Shadows: Awakening

 PlayStation 4
Shadows: Awakening Image
Metascore
72

Mixed or average reviews - based on 14 Critic Reviews What's this?

User Score
6.0

Mixed or average reviews- based on 17 Ratings

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  • Summary: Shadows: Awakening is an isometric single-player RPG with real-time tactical combat. You take control of a demon summoned from the Shadow Realm to consume the souls of long-dead heroes and embark on an epic adventure.
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Shadows: Awakening - Official Release Trailer

Critic Reviews

Score distribution:
  1. Positive: 7 out of 14
  2. Mixed: 6 out of 14
  3. Negative: 1 out of 14
  1. DarkStation
    Sep 17, 2018
    80
    Although the option to play a variety of starting puppets and see the story beats change nudges up the replayability factor, Shadows: Awakening does become repetitive. There are moments where characters feel unbalanced, and load times can border on egregious. Overall, though, Shadows: Awakening breaks the mold of the action RPG and reshapes it in some entertaining ways while still retaining enough of the genre to appeal to fans.
  2. Softpedia
    Sep 26, 2018
    80
    If not for some annoying technical issues and the generic plot, Shadows: Awakening would have probably been one of the best aRPGs launched this year. Still, there are a lot of good things that I've experienced during my playthrough, such as the innovative combat system that offers lots of tactical options, the smooth switching between characters, as well as the eye candy landscapes. Heretic Kingdoms remains a franchise with great potential, so I'm very curious to see where developers are going to go from here. Obviously, there's room to improve the formula, but I'd like to see something new as well.
  3. Game Over Online
    Oct 8, 2018
    80
    Shadows: Awakening could use a longer power curve, or to dole out some more significant fights or abilities, to keep things from feeling stale. It’s the best possible version of what it is, but after a while, a lot of the shine wore off and it started feeling like a particularly violent part-time job. Still, if you’re looking for a new dungeon crawler, this is a pretty good one, and I did enjoy the first twelve hours or so.
  4. Video Chums
    Sep 13, 2018
    73
    I thoroughly enjoyed my time with Shadows: Awakening and hope that the developers eventually work on a sequel that irons out all of its issues. Until then, this is a mostly solid action RPG that's worth checking out.
  5. Eurogamer Italy
    Oct 1, 2018
    70
    An entertaining Diablo-clone with some clever gameplay ideas and a solid combat system. The lack of any kind of multiplayer is quite disappointing.
  6. Playstation Official Magazine UK
    Sep 23, 2018
    70
    It might not be the most unique game ever made, but it has charm where it counts. [Issue#154, p.80]
    All this publication's reviews
  7. GameCritics
    Oct 16, 2018
    45
    While the story may be uninspiring and some mechanics don’t quite stick the landing, I found myself returning to Shadows Awakening mostly for the amusing stories of the puppets. Even so, the characters alone can’t carry the game — maybe fans of this IP will be happy to jump in and will find the mediocre gameplay enough, but for those like me, it’s hard to recommend this title as a starting point to the Heretic Kingdoms world.

