Shadows over Silesia is a dark action adventure game with fantasy elements set in real medieval Europe. With true historical events in the background, you'll be facing intricate puzzles, challenging battles and cunning stealth. You will come across possessed devil worshipers, sexual demons, and beas...
Shadows over Silesia is a dark action adventure game with fantasy elements set in real medieval Europe. With true historical events in the background, you'll be facing intricate puzzles, challenging battles and cunning stealth. You will come across possessed devil worshipers, sexual demons, and beasts from hell, as well as creatures well-known from European mythology.
Dark fantasy story
Europe is in the middle of religious upheaval and many preachers predict that the end of the world is near. The year is 1428 and the Hussites have just set out on their Silesian campaign. These heretics appear to be the biggest threat in the kingless country. But true evil of a completely different kind is lurking nearby and it does not intend to engage in religious disputes.
You will experience everything from the point of view of the two main characters. Hynek, a grumpy Hussite hetman who doesn't hesitate to swear or mess around with anything, and Lothar, a Hospitaller knight, a man of good education and manners who stands alongside his brethren in the front line of the Silesian defense. Each has their own motivations and views of the world around them, and different equipment and abilities. Their fates will soon become intertwined. Will they face one another, weapon in hand, or forge a fragile alliance to stand shoulder to shoulder against a far worse enemy?
Challenging puzzles
The original puzzles you will come across on your dangerous journey will most definitely be tough. Classic adventure games of the 1990s were a big inspiration. You will have to take advantage of your surroundings, look for objects, obtain information, and solve puzzles or encoded messages. Some problems can be solved in multiple ways, or they can be cleverly worked around.
Sneaking in the shadows
Sometimes you'll have to blend into the shadows and sneak past enemies to avoid being detected. Following their patrol routes and habits will help you find the best path.
Tough combat
The combat system is easy to understand but it takes practice to fully master it. Remember one thing: being outnumbered is a problem! If three or more opponents attack you at the same time, you will die! The key is to take advantage of their mistakes, wait for the right moment, and then attack. You will face not just knights, villagers, and robbers, but also various supernatural beings who are not to be underestimated.
THE GAME IS FULLY BLIND ACCESSIBLE. More information on the game's website.
To use a real historical setting and place and mix a bit of dark fantasy into a game is something that I absolutely love and when you use such an amazing art style, I mean, this is one of the most good looking games I have ever played but man, I have some gripes with this game.
First of all, this is not a RPG but an isometric view action-adventure game that relies heavily on stealth in some levels (first gripe) that do not let you to stealthly subdue your enemies, has a camera control that it takes a while to get used to (second gripe) where you move it around with your mouse scrool wheel and a combat that might seem deep and methodical at first, but you just gotta take a swing, move back, take a swing, back and repeat that until the enemy is dead (third gripe) and some of them seems to not have stamina restrictions while you do (fourth gripe).
If you can get past those points above, you're gonna have some great fun with this game, otherwise stay away.
Refunded.
I really, really wanted to like this game. The setting is great and the characters interesting but the gameplay feels like a point-and-click game trying to become and action game. I don't know how else to describe it. I don't feel like the game lacks polish. It's just that it was implemented in a way that is not fun for me to play.
I want to know what happens after the point I got fed and uninstalled the game, just not enough to actually play it, so I'll just watch a full playthrough in Youtube and be done with it.
At the time of this review, I've played the game for 11,5 hours and have just started chapter 11 of 13.
The game is obviously an indie production and because of that I'm not going to focus too much on the graphics – they’re basic but they get the job done and they're probably not what is going to either make or break the experience for you.
The music is surprisingly pleasant and it has the potential of going onto my playlist.
Where the game shines are its story and writing. I've been genuinely engaged in the plot and I'm looking forward to seeing how it ends. The dialogues are good as well with most of the voice acting being decent to very good, although it would nice not to have the mishmash of accents (again, it's an indie game so I'm not going to hold that against it).
What I really dislike are the controls. I've found the game barely playable on the controller with mouse & keyboard being only a slight improvement.
Not only is controlling the player's character VERY clunky but combat-wise it has probably the worst design choice I have ever seen in a game: You control the character’s movement and the direction he faces separately – this in itself has been done (and done well) in other games but there are 2 main problems with it in this game: 1) all too often the character doesn’t follow the mouse/right stick so you end up with your back to the enemy and in general being a quick-and-agile combatant is not really doable; 2) what absolutely breaks the experience is that in addition to controlling the direction, you also have to choose the distance at which the character is going to strike. This often results in your character swinging past the enemy and missing him even though the enemy was in the direction the character was swinging. In summary, the combat is a chore rather than a fun mechanic. I think it could be fixed by making sure the character is more responsive and getting rid of controlling the distance of the strike. Just stick to the tried-and-true ke
Let's get one thing straight right off the bat: it's no Darklands, even if it desperately wants to be its successor and clearly took inspiration from it. The game severely lacks polish, even for an indie title, and any real depth to its gameplay. Which is frustrating, because there is an enormous potential wasted on a pretty shallow gameplay and the possibility to, well, have Darklands 2. Instead, it's Darklands 2: Electric Boogaloo.
