Shadow of the Beast is a side-scrolling arcade action platformer. Aarbron is a man with magical powers who was kidnapped as an infant by the dark sorcerer Malethoth. Through unimaginable experiments, the child was transformed into a monster to serve the villain forever as a servant and bodyguard. After some time, the sorcerer decides to kidnap another child and goes to the nearest settlement along with his minion. Aarbron clears the way and later, having killed the guards and civilians, suddenly realizes that he has just killed his own father, whose child is being taken away for the second time, after which he begins to take revenge, going in pursuit of the sorcerer.