Shadows: Awakening (PS4)

Sometimes I find myself scouting the PSN Store before I ever hit the internet for potential review projects. In this instance that's exactly what I did. I had been eyeing "Shadows: Awakening" for a while, and it was on my list of potential RPG pick-ups. Seeing the user based 5 star rating peaked my interest further. The PSN Store critics are usually more fair and honest than reviewers in general, because they have paid for the game out of pocket, and are more than willing to let you know if it's good, bad or somewhere between. Seeing a perfect rating is definitely something you don't often see. Upon playing my copy of the game I was personally met with a quality presentation certainly befitting of the praise. From the constant well voiced narration and the vocal NPC banter to the visuals, and gameplay the game felt worthy of it's price. While some compare it to Diablo, or oldschool DnD RPGs though I have to be the odd one out, and say this is more of a unique adventure. One that is in a class of it's own.

Shadows Awakening, as it were, is an action-RPG with heavy story based elements. It features a linear chapter based telling of the bond between a mysterious hooded man, a summoned demon, and past heroes who are resurrected for an elusive end goal. Supposedly all three characters, including the multi-faceted protagonist comprised of a few heroes, and the Devourer have an intertwined fate that will unfold in the finishing of tales untold, or rather lives unfulfilled. Swapping between the Devourer, and the selected heroes who each wield certain skills and weapons you will switch between planes of existence respectively solving puzzles while completing the various plot driven objectives at hand. Going between the mortal plane, and the spirit plane will reveal hidden areas, secretive NPCs offering unique side quests, and enemies both great and small.

In the way of RPG elements you will be upgrading the hero's base stats via the usual experience, experience. This includes the Devourer as well as the selected heroes and heroines of choice. You'll also be looting, buying, and equipping equipment of Diablo-esque rarities to better combat the threats at hand. Alongside those RPG standards there's also skills that can be unlocked, assigned, and used via three hotkey face button slots. This makes battles more fluid even though skills usually have hefty time refill periods before reuse is made available. Also new to this particular action-RPG is a Foe add-on system with which you can add perks pertaining to performance stats, game feature expansion, and elemental resistance among other things. Both the heroes, and the Devourer have their own unique Foe perks that can only be added to an allotted slot when that slot is unlocked at a certain level.

The finer things in this RPG are the brilliantly crafted, and themed environments. Those locales along with their key characters, and NPCs bring the world to life making it seemingly more living than even Diablo itself. Every NPC you run to is creatively voiced, and in such a way as to add Triple A flair to the already impressive above indie creation. Though the game is more linear, and chapter based there is a lot to do in the way of questing, looting, and leveling up. The added fact you can resurrect, and interchange your tag along heroic companions with their unique skills and weapon classes makes for something that is less than static. In fact each hero, or heroine is brought to life on their own terms in a fully fledged story as the summoned Devourer tries to figure out how to get himself out of the pactless situation the mysterious hooded man has bound him to.

Time value is fairly high in this game despite it being so straightforward in regards to the heroes, and heroines. Though you do get to pick your first hero or heroine from a three at the beginning of the game you will have a chance for others to be resurrected into your party. Complimentary to said party system you'll find that the only way to resurrect, and heal all members is to use gathered soul stones from the spirit realm/plane at special spirit world healing hubs. It adds an element of variety to the mix, and keeps perma-death out of the equation. It should also be noted that the game auto-saves progress, and that you can save progress yourself by tapping the touch pad, and selecting "SAVE" from the side menu. Upon death (either the Devourer or the selected Hero/Heroine) you will be taken back to the last save point. Thus it is imperative that you save often for progress sake.

For those of you curious about difficulty "Shadows Awakening" allows you to select from Easy to Extreme at the start. You can even choose an "Oldschool" option which takes away narration, and navigation for an older appeal.

The Verdict ...

Repeating myself I think "Shadows Awakening" earned it's generous customer rating. I think it is worthy of praise. Maybe not so perfect, but definitely near perfect. I think it does something different, and does it well. Though some might argue the gameplay is inspired I still feel it's a step in a new direction. The mechanics, and features are telling to this end. Things like the Foe system, and a multi-protagonist swap out system makes the game less Diablo and DnD, and something that's more along the lines of a creative hybrid. Both oldschool, and new. The added fact that you basically play as a soul stealing demon is also a feature not often, if ever, visited in action-RPGs of this pedigree. If you missed it upon release you can still get the game. I'd suggest that if you like action-RPGs definitely give this one a go. It is by Games Farm, and published by Kalypso.