Go back in time with classic MacVenture games from Zojoi

The developer responsible for the rebirth of Shadowgate has the rest of the original MacVenture games ready for re-launch.

Before you get too excited, these four games aren’t remakes like Shadowgate was, they’re actually just re-releases. Still though, that’s cause for some happiness alone for a whole bunch of gamers who remember playing these graphic adventures from the early days of the Mac (and the genre really), as they’re not the easiest games to find… well, pretty much anywhere,

Till now anyway, you’d have been hard-pressed to locate a copy of Déjà Vu, Déjà Vu II, the original Shadowgate, or Uninvited, that’d run on anything remotely close to a modern day machine. Enter the MacVenture series, a set of games that Zojoi says fans have been clamoring for since Shadowgate hit PC’s last year.

“Fans of the new re-imagined Shadowgate have been clamoring for more story-based adventures in the style and themes of the original MacVenture games,” said Dave Marsh, Founder of Zojoi. “So while we were developing our new projects, we did a face palm. Why not make these memorable classics available to them now and take a look into other platforms as well? It was a blast to see how awesome the titles have held up!”

The four games will be released as a part of a bundle pack or separately, so you can buy them however you see fit, and all will be available later this month (January) for both he PC and Mac (natch). Each game will include both the original Mac 128k black and white, and the Apple IIGS 4-bit color versions as well, so you get your nostalgic fix however you like. No word on pricing, but we’ll let you know as soon as we do. Here’s a detailed description of what’s in the virtual box for the games in question:

• Déjà Vu: A Nightmare Comes True – Theodore “Ace” Harding – retired boxer and private eye – wakes up in a bathroom stall, unable to remember anything and framed for murder. Players must solve a complex mystery before either their health, or the cops, bring them down.
• Déjà Vu II: Lost In Las Vegas – Players revise their role as Theodore “Ace” Harding, hard-knuckled gumshoe. Ace has been abducted by the notorious Las Vegas mobster, Tony Malone. Knocked senseless and left in the bathtub of a cheap Vegas hotel, gamers must re-trace their steps to unravel a mysterious conspiracy.
• Shadowgate – Welcome to Shadowgate, the living castle. Your destiny, as the last of a great line of hero-kings, is to stop the diabolical Warlock Lord before his black magic unleashed the hideous Behemoth and destroys the world.  Venture into the mystical castle, solve riddles, and use magic spells in the granddaddy of all adventure games.
• Uninvited – After an unfortunate car crash, players awake in front of a mysterious mansion, only to discover their brother is missing. With nowhere else to go, players embark on a frightening journey replete with menacing spirits, roaming zombies, and a horde of other dark dangers.