Posted on: February 8, 2025
Denis.Smolin
Verified ownerGames: 148 Reviews: 2
Crashes on Steam Deck.
Crashes on Steam Deck. Crashes on Steam Deck.
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9 Years of Shadows
Description
A fateful night of sorrow and ancient magic changed the life of a young child forever, and with it, everything else as mankind knew it. For 9 long years, the world has been submerged in the deepest of shadows, robbing every object and living creature of their color, their joy, and most importantly, hope.
Many brave souls have tried to venture inside the corrupting depths of Talos Castle, a long-abandoned orphanage from which the curse stemmed. All have failed, except for one. Armed with little other than her halberd and sheer nerve, Europa’s daunting quest is clear: enter the castle, find the source of darkness, and return color to the lands before it is too late.
However, this adventure is not for Europa to face alone. In her most desperate hour, Europa encounters Apino, a cute magical bear with the ability to heal, cleanse the corruption and protect his allies.
While exploring the castle, Apino can shoot powerful projectiles at enemies, open locked doors and shield Europa from ranged attacks.
Enhance your battle prowess by acquiring elemental armors. Master the might of lightning, water, earth and fire to defeat a vast assortment of enemies.
Use the elements to your advantage to travel the map dynamically, surprise bosses while you change armors on the fly and perform strong combos. Obtain special abilities to swim against waterfalls, travel underground tunnels or glide through warm air currents to access hidden locations and uncover their secrets.
Meet enigmatic composers that will aid you in your mission. With the special appearance of Michiru Yamane and Norihiko Hibino, both as NPCs and composers of several tracks tuned to 432hz, a soothing frequency used in what’s known as healing music. And there is more to music than meets the eye. Hidden bosses with musical attack patterns lurk in the shadows ready to strike. In fact, music is the binding thread that brings gameplay and storytelling together; from collecting musical notes, to performing a healing lullaby to restore your health, music is all but the soul of the game.
© Halberd Studios & Freedom Games. All Rights Reserved.
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Time to beat
6.5 hMain
9 h Main + Sides
9.5 h Completionist
9 h All Styles
Game length provided by HowLongToBeat
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Critics reviews
Softpedia
8.5/10
Nine Years of Shadows is a good Metroidvania with an impressive presentation and intriguing world. Gameplay mechanics will be instantly familiar to any genre fans and easy to understand for newcomers. There aren’t too many surprises in the narrative but it is imbued with a sense of optimism that kept me engaged.
Read full review »CGMagazine
7/10
9 Years of Shadows is a solid 2D action-adventure title that is very pretty to look at, and could be recommendable to those who don't focus on combat.
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User reviews
Posted on: March 29, 2023
EriVlt
Verified ownerGames: 148 Reviews: 2
The BEST METROIDVANIA OF THE YEAR
9 years of shadow could be the best game of the year. It has anime references to Sailor Moon, Athena no seinto and more. But the music is fucking awesome, the composer made the music behind Castlevania Symphony of the Night... So, you know what to expect. The game experience is also a very good one. You can discover even more about the world, the past of Europa and the other npc's. If you like games like Hades or Castlevania, please BUY TBIS GAME, YOU WON'T REGRET IT. About the bugs and crashes, it got fixed on the second day, so PLEASE DONT WORRY AND BUY THIS GAME.
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Posted on: April 29, 2025
skxud
Verified ownerGames: 51 Reviews: 4
Its unreal how dumb these devs are
The majority of the game was... fine. "Mid" really, but fun enough for me to continue. You spend the entire game upgrading and learning to use your "shield" which is a nice gimic in and of itself. But then literally at the end of the game the devs decide to take that ability away. It completly ruins how you've approached and played the game up until this point. No respectable development team should have played this game and thought to themselves... "yeah, this is a great idea." The way they design the last level just further demonstrates how out of touch they are with game design. There are these little cubby holes in the ground that are pretty much usless, but they're placed in a way that forces you to use them when trying to reactivate another abilty. It ruins your entire game play and throws your timing out the door. And for whatever reason, they decide to make the last part of the boss fight a bullet hell section. Which, you never at one point encounter throughout the entire game. Again, terrible execution on a terrible idea. But wait. Theres more! After finally beating the final boss... theres a glitch. You beat the boss, but if you're not careful and don't wait for the "A" button prompt to appear the game will hang at the end credits. And you'll have to go through the frustrating unfulling unstasifying boss fight all over again. You know, the one you literally just beat. I got this game for free and I still feel ripped off. Heres a link I found that echoed my thoughts on how pathetic the devs executed their game. Ya'll should be embarassed of this... failure. google: (spoilers) The Final Progression Ability feels terrible :: 9 Years of Shdows (steam review) They echo pretty much everything i've said.
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Posted on: October 7, 2024
A7medAboSeif
Verified ownerGames: 161 Reviews: 1
Boring and really not inspiring
The game tries to be something and fails Also, LGBT agenda again? yikes
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Posted on: March 29, 2023
Layoned793
Games: 24 Reviews: 1
One of the best Metroidvania out there!
The game it´s excellent, great mechanics, music and art. You should really give a try.
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Last 30 daysLast 90 daysLast 6 monthsWheneverAfter releaseDuring Early Access