See all 14 Critic Reviews

User Reviews

Write a Review
Score distribution:
  1. Positive: 1 out of 6
  2. Mixed: 4 out of 6
  3. Negative: 1 out of 6
  1. veldor
    Sep 4, 2018
    9
    This game has great mechanics of gameplay even if sometimes it is a little slow. The story is good as I have seen for now, the graphics areThis game has great mechanics of gameplay even if sometimes it is a little slow. The story is good as I have seen for now, the graphics are appealing and good, I enjoy this game !!… Expand
  2. Kai82
    Sep 8, 2023
    7
    A good action RPG with some interesting ideas. To be fair it started really great but at the end it dragged a bit. The main gimmick is thatA good action RPG with some interesting ideas. To be fair it started really great but at the end it dragged a bit. The main gimmick is that there are two realms you can traverse. The normal world and a shadow realm where ghosts, spirits and demons live. They use this well for riddles and puzzles but to be fair again I can see this improved a lot. The other thing is that your character is a demon that captures (or devours?) souls. Basically you switch between the characters that the demon has captured (3 are available and if you got more you have to switch). The main 3, where you can chose only 1 per playthrough, have their own personalities, sub stories and dialogues. The others are a bit mixed. Some are just there while others have also a lot to say and do. However this worked great and got me attached. The gameplay is an action RPG like Diablo or all the others. You fight monsters, solve riddles and level up your characters. There are choices and optional quest that lead to different outcomes and endings. Like I said the game dragged a bit towards the end. Also I had some problems to get better weapons for some characters as the drops were mixed (Some characters got a lot of weapons while I got nothing new for others for hours). The shops are a bit expansive if you don't want to grind for money. The presentation was really good. I liked the voice actors and the graphics create an atmospheric world. The soundtrack is a hidden gem. Sadly there were some bugs. I had a few crashes and the worst was after I defeated the final boss. Because the battle dragged on too much I did not replay it. Also the melee characters are weaker on higher difficulties just as a warning. Overall I liked the game for the 2 realms, interesting idea with the characters and gameplay. However it is not flawless. I give a 7/10 and say at the beginning I would have gone higher.… Expand
  4. Schueli
    Aug 11, 2022
    7
    in Action-RPG, welches ähnlich wie die Diablo-Reihe aufgebaut ist. Hat echt Spaß gemacht, wenn auch die ewigen Laufwege teils echt genervtin Action-RPG, welches ähnlich wie die Diablo-Reihe aufgebaut ist. Hat echt Spaß gemacht, wenn auch die ewigen Laufwege teils echt genervt haben, so dass ich am Ende keine Lust mehr auf die letzten Nebenmissionen hatte. Im Großen und Ganzen aber ein gutes Spiel, zumal man es auch derzeit für rund 10 Euro ergattern kann.… Expand
  5. iMaxPlanck
    May 29, 2020
    6
    This game clearly took a lot of cues from other actual RPG's and feels like a light, sandbox version of Divinity 2. Clearly a hack-n-slash butThis game clearly took a lot of cues from other actual RPG's and feels like a light, sandbox version of Divinity 2. Clearly a hack-n-slash but with a smattering of RPG decision-making elements throughout. The writers made an attempt at lore which quickly becomes convoluted and almost silly, but at least the effort is there.
    SOme of the sidequests could be very easy to miss and some of these could almost never be solved without checking Google for some off-the-wall solution that only the writers thought of.
    The gameplay, while repetitive, is fun as it is not too complex and fine for just a chill gaming session. The concept of parellel worlds is fun and enriches some of the puzzles, but as other reviewers have noted, fighting as the Devourer gets tedious and disengaging pretty quickly. ANother cool concept is having all the different souls within the one demon and some of the NPC interactions that are caused by that.
    My favorite aspects of this game were the maps, graphics, and score... all quite pleasing and tend to make you forget that you're just playing a hack-n-slash. Still not enough though to keep me powering through past 30 hrs to see the actual ending(s). A decent value on sale for $10, but I don't see how people could sink 40-60 hours into this title.    … Expand
  6. Shenandoah
    Jan 6, 2021
    5
    The concept of switching chars is pretty fun, but technically the game is too bad. It looks like a game on a PS3 and it doesn‘t run at 60 fpsThe concept of switching chars is pretty fun, but technically the game is too bad. It looks like a game on a PS3 and it doesn‘t run at 60 fps (???). Instead it feels below 30 fps, the gameplay animation is very stuttering. For me this brakes most of the immersion of this game.… Expand
  7. bersi84
    Jan 6, 2019
    0
    Edit:
    Weeks later after the release I could finally finish this game. To be honest it was not worth the wait and it still bluescreens so    Edit:
    Weeks later after the release I could finally finish this game. To be honest it was not worth the wait and it still bluescreens so much. I have never ever in 25 yrs of gaming played a game that breaks so often than Shadows. This is why I changed my rating from 3 to 0 and can definetely not recommend buying this game. It is a shame because some details could make it worthwhile and probably deserve a 5 at least but for me having bluescreens so often on a console and not being able to play it for weeks there is no excuse and there has not been any compensation. I even contributed to the bug finding process so yeah... will not drop more money to Kalypso.

    Short up: I would give this game a 6/10 but after encountering a game breaking bug myself and read about numerous others existing I cant rate this game higher before these things are fixed. Also there are a lot shortcomings in comparison to genre kings that cannot be ignored. Read on for details.

    This game tries to live up to expectations from games like Diablo 3 and incoporate a decent mix of solid graphics, nice music and an exceptional multi character handling. Without spoilering too much there are two different realms in the world. And however character you control things and enemies are different. Bridges are intact for one and are broken for another. Through your adventure you can take control of other individuals which can be controlled from this point on and are switched seemlessly in battle. They can also be equipped as normal characters in a game.

    The storyline is okay but actually not really catching to me. The gameplay mixes hack n slash with looting and puzzles. The puzzles are mostly short mannered, some of them are a little bit enraging but that might individually depend. I personally dont think they add much beneficial to the game. The characters you control have the typical range of warrior, ranger and mage plus something special I dont want to spoiler and are well diversed yet not overly creative. A lot of the things are inspired by genre products that were already on the market.

    Current problems and shortcomings:
    - The mix of controllable characters is well made but can be hugely exploited in the game which at times doesnt seem balanced to me.
    - Monsters dont respawn in areas leaving you unable to regain money, items or experience if you feel like you are needing a boost. this might be a problem for unexperienced players or players of high difficulties.
    - The backtracking from and to quests or areas is at times not entertaining and could ve be improved
    - Some puzzles are clunky and not really entertaining.
    - There are bugs with quests that get abandoned. There are bugs where the game cannot be finished (multiple)
    - The game bluescreened like 10 times on the first day of 12hrs continously playing which is an absolute no-go for me
    - Inventory management between the individual characters is horrible and takes too much involvement
    - Talent and character points cannot be resetted. If you fail at distribution, live with it.

    The list can go longer. After all I feel a bit sad because I really liked the game but with the bluescreens, game breaking bugs and quite a lot shortcomings it just does not deserve ratings as the ones current genre kings have and truely deserve. Yet the game can be fun at a budget price, the current prices are NOT fitting to the product. With hopefully soon to be relased patches this game can be a budget grab for players that love the hack n slash genre.
    - The walking time feels unbearably slow at times, same as with some elevators in towns which have little movie sequences that you can effectively skip which takes unnecessary game time.    … Expand

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