As with many adventure games, this series is not afraid to add humor to its contents, even if it's frequently Black Comedy.
General
- The fact that all of the trophies for the Compilation Re-release version are earned for dying in some of the various ways. None of them are earned for actually progressing or beating the game (beyond getting far enough to reach specific deaths).
- When you try to turn on the car with KEY 2, there's this moment of Department of Redundancy Department (the GBC version combines this with Black Comedy, but still):NES: You just fell for the oldest trick in the book!! You've been blown into little bits. You just fell for the oldest trick in the book!! You've been blown into little bits.
GBC: If you were still alive, you'd curse your lack of caution that allowed you to fall for this deadly trick! (x2) - The mugger. He keeps trying to mug you even after you give him two black eyes AND a broken nose (and unless you're playing the NES or GBC versions, a swollen mouth and broken teeth). At that point you might as well give him money just because of how determined he is.
- Of the black comedy variant if you shoot the paperboy at the stand.You blow the brains of the paperboy. Probably the only time he'll be on the front page.
- At one point, you end up meeting a large red... ball thing. In order to get it to move, you need to set the hawk from the above puzzle loose. Upon solving the puzzle, the game's dialogue makes one think it's absolutely speechless at how strange the event was ("Well, there you go.").
- What happens when you break the record player. "The phonograph no longer works. I think you broke it. Go to your room."
- The giant spider death. Sounds terrifying, right? Not really. You come across a trapdoor, but the game urges that you do not go down there, as there's a spider that's "bigger than a breadbox". Keep trying to go down, and the game will continue to warn you. After a few attempts, however, you'll be allowed to go down...and you get killed by the spider. The game's remark on the situation? "Well, what do you know. It's a giant spider." The accompanying "you idiot" goes unspoken, but is certainly implicit.
- After you have just suffocated yourself by lying in a coffin: "Most people die first and then go into the coffin."
- The small cookie monster passing by the screen in the NES game. A funky tune that seems really out of place for the game plays as he does.
- When Dracan awakens and kills you in the Windows 3.x version, the death description truly speaks for itself. "The figure that was previously frozen in the ice has now thawed out. He is very grateful that you set him free. However, he IS the evil one. He feels you must die. You do."
- Giving the Warlock Lord the paddleball in ''Beyond Shadowgate's finale. It must be seen to be believed.
- Try talking to the mirrors in the remake. Jair and Yorick could almost pass for a comedic duo.
- You strike a pose and flex your muscles saying, "All this and brains, too!" Much to your chagrin, Yorick laughs uncontrollably for a few seconds too long.
- The Hidden Death: Am I Drunk Yet? Activated in the barracks by wearing goblin armor and drinking the grog off the goblins' tables. The player gets so wasted that he starts to sing at the top of his lungs. The narrator implies that the goblins in the barracks ultimately kill the player because either his disguise was coming apart, or because his singing was just that terrible.
- You swipe the mug of grog from the table, quickly gulping down its contents... the drink goes straight to your head. In a flash, you jump on the table and begin dancing a merry jig... the jig is most definitely up when you start singing the bawdy tune, "Me and the Farmer's Daughter!"
- Most of the hidden death discriptions qualifty. These include smashing a mirror into deep space, releasing a beast in the mines (the hard part is finding the key), causing the mummified king to attack you, music causing your head to explode, ringing a gong and summoning an army of angry goblins, summoning a demon which pulls you into hell, trying to ride the Wyvern, getting turned into a mouse and being crushed by a goblin, and the aforementioned drunkard death.
- Trying to sic one of the elementals on the Dragon in the remake.
- Also in the remake; trying to get to the far waterfall after freezing the lake. Jair attempts a random ice-skating maneuver each time you attempt it.
- Sometimes, if you die in a really stupid way in the remake (Eat > Dragon), the Narrator/Death will say this:
- "Tales of your great sacrifice will be told across the land..."
- In the remake, you can backhand Yorick immediately after he makes a random quip to shut him up for the rest of the game. You might feel bad about it later, though. Maybe.
- Dying to a slime tends to provoke burst of laughter on players, probably due to how blunt it is.
- "No pain, no nothing. You were slimed."
- In the original PC version, if you give the ultimate KO to the cyclops and kill him with the sword, you can then punch his corpse in the nose if you wish. But the game will say:
- It's not nice to hit someone while they're down.
- Hitting the chained woman/werewolf
- You hit the woman square in the face. What a great warrior!
- "This gargoyle brings back unpleasant memories of your mother-in-law's visits".
- Several of the deaths in the remake are caused by jumping out windows or into fire or some other stupid act. In fact, jumping into the pit in the first room with the Warlock Lord will cause the description to mention that you see him give a puzzled look as you fall.
