Death Gate is a computer adventure game loosely based on Margaret Weis and Tracy Hickman's fantasy book series The Death Gate Cycle. Legend Entertainment released it in 1994. It received several gaming awards. The game is currently out of print. It was briefly available with a digital DRM-free re-release on GOG.com. It has been removed from the catalog.
Overview
Players take on the role of Haplo, who is the main character of the book series. Most of the realms in the books are used in the game, with the exception of the Seventh Gate, but they are not presented identically to the books. For instance, the Vortex of the game is a mix of features from the Vortex and the Seventh Gate of the books. The plot differs considerably and many major book characters are not featured, including Bane, Marit, and Alfred.
The game was released with a short story called "Forever Falling" written by Weis and Hickman with Kevin Stein. It tells the story of how Ciang became the Head of the Brotherhood of the Hand, an assassins' guild featured in both the books and the game. The story serves as backstory to events in The Death Gate Cycle and has little relation to Death Gate.
The box features the cover art that Keith Parkinson painted for the third book, Fire Sea.
Death Gate runs in DOS and features voice acting and SVGA graphics. At the time it was released, the graphics and animation were considered impressive.
Story
The player takes the role of Haplo and starts in the Nexus with Lord Xar. Lord Xar tasks Haplo to visit the four worlds, Arianus, Pryan, Abarrach and Chelestra and retrieve the seal pieces of these worlds. Xar plans to undo the Sundering with the Reformation, the act of recreating the Earth again and he needs the seal pieces to do so. To travel to the other worlds, Haplo is given a ship with a magical steering stone. If the symbol of a world is magically engraved on it, the ship can travel to that world through the Death Gate. Xar gives Haplo the symbol of Arianus, the realm of air, and Haplo sets sail.
Arianus
Haplo arrives on the lower realm of Arianus, inhabited by dwarves. A dwarf called Limbeck studies a machine called the Kicksey-winsey. Glowing figures try to get the Kicksey-winsey to work. According to the dwarves they are gods. Haplo manages to get aboard the ship of the gods and finds out they are elves. He finds human slaves that operate the ship. One of them is the cousin of the human king, King Stephen. Haplo brings a message to King Stephen and returns to the elven ship. He manages to break the glowing spell of the elves. The dwarves expel the elves and the elven ship leaves. Haplo manages to lure it into a human ambush and the slaves are rescued. On his search for the seal piece, Haplo goes to Skurvash, a smuggler's den.
He manages to catch the attention of Hugh the Hand and infiltrates the Brotherhood. In their tower he finds an artifact of Sartan origin as well as a manual to the Kicksey-winsey and the book of Pryan. He returns to the Kicksey-winsey, fixes it and uses it to dig a tunnel to a secret chamber. Inside he finds crystal coffins with Sartan. All are dead. Haplo manages to find the seal piece of Arianus in the chamber. He returns to the Nexus and hands Xar the seal piece. Xar then sends Haplo to Pryan, the realm of Fire. Haplo transfers Pryan's symbol from the book onto the steering stone and ventures through the Death Gate.
Pryan
Haplo lands near a huge citadel but can't enter. In the forest he encounters giant creatures called tytans. Being stuck he sets sail to a city he had seen. He encounters elves. He meets a group of elven and human children, including the elven prince. They take him to one of their secret meetings with a wizard called Zifnab. Haplo follows Zifnab. He meets Zifnab and his dragon. Zifnab seems to be a crazy wizard but Haplo learns that Zifnab is a Sartan. Zifnab senses that Haplo is very important even though he is a Patryn. He tells Haplo that the Citadel is supposed to generate power for the other realms and that the tytans are supposed to operate it. Inside the Citadel is the seal piece of Pryan.
But the Citadel is closed and can only be opened by the mensch with three specific objects, a golden staff, a golden sword and a golden hammer. The golden sword is carried by the human leader and is currently in hands of the human princess. The golden staff had been given to the elves but one king tossed it into a giant crevice known as the 'Maw'. The golden hammer is in possession of the dwarves. Haplo needs the humans, elves and dwarves to use their golden items to open the citadel. But he also needs to distract the tytans who seem to worship a crystal fragment and have forgotten about their tasks for the citadel. Zifnab also tells Haplo of the Wave, the balance of the universe and that his dragon was created by the Wave trying to restore the balance, in response to something very evil that happened a long time ago.
He gives Haplo a stone that will glow when he will encounter this evil and tells Haplo to crush the stone when that happens. Haplo retrieves the golden staff and convinces the human princess and the elven prince to accompany him to the Citadel. In the forest they free a dwarven girl from the tytans. The girls tells him that the hammer is stashed in the vault and that the vault is only opened when the dwarves go to war. With help from the princess and the prince, Haplo manages to steal the crystal fragment which enrages the tytans. Haplo tosses it into the dwarven tunnels and the tytans start attacking it. The dwarven girl obtains the hammer and the mensch open the Citadel and the tytans take their place. Zifnab allows Haplo to take the seal piece even though he knows that Lord Xar wants to conquer the realms and rid it of the Sartan. Haplo returns to the Nexus and delivers the seal piece to Xar who sends Haplo to Abarrach, the realm of Earth. On the crystal fragment, Haplo finds the symbol of Abarrach and transfers it to his steering stone.
