9 Years of Shadows
- March 27, 2023
- Halberd Studios
- 5h median play time
Get on Steam9 Years of Shadows is a side-scrolling Metroidvania by Halberd Studios. Travel alongside Europa, a brave warrior determined to enter the mechanical giant Talos and stop the corruption within before it swallows the world in darkness. Battle through tainted creatures, meet charismatic musicians and uncover the truth behind the curse that robbed the land of all color. Many have tried to venture in…
PC
Windows
Reviews
- Gorgeous pixel art and vibrant visuals that create an immersive atmosphere.
- Engaging soundtrack that complements the gameplay and enhances the overall experience.
- Fun and fluid movement mechanics with unique armor abilities that add variety to traversal.
- Frequent crashes and technical issues that disrupt gameplay and progress.
- Linear level design with limited enemy variety, making exploration feel less rewarding.
- Unskippable cutscenes and boss introductions that can become tedious during repeated attempts.
- gameplay379 mentions
- 31 % positive mentions
- 63 % neutral mentions
- 6 % negative mentions
The gameplay of "9 Years of Shadows" is characterized by its vibrant visuals and smooth mechanics, offering a mix of exploration and combat typical of metroidvania titles. While the unique health and healing mechanics, particularly the "active reload" system, provide an interesting twist, they can also lead to an imbalance in difficulty, making some encounters feel overly easy or frustratingly challenging. Overall, players appreciate the game's artistic presentation and fluid controls, but many express concerns about the linearity, repetitiveness, and abrupt changes in gameplay mechanics, especially towards the end.
“The gameplay is smooth, the cutscenes are very well done.”
“The game has been a breath of fresh air, combat's simplicity gets much deeper with the armor change mechanic and the complexity of ranged attack being linked to the health bar is an amazing risk-reward mechanic.”
“The gameplay shines with its enemy design, and especially with Europa, Apino and all of their abilities.”
“The main detractor for the gameplay is having the energy bar tied to health.”
“The gameplay itself is seriously lacking and the boss fights, instead of being interesting or testing skill, are almost all nuisances.”
“The decision by the developers to incorporate the mechanics of health bar with projectiles and evasion without any invincibility frames is confusing and frustrating.”
- music363 mentions
- 63 % positive mentions
- 36 % neutral mentions
- 1 % negative mentions
The music in the game has received mixed reviews, with many praising its beautiful and immersive qualities that complement the stunning visuals. While some players find the soundtrack engaging and reminiscent of classic titles, others criticize it for being repetitive or lacking memorable tracks. Overall, the music is often highlighted as a strong aspect of the game, enhancing the atmosphere despite some concerns about its fit with the gameplay and environment.
“The music is beautiful and dreamy.”
“The art and the music are great.”
“The music elevates the atmosphere and the game is really pretty.”
“Every environment's music so far has gotten old quite fast.”
“The large amount of notes in the melodies, combined with a short loop, makes it so the music doesn't calmly fade into the background.”
“The music feels uninspired and, at times, clashes with the tones of the environment.”
- story251 mentions
- 35 % positive mentions
- 59 % neutral mentions
- 6 % negative mentions
The story in "9 Years of Shadows" has received mixed reviews, with some players appreciating its emotional depth and charming characters, while others find it disjointed and lacking in meaningful development. Many highlight the game's beautiful visuals and music, which enhance the narrative, but criticize the pacing and simplicity of the plot, describing it as somewhat cliché and underdeveloped. Overall, while the story has its moments and can be engaging, it often feels overshadowed by gameplay mechanics and lacks the depth some players desire.
“The story is well-thought-out, the music is masterfully made.”
“The story is simple yet heartwarming, gameplay is so solid it can be and let's not talk about the pixel graphics!”
“In the end, 9 Years of Shadows really impressed me with its gorgeous art, fun & unique movement, varied & challenging bosses, and engaging story.”
“Unfortunately, the story is a bit disjointed and never really comes together in a satisfying way.”
“You meet few characters throughout the game, but there is no meaningful character development, and they don't advance the story.”
“The story is confusing and ends in a weird way.”
