Shadows: Heretic Kingdoms Preview

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Don’t you just love games with generic titles? I mean, when you name a game, you’re basically giving it a tag that’s going to be the difference between people forgetting about it and mixing it with other titles, or make it memorable and snappy. Now, not everybody can get this right. GamesFarm, the devs of Shadows, seemingly have some trouble with this part of game development. However, we could shift the blame to the developers of Kult: Heretic Kingdoms (or Heretic Kingdoms: The Inquisition, as it’s currently known), since Shadows is a follow-up to the game released way back in 2004. Since I was properly introduced into the wondrous world of PC gaming sometime during 2006 or 2007, and Kult isn’t really a well known classic, I didn’t play it yet. My research, however, concluded that the game is well worth a play through. Indeed, I was amazed with the amount of content, nuanced choices and intelligent writing that was present in Kult, not to mention that the game is really fun, maybe even more so than some modern hack ‘n’ slash games. The point of this is that there’s a certain amount of pedigree and meaning behind the overly generic title of Shadows: Heretic Kingdoms.

So let us begin by explaining the basics of this little known of series, because I believe Shadows deserves such treatment. Bear with me, it’s good stuff.

In Kult, the player is in control of Alita, a member of the inquisitive order that does its best to suppress an ancient religion by murdering its followers. This organization used a Godkiller sword to actually kill their god, and are afraid of him coming back. Now, as you progress through the game, you can embrace the inquisition and do its bidding, join the followers of this god and try to get him back, or do your best to remain neutral in the whole endeavour. There are lots and lots of shades of grey here, and don’t take anything for granted, as there are numerous points where the game’s story splits that guarantee multiple playthroughs, and there are six entirely different endings to boot. Who would have known, eh? With the god dead, the world is seemingly dying too. The game is reminiscent of the Kain/Raziel series when it comes to comparing the atmosphere of the two universes, and that is always a good thing. Now, it’s the kingdoms of „heretics“ that try to revive their deity that are the source of the game’s generic title. See? There’s a point to this paragraph.

And now that I’ve explained what I wanted to explain, let us finally talk about Shadows: Heretic Kingdoms. After getting some quality time with Kult, I was much more inclined to play Shadows than I originally was. As it turns out, the game still has quite a long way to go. But first things first, gameplay is what will probably interest you the most.

In Shadows, you will be in control of a mythical Devourer – a malignant spirit that steals souls from the dead and dying creatures only to use them to empower himself, as well as his „puppets“. This game is no ordinary hack ‘n’ slash, I can tell you that. Instead of selecting a hero, for example, you will first steal a soul from its grave, choosing your first puppet – a hero to control. The developers promise to include numerous heroes, as well as monsters (although appearances often deceive) in the final version of the game. At the time of writing, there are only two initial souls to choose: a warrior and a rogue, with the mage yet to be unlocked. This is a spin on the classical party system that the more methodical RPGs often use. You can switch between any controlled puppet at any time, including the Devourer, and since they all share the same physical body, combining their abilities is what is most important in combat. While using our favourite ghostly demon, the world is green and decaying, while the more humane puppets run around the normal, beautifully rendered world. At the very beginning, the game does look a tad bit bland, but once you switch to one of the souls you’re in control of, the visual fidelity gains significance. Dynamic shadows, rich textures, pretty colours and effects – Shadows: Heretic Kingdoms is quite a looker. However, as it currently stands, it also has quite high system requirements. It also crashes when trying to change some graphical options, so if you’re a budget gamer, I suggest waiting until it gets optimized properly.

Setting the eye candy aside, there are also other uses of switching between the physical and ethereal worlds. Aside from the obvious bonuses of solving puzzles and traversing the levels using world-specific pathways, you will quickly notice just how rare and expensive the healing items are in this game. It’s much more economic to devour souls and use them to heal your puppets. And if any of them falls in combat, switch to Devourer and hunt down some souls to revive them almost instantly. The system isn’t punishing, and rewards combining available skills and characters, but the game isn’t easy. You will often be swarmed and forced to retreat, but since the combat if quite intense and hit feedback remains consistent, this will rarely cause frustration. Of course, you will also find loads of loot, level the heroes up and try to create a devastating combo of multiple powerful skill sets you’ll have at your disposal at any time. Some rebalancing of certain powerful enemies should be conducted, but nothing too big. The gameplay is solid and will surely entertain the players once properly rounded off. All you Doctor Who fans will also be delighted by the fact that Tom Baker did most, if not all, of the narration and dialogue voice-over. in Shadows: Heretic Kingdoms. He provides walls of text with flair and is sure to interest even those who aren’t his fans. It’s good stuff, really. The music is unfortunately generic and uninteresting, and some sound effects are still missing.

In the end, Shadows has loads of potential and is already a fairly good game, despite some of the downfalls of its Early Access status. I, for one, am excited to see what becomes of this title, and whether its quality will be able to avoid falling into obscurity. If the developers follow the path this game’s predecessor waded through, we’ll get one of the best hack ‘n’ slash titles of the year, I’m sure of it.

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