Much like when Doom changed the FPS genre for generations that followed, the original Diablo has remained a staple that countless games have followed, taking from it to make a dungeon crawler of their own. For me, the biggest challenge was jumping back into the game once I grew bored of it to experiment with other classes or characters. Taking a page from Marvel’s Ultimate Alliance, the newly released Shadows: Awakening brings a unique option to the table, allowing you to play as multiple classes, switching as you see fit.

The journey begins by placing you into the shoes (or lack thereof since he has no feet) of a wraith, bound to the spirit world. By taking on the guise of one of many puppets, you are able to transition between the worlds of the living and the dead as you see fit. This is a nifty mechanic that is used for a laundry list of reasons on the fly: you’ll find secrets tucked away that may not be visible in the other viewpoint, you’ll use it to interact with certain items, you’ll solve puzzles, and naturally it will provide a tactical advantage during combat. Early into the game I found myself becoming obsessive with meticulously combing each and every corner of the game world in both versions on the search for loot.

At the start, you can select one of three classes to take into the world of the living, and will gain additional classes as the story progresses. While there is a cookie cutter RPG story in place, much like that found in Diablo, I found it to be a bit long winded and lacked the spark that is needed to sink its teeth into you early on, skipping a good portion of it to jump quickly into what matters, the precious loot. If deep lore and a narrative is more your thing, there are plenty of journals and NPC’s eager to tell you more about the game world. If you choose to talk it out with any of the NPCs, prepare to be there awhile, since many are chatty Kathy-s and have nothing better to do than talk to you. Many of these characters only have minor dialogue choices being offered, which typically boil down to whether you’ll accept their super important quest or not. Taking a page from one of Jim Carrey’s later movies, I just said yes to everything and skipped the details.

Most modern RPGs allow you to create a character the looks and feels as if it’s your own. SA skips this entirely, with the only customization or visual changes coming from the loot you acquire. Most RPGs also make loot management a mini game within itself; the menus in this are so well categorized and explained that managing your inventory is rarely a chore, with options to completely hide items that cannot be used by the class you are viewing, making the decisions of what to keep or trash very accessible. Choosing what quest or side quest to track is just as easy, as the journal within the menus allows you to select which task you wish to set as your goal, removing any unneeded clutter from the game’s mini-map. The map is another highpoint, with easy to view objectives and areas of interest clearly being displayed at all times. In similar games, I’d often find myself getting frustrated, wandering around aimlessly in search of my objective. The normal fetch and “go kill ______ or X number of enemies” are all in place, leaving nothing noteworthy to make the title stand out in this department. Regardless, a number of the less interesting quest lines are completely optional if revisiting areas to grind out kills or seek out specific items are not your bag of potions.

The combat systems are accessible enough for those new to the genre, with just enough depth to keep those familiar with this style of games busy debating on what ability or skill tree to invest in. The abilities can be mapped to whatever face button suits your playstyle, with up to three being available at any given time. The combat itself is extremely basic; I am unsure if this was to lean on the side of accessibility or to promote playing on a higher difficulty. I found the normal difficulty to be overly easy, bordering on a casual option found on similar games with my archer sitting back and taking pot shots at enemies from a distance, all of which would often fall after just a single regular hit. It was hours into the journey on one of the more difficult bosses before I ever felt the need to use the special abilities which I typically reserved for just the occasion. When taking into account the ability to switch to the undead realm, effectively freezing the enemies within the living realm, allowing you to make tactical decisions or move outside of their attack range, death by combat is an afterthought. In the unlikely event one of your puppets fall in combat, all is not lost – your wraith can backtrack or push forward to one of many points that allow you to revive or change out the equipped avatars. This was a nice touch, as I found the constant need to backtrack in similar games to cause me to lose momentum and promote boredom in more tedious encounters.

The enemies you’ll face don’t offer much in the form of opposition, with boss characters being the only foes that put up much of a fight. The majority of these battles will require you to swap between worlds, keeping both your wraith and puppets fully upgraded, as well as equipped for whatever you may face. Regardless of what they have going on in the AI department, the character/creature models look decent while meandering around waiting for your blade or arrows to start their end of life transition. The same can be said for the highly detailed, sprawling yet linear levels that you’ll explore, often requiring exploration in both realms to find all of the chests or areas that can be looted. The uninformed could say this is a cheap way to inject longevity into a game by doubling down on the same areas, which is far from the case in this venture. It was interesting to swap between the realms to see the area crumble or be rebuilt before your eyes, since each are two completely different animals. The living realm shows bustling cities full of vendors and NPCs, making it feel like a real city in its prime, while the blue hued undead realm looks as if some demonic force snapped its fingers Thanos style.

The game offers a great deal of content for the price point, with a streamlined story that can be completed in around twenty hours, depending on how much time is devoted to exploration and side quests. I found my time with the game to be quite enjoyable with the exception of one huge complaint – the loading times. Regardless of area size, the load times are unforgivable, often taking two to three minutes for a small basement. If you find yourself venturing into a small area only to speak with an NPC and exit, you’ll be sitting there long enough to make a sandwich, eat it, and peruse your news feed, only to find you’ve still got time on your hands.

If you struggle with similar dungeon crawlers or have issues picking just the right class for the game, Shadows Awakening offers solid yet accessible gameplay with only minor concerns. While the lackluster story and horrendous loading times hold it back from perfection, it is a great addition to the genre and your collection.

9 out of 10

Pros

• Accessible Gameplay and Menus
• Huge Worlds to Explore
• Realm Switching Mechanic
• Variety of Classes

Cons

• Overly Easy at Times
• Horrible Load Times
• Weak Story

Shadows: Awakening was developed by Game Farm and published by Kalypso Media Digital. It was released on PC, PS4, and X1 September 4th, 2018 for $39.99. The game was provided to us for review on X1. If you’d like to see more of Shadows: Awakening, check out the official site.

 

Here at GBG we use a rating method that you are more than likely familiar with – a scale of 1 to 10. For clarification, we intend on using the entire scale: 1-4 is something you should probably avoid paying for; 5-7 is something that is worth playing, but probably not at full price; 8-10 is a great title that you can feel confident about buying. If you have any questions or comments about how we rate a game, please let us know.

Check out OpenCritic for a better idea of how our review stacks against others.