Shadows: Awakening

Cannot get the game to run without an active internet connection. I have NOT (sorry for caps) blocked the game through firewall, but the game simply crashes if firewall is set to "Stop All Internet Activity" or if my router is turn off. Only good thing is that I got it for free so nothing is lost (in my case).

I'm quite a fan of the ARPG genre and I have to say that this game is now among my favorites, if not my favorite. I S:A you play as a demon that lives in a parallel world (the Shadow Realm). As the demon consumes the souls of its strongest enemies, it's allowed to manifest itself as those souls in the physical world. This premise allows for two clever things. First, instead of a single-character with a class, you play a menagerie of disparate characters (everything from a giant wasp to a wolf-man) that have unique skill sets. You have three at a time, but can switch them frequently. Using the right character for the situation and finding complimentary skills among your favorite characters is a key part of the fun. Second, switching from the physical to the Shadow Realm freezes real-time, reveals different enemies, opens pathways and reveals runes and secrets, reinforcing the exploration aspect of the game and allowing for some clever mechanics on puzzles and boss fights. This good premise is then combined with solid, fluid ARPG mechanics, simple puzzles that are a nice change of pace and encourage paying attention your surroundings, good music, superb voice-acting, good graphic design and a plot and characters that really bring out a wholesome feel of adventure (the cast of characters, particularly the demon, are quite endearing). Yes, outstandingly for ARPG's, there's an actual plot here, with true dialogue choices, a karma system and "choice-and-consequence". If any of this sounds appealing to you, try it - you won't regret it.

It was with great surprise that, one day, I saw this game pop up on my list. The devs did well by those who purchased Shadows: Heretic Kingdoms, and that alone deserves words of praise. As for the game itself, it's more of the same (with some tweaks), which can be good or bad, depending on how you felt about the previous chapter. Me, I was most definitely satisfied.

First off, if you played Vikings - Wolves of Midgard and liked it, you will like this game too as it plays pretty much the same. The story actually continues some time after where Heretic Kingdoms: The Inquisition left off. This is a definite plus in this age of constant reboots and revamps. I finished the original game before playing this and appreciated Awakening much more because of that. Thus I sincerely recommend playing it before this one. As for gameplay, it is basically an ARPG where you can switch between 4 active characters at will (you have much more in total later on). But its focus is quality, not quantity. This is not a loot grinder where you kill hundreds of enemies every minute. Actually the loot and enemies are very limited (but more on that later). You will basically never fight more than 10 enemies at once and even then, such occasions are rare. The main focus seems to be on the story and it was pretty enjoyable. The game is split into 6 chapters and takes a while to get through. Everything is well voice acted and many story segments are different between the 3 main characters you can choose at the start. This is the first game that makes me feel like another playthrough would be worth it just to see the story differences. As for the mechanics, I had one major gripe and that is loot and economy. Most of the affixes are pretty useless and the game does its best to always give you the most disappointing trash (except fixedly placed items) and drop rates are terrible overall. The economy is extremely stingy. Items at merchants cost ludicrous sums and you sell items only at 10% of their value. Enchanting items with essence is also incredibly expensive and no farming is possible as nothing respawns. Because of this, you will just choose your 3 favorite characters and play through the entire game with them because there is simply not enough money available to gear them all. Overall a 7.5/10. 8 if you played its predecessor.