Format: Cartridge
Genre: RPG
Developer: Climax Entertainment
Publisher: Sega

By the time the very nearly one-man band in Hiroyuki Takahashi delivered this first "Shining" game to market, "Wizardry" was already a decade old. But compared to even later genre entrants, like the Atari ST's "Dungeon Master", Shining in the Darkness' visuals are incredibly sophisticated, with flourishing colors, smoothly animated movement, fantastically drawn indoor town elements, and a plethora of different enemies, many of which are pleasantly unnerving. The game's icon-based user interface is not only innovative, but miles past its rivals. If there is a knock, it's that there isn't much variety to dungeons themselves, with only a few themes on offer.

It's difficult to find much information about composer Masahiko Yoshimura online, which is a shame, because their work on this game produced some of the Genesis' most atmospheric music this side of "Sword of Vermillion". The shop and town songs are cheerful, but carry with them an air of impending duress. These make way to the map and castle songs, which are as saturated with tension and foreboding as any video game music this reviewer has ever heard in his thirty-plus years in the hobby. Like all good battle themes, this one never grows old, and the game's sound effects-- including the iconic voice-simulation sounds-- are wonderfully executed.

Like the much later PC release "Diablo", Shining in the Darkness takes place in a single town, bordered by a single, deep, multi-leveled labyrinth. And like the aforementioned Blizzard classic, this "Shining" debut uses simple-yet-deep combat and spell mechanics to deliver its unique brand of hardcore dungeon crawling. This game's auto map is only accessible via a spell, so like most early 3d maze games, graph paper-- or print-outs readily available on the web-- are a must. Despite the same-ey looks of many areas, the level design is exceedingly commendable in that the mere structure of the areas, with their re-visitable interlocking paths, somehow makes them memorable.

Like all of Sega's early Genesis RPGs, Shining in the Darkness is a masterful display of minimalistic storytelling, where cut-scenes and other forms of overt story progression are separated by hours upon hours of nothing but hardcore dungeon exploration and delightfully entertaining combat, where the player is left on edge waiting to see what's next. The ridiculously story-driven "Dragon Quests" and "Final Fantasies" of the world just don't deliver the same meaty sense of satisfaction as games like this one. As far as its place within the tile-based 3d maze sub-genre, it's a colossal step forward from its forebears. The only thing holding it back from the very top drawer is its lack of scale compared to its same-platform contemporaries, like "Phantasy Star II"-- a by-product of its shoe-string budget.