Shadows Awakening Preview: My Impressions From The First 2 Hours

Shadows Awakening Preview – The First 2 Hours

 

Shadows Awakening is a new action role playing game from developers The Games Farm.  They are a relatively new developer you may know from their other recent title Vikings: Wolves Of Midgard.  Shadows Awakening is the next game set in the Heretic Kingdoms universe and it is a sequel to the original Shadows game.  I am playing the game for review but it is embargoed until release day, Friday 31 August when it will launch on PS4, Xbox One & PC.  So I can’t tell you too much at the moment.  However, I will give you a brief preview of the game from my first 2 hours of playing it.

 

In Shadows Awakening you play as a Devourer, a hulking demon-type spirit who resides in the Shadow Realm.  The Devourer can consume the souls of fallen heroes and control their bodies as “Puppets” as the game describes them.  Players can switch between characters at will with a simple tap of the left and right bumper buttons.  They must switch between realms to use The Devourer’s and the heroes’ different powers and abilities to progress.

 

 

 

 

Gameplay

 

Gameplay is a mix of action RPG style combat and puzzle solving.  Using The Devourer’s skills and those of the heroes in combat and solving puzzles.  Some of the secrets can only be seen in either realm.  So it encourages switches between them to fully explore the environment.  The game also has Diablo-style loot with lots of chests and destructible scenery.  They will drop random items, weapons, equipment and money known as Silver in the game.  In typical RPG fashion,  characters gain XP and skill points from combat, progression and completion of quests. Which they can then use to level up their stats and abilities.

 

 

 

 

 

Controls

 

The controls are easy to get to grips with and intuitively designed for a controller.  Movement is with the left stick and attacks/abilities are assigned to each of the face buttons.  You can click the right stick to lock onto enemies and moving the right stick switches between enemies.  LB and RB switches between characters in your party, once you have progressed enough you will have The Devourer and multiple heroes to switch between.  I just got my second hero which was from a side quest so if I had skipped it I wouldn’t have unlocked him.  Left trigger uses healing power which you have to collect throughout the game world to keep it charged up for when you have to heal.  Characters also seem to heal over time as well though so you can stay out of combat to regen your health as well if your low on power.

 

 

 

 

Game World & Character Progression

 

So far I have been through a undead crypt, a small outdoor area and have just got to the main city hub.  I’ve done a few side quests which were pretty good and ranged from fetch quests to completing mini dungeons.  One of which unlocked the aforementioned hero and I was rewarded with lots of loot and money for completing them.  As well as earning XP and skill points.  The story has also been really enjoyable so far.  It has fully voiced dialogue with good voice acting and the dialogue is also displayed as subtitles with different dialogue options to respond to NPCs with.

 

 

 

For my full review of Shadows Awakening on Friday 31 August 2018 and upcoming gameplay videos and live streams, stay tuned to Stoffel Presents.