is a hand-drawn, slideshow-style point-and-click adventure inspired by classics like The 7th Guest and Shivers, accompanied by another original soundtrack from Nox Arcana. Less a horror story than a horror-themed puzzler, The Secret of Shadowspire will send players through a variety of haunting environments in and around the castle, including cobwebbed hallways, ornate Egyptian-themed chambers and the eerie dark cemetery and its "forbidden" crypts, as teased in its latest trailer. There you'll find "over 50 perplexing puzzles, mind-bending mazes, and confounding conundrums" to solve, some of them natural, some of them mystical, and some of them deadly. As you progress, you'll discover "treasures buried in time" that will assist you in your quest, but there are also other user-friendly aids available, including an in-game walkthrough and a new mapping feature. Plus, "once again, Doctor Arcana will be ever-present to watch over players and lend his 'guidance' when needed."

If you're ready to gorge on puzzles, you can start feasting right away as Doctor Arcana and the Secret of Shadowspire is available now on Steam for Windows PC. 

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