Somewhere deep in indie space, Shadows: Awakening has been creating quite a stir. Developers Games Farm released Awakening as the continuation of the Heretic Kingdoms Saga. With a continued plot line, that is able to stand alone as well. Good things have been said despite some technical issues. Here’s the low down on this sleeper of a game.
Released at the very end of August, Shadows: Awakening offers a real-time tactical combat system and is a single player RPG of course. There are multiple demons and characters to play as when going through the universe. Jump between the shadow world and back to the normal world all while devouring souls and defeating enemies.
This time the secret council the Penta Nera have been eliminated, but they aren’t really gone. The demons that have devoured their souls and memories now use them to cause havoc in the mortal world. So this begs the question, as your demon character, will you do the right thing and save the world or succumb to your own dark desires?
As a top down hack and slash, there is a small window to really get in to a plot. Here, there is a decent story but it doesn’t go deep, but stays consistent which can be appreciated. In other cases, some of the chaos within the game stems from repetitive game play. There are different enemies to fight but the balance seems to be a bit unbalanced. Sometimes, the enemies get a bit boring as if you’ve killed them a hundred times and this can be a turn off for some. All other issues have stemmed from the game moving too slowly in its pacing and having some technical issues.
On the plus side, the replayability is high. There is at least 60 hours of game play total but this includes all of the side quests. With each character and mission, there is new dialogue and a new path. For some reason, this tends to be overlooked after completing the first round, possibly due to the repetitive nature of the game, or exhaustion.
Overall, despite the minor issues the Shadows: Awakening has, the plot is still a good one. The game play is fun and easy at times. Dialogue is funny and a bit crude at times for those that can appreciate it. Last, who doesn’t want to play as a conflicted demon who has the choice to do whatever they want along the way?
8/10
Available on PS4, Xbox and PC
