Shad'O

 PC
User Score
6.6

Mixed or average reviews- based on 47 Ratings

User score distribution:
  1. Positive: 25 out of 47
  2. Mixed: 10 out of 47
  3. Negative: 12 out of 47

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  1. Unity
    Dec 13, 2012
    8
    Shad'O is a beautiful, creative twist on a Tower Defense game. They did a great job making the story the focus of the game. It shows up in the art, the music, the voice overs, the atmosphere, and the gameplay itself. They smoothly blended the story into the mechanics of the TD gameplay. I wouldn't say that the TD gameplay in Shad'O is one of the best, but it is solid, and one of the mostShad'O is a beautiful, creative twist on a Tower Defense game. They did a great job making the story the focus of the game. It shows up in the art, the music, the voice overs, the atmosphere, and the gameplay itself. They smoothly blended the story into the mechanics of the TD gameplay. I wouldn't say that the TD gameplay in Shad'O is one of the best, but it is solid, and one of the most creative. It's a really nice change from other TD games. And there's plenty of variety available in how you choose your towers and spells to keep it interesting and make some replays worthwhile. One of the few negatives with the game is the sub-par English (from French) translation. It's not awful, but the flaws in the translation are noticeable when they show up. I really appreciate the psychological and philosophical focus of the story. You're trying to save the mind of a little kid, using the Light of consciousness to fight back the darkness. Take a look at some screenshots of the game. If the art appeals to you, I highly recommend buying it.… Expand
  2. Fideous
    Sep 23, 2012
    9
    Shad'o is a wonderful tower defense game created by Okugi studios. The game play is based around William, a nine year old boy whose memories have been lost and its up to you to recover them. The story unfolds as bits and pieces of his memory return to him. The storyline is intriguing as you continue to find out about William's past. William's 'friends' you summon are upgradable inShad'o is a wonderful tower defense game created by Okugi studios. The game play is based around William, a nine year old boy whose memories have been lost and its up to you to recover them. The story unfolds as bits and pieces of his memory return to him. The storyline is intriguing as you continue to find out about William's past. William's 'friends' you summon are upgradable in game, as well as 'spells' which you learn cause global effects to change game play. The sound track is outstanding and the visual graphics I've seen are very nice. I like the fact that you can re-challenge a level in 'nightmare' mode and there are mini games inside the game which change up the style in which the game is played. I truly appreciate the fact that the developers who are located in France have done an excellent job in providing both a French and English version of the game. I find the higher levels are appropriately challenging as far as tower defense game play is concerned, although for hardcore gamers, they may be too easy. What I would have liked to have seen is the ability to change the difficulty level at the Main Menu. Easy if you wanted to have your children play, Normal for most folks like me and Hard if you are an experienced tower defense fanatic.

    I appreciate the fact that the developers are interactive with the public and overall, the game appears to be free from glitches. Which means that the team spent a large amount of time making sure everything was in order -- which is good. With that said, a limited beta test at the beginning would have helped overcome the Quicktime installation issue that so many users encountered on launch -- which is bad. First impressions are important, but willingness to help if something does go wrong is equally important. I don't feel as if the game offers anything new to the tower defense style of game, other than an excellent storyline surrounding the mystery of William's disappearing memories and the gradual unfolding of the elements therein. It's noteworthy.

    It's a refreshing change of pace which doesn't cater to the teen and tween crowd of over-popularized mega violence and gore. The money is well spent and I am a true fan of the game. A solid 9 because its a great game, simply fun to play and deserves to be in your library of games. It's perfect for those young or young-at-heart!    … Expand
  3. AndreaGriffin
    Sep 7, 2012
    8
    Shad'O is a very nice tower defense game developed by a French gaming company. I'm about halfway through the game right now and I've found it to be very enjoyable. Controlling the friends of the young boy William, you need to fight back the darkness which has enveloped his memories. Graphically, this game is wonderful. The maps are dark, a little creepy, and at the same time accessible toShad'O is a very nice tower defense game developed by a French gaming company. I'm about halfway through the game right now and I've found it to be very enjoyable. Controlling the friends of the young boy William, you need to fight back the darkness which has enveloped his memories. Graphically, this game is wonderful. The maps are dark, a little creepy, and at the same time accessible to younger players. The towers have a cartoony, quilted, stuffed animal look to them which fits very well into the overall theme. The gameplay is nice enough; the gimmick in this tower defense is that you can only build in areas from which the darkness has been driven, which limits your initial tower placement and makes tower placement very important. You can spread your towers out to try to reach more advantageous areas of the map, or clump them together for a more focused result. The spells available in the game are also interesting and varied; there are a few attack spells, spells to protect your towers, spells to heal your memories at the expense of your towers, etc. Overall, the spells are balanced and they are all useful. Shad'O also includes some "puzzle" maps, which have their own set of rules. One map, for example, has towers pre-built throughout the map, but you can only activate one at a time - leading a series of hectic yet strategic decisions on which tower should be active at any given time. These special maps aren't necessary to complete the game, but finishing them does give you small advantages on all maps. Unfortunately, aside from the darkness mechanic, this game has very little to offer mechanically that other tower defense games don't already have. Also, even on fairly powerful machines, you may experience some slowdowns. For some reason it is very demanding on one's video card and CPU. Still, it is very fun, well produced, and well worth your time.… Expand
  4. littemarilou
    Sep 21, 2012
    9
    I downloaded Shad'O out of curiosity, and have enjoyed it thoroughly! Especially as it's been developed by an independent studio, which we all need to encourage. I find the balance between price and playability totally favorable, love the backgrounds and aesthetics, sound effects; and the music is great! While playing other games, I usually turn the music off, but I here found myselfI downloaded Shad'O out of curiosity, and have enjoyed it thoroughly! Especially as it's been developed by an independent studio, which we all need to encourage. I find the balance between price and playability totally favorable, love the backgrounds and aesthetics, sound effects; and the music is great! While playing other games, I usually turn the music off, but I here found myself keeping it on. It… Expand
  5. Just_Ice
    Sep 21, 2012
    8
    Well, it's very nice to see games like Shad'O ! The small gaming company Okugi Studio created a game with a soul : not only fun, but with an atmosphere. They want gamers to dream - quite rare for a tower defense game - and we are dreaming indeed ! Not the game of the year, but for the small price it would be stupid to miss this piece of mystery...
  6. depegamer
    Oct 4, 2012
    10
    excellent, this game blew me away, superb graphics, great game-play and storyline! but a crazy scenario! I loved the 3 different endings! it's huge!
    play and replay for different purposes!
  7. mk12
    Oct 5, 2012
    8
    Shad'O is a good tower defence with an intersting concept, realy nice graphismes in an immersive world. what to say more, try it, sound design isn't the most part i liked but i had good time with this game.

Critic Reviews

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Metascore
68

Mixed or average reviews - based on 7 Critic Reviews

Critic score distribution:
  1. Positive: 2 out of 7
  2. Mixed: 5 out of 7
  3. Negative: 0 out of 7
  1. Destructoid
    Nov 4, 2012
    65
    Shado'O offers a solid tower defense experience, albeit one that doesn't take advantage of its unique setting and story. While mechanically sound, despite some frustrations when it comes to unit placement around the fog, it's nothing you probably haven't played before.
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  2. Absolute Games
    Oct 11, 2012
    75
    Shad'O is a beautiful story of overcoming one's fears wrapped in a TD-style gameplay.
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  3. XGN
    Oct 10, 2012
    70
    Shad'O has a nice story which is interwoven with classic tower defense gameplay. The gameplay doesn't offer much innovation but the beautiful surroundings sure make up for that.
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