View source for Shadow of the Beast II


{{Refimprove|date=September 2025}}
{{Infobox video game
| title = Shadow of the Beast II
| image = shadow of the beast 2 cover art.jpg
| caption = Cover art by [[Roger Dean (artist)|Roger Dean]]
| developer = [[Ubisoft Reflections|Reflections]]
| publisher = [[Psygnosis]]
| director = 
| producer = 
| designer = Paul Howarth<br>Martin Edmondson
| programmer = Phil Betts
| artist = Jim Bowers
| writer = 
| composer = [[Tim Wright (Welsh musician)|Tim Wright]]<br>Lee Wright
| genre = [[Platform game|Platform]]
| modes = [[Single-player video game|Single-player]]
| released = {{Video game release|EU/NA|1990}}
| platforms = [[Amiga]], [[Atari ST]], [[FM Towns]], [[Mega Drive]], [[Mega-CD]]
}}
'''''Shadow of the Beast II''''' is a [[platform game]] developed by [[Ubisoft Reflections|Reflections]] and published by [[Psygnosis]] in 1990. It is the sequel to the earlier ''[[Shadow of the Beast (1989 video game)|Shadow of the Beast]]''.

==Plot and gameplay==
[[File:Amiga Shadow of the Beast II.png|thumb|left|''Shadow of the Beast II'' ([[Amiga]])]]
''Shadow of the Beast II'' finds the hero Aarbron in half-beast form, wandering the lands of Karamoon in search of his kidnapped sister. She had been taken away from her mother's cottage by the dragon-form of the Beast Mage, Zelek, servant to Maletoth. Along the way, Aarbron befriends the wise dragon Barloom and must defeat the evil dragon Ishran. Tree Pygmies in the forest and the [[goblin]]s in the Crystal Caverns serve as foes.{{clear}}

==Production==
As in the first game, the cover art for ''Shadow of the Beast II'' was created by [[Roger Dean (artist)|Roger Dean]] and the game was packaged with a promotional black T-shirt that featured Dean's artwork.

The music for ''Shadow of the Beast'' II and III was composed and produced by [[Tim Wright (Welsh musician)|Tim Wright]]. These titles featured a more extensive soundtrack and utilised ethnic samples taken from among other sources the same Korg M1 synthesizer that was sampled by David Whittaker for the original game (although in this case, it was the rack-mounted version the Korg M1/R). ''Shadow of the Beast II'' contained a total of 17 tracks, most notable of which are the [[title theme]] and the [[game over]] theme, both of which feature real sampled electric guitars.

==Ports==
''Shadow of the Beast II'' was ported to the Atari ST and FM-Towns computers, as well as the Mega Drive and [[Mega-CD]] platforms. The Mega-CD version had drastic changes made to it, the most noticeable being a new soundtrack complete with voice acted dialogue sequences and added FMVs. The in-game graphics were also slightly enhanced, and some areas of the game were redesigned to be less difficult than the original.

== Reception ==

''Shadow of the Beast'' and ''Shadow of the Beast II'' were reviewed in 1991 in ''[[Dragon (magazine)|Dragon]]'' where both games received ratings of 5 out of 5 stars.<ref name="Dragon169">{{cite journal
|title=The Role of Computers
|last1=Lesser|last2=Lesser|last3=Lesser|first1=Hartley|first2=Patricia|first3=Kirk
|journal=Dragon
|issue=169
|date=May 1991
|pages=61–65}}</ref>

A reviewer for ''[[Next Generation (magazine)|Next Generation]]'' gave the Sega CD version one out of five stars, saying that the game had been good at the time of its release on the Amiga four years before, but was now horribly outdated: "Even though the designers tried to spruce it up by adding better music, digitized speech, and a few rendered cut scenes, it still doesn't help much considering the game's overall stilted animation and poor control."<ref>{{cite journal|title=Shadow of the Beast II |journal=[[Next Generation (magazine)|Next Generation]]|issue=4|publisher=[[Imagine Media]]|date=April 1995|page=94}}</ref>

== References ==
{{Reflist}}

== External links ==
* {{moby game|id=/shadow-of-the-beast-ii|name=''Shadow of the Beast II''}}
* {{abime|id=1892}}

{{Shadow of the Beast}}
{{Ubisoft Reflections}}


[[Category:1990 video games]]
[[Category:Amiga games]]
[[Category:Atari ST games]]
[[Category:Creative Assembly games]]
[[Category:Dark fantasy video games]]
[[Category:FM Towns games]]
[[Category:Golden Joystick Award winners]]
[[Category:Platformers]]
[[Category:Psygnosis games]]
[[Category:Sega CD games]]
[[Category:Sega Genesis games]]
[[Category:Side-scrolling platformers]]
[[Category:Single-player video games]]
[[Category:Video games developed in the United Kingdom]]
[[Category:Video games scored by Tim Wright (Welsh musician)]]

{{Wikipedia attribution|original_title=Shadow of the Beast II|access_date=2026-03-05}}