- graphics229 mentions
- 69 % positive mentions
- 29 % neutral mentions
- 2 % negative mentions
The graphics of "9 Years of Shadows" are widely praised for their stunning pixel art and vibrant color palette, often described as some of the best in recent indie titles. Reviewers highlight the beautiful art style and animations, which enhance the overall aesthetic experience of the game, making it visually captivating. However, some critiques mention that while the visuals are impressive, they do not fully compensate for gameplay shortcomings, suggesting a disparity between the game's artistic presentation and its mechanical execution.
“The visuals are stunning, the pixel art is amazing, and the importance of colors in this game make it really enjoyable to play and watch.”
“The graphics and art are beautiful, and the soundtrack's decent.”
“Gorgeous visuals and music, interesting characters and world to dig into, crunchy platforming and systems, and doesn't overstay its welcome.”
“The graphics carry this game completely; the designers/programmers need to step up and really understand what this genre is all about.”
“While the gameplay is easy to pick up and play, especially if you're familiar with metroidvania games, the star here are the graphics and music which will easily keep you hooked for the whole game.”
“I understand that they want to have smooth rotation animation for some attacks, but doing that the easy way by ignoring the pixel-bound aesthetic of the game ruins the entire appeal of pixel art.”
- grinding27 mentions
- 0 % positive mentions
- 4 % neutral mentions
- 96 % negative mentions
Overall, players find the grinding aspect of the game to be excessively tedious, with a lack of fast travel and meaningful backtracking contributing to a frustrating experience. The need to constantly refill resources and the drawn-out nature of combat encounters further detract from enjoyment, leading many to feel that the game becomes repetitive and unenjoyable. While some appreciate the level design and traversal mechanics, the overall sentiment is that the grinding elements significantly hinder the gameplay experience.
“You'll need a second life for grinding.”
“I ended up quitting the game simply because I was not having any fun playing it, simply because the game mechanics are tedious and annoying.”
“The final 'upgrade' the player receives completely switches the entire gimmick of the previous 99% of the game into something significantly more tedious and obnoxious to work through.”
- stability25 mentions
- 8 % positive mentions
- 0 % neutral mentions
- 92 % negative mentions
The game's stability is a mixed bag, with many players reporting frequent bugs and glitches, including game-breaking issues and crashes, particularly during boss encounters. While some users noted improvements post-launch patches, others still experienced significant stability problems, such as map malfunctions and disappearing projectiles. Overall, the game is described as "buggy" and "janky," which detracts from the experience despite its solid mechanics.
“Runs great on my Steam Deck, which is a perfect home for it.”
“Runs great on the Deck.”
“This game is a giant mess; there are lots of glitches preventing enemies from being saved in the bestiary.”
“The map design could be better; currently, there is a bugged achievement that does not unlock, and unfortunately, with the current version (1.0.19), there still seems to be a chance that the game freezes. It did so twice on the final boss for me.”
“But sadly, I experienced more glitches, lag spikes, visual bugs, and crashes than any other game in recent memory.”
- atmosphere18 mentions
- 56 % positive mentions
- 28 % neutral mentions
- 17 % negative mentions
The atmosphere of the game is widely praised for its stunning art style and engaging music, which together create a soothing and immersive experience. Many players appreciate how the music complements the game's tone, enhancing the overall ambiance and storytelling. While some note a lack of originality in gameplay mechanics, the combination of visual and auditory elements contributes to a captivating metroidvania experience that keeps players engaged throughout.
“Amazing art style, great atmosphere, fairly good music.”
“Finally, the soundtrack was engaging and boosted the atmosphere a lot!”
“Looked pretty, nice music and atmosphere, however the gameplay is lacking.”
“The atmosphere really went hand in hand with the art style which made the gameplay of this game feel awesome.”
“Without spoiling anything, this game has great flow/combat/area design/music/boss fights/atmosphere that it truly had my attention and focus through my entire playthrough.”
- character development13 mentions
- 62 % positive mentions
- 15 % neutral mentions
- 23 % negative mentions
Character development in the game is generally viewed as lacking, with few characters introduced and minimal progression in their stories. However, the character design and art style receive high praise, with many players appreciating the unique visuals and abilities of the characters. Overall, while the aesthetic elements are celebrated, the depth of character development leaves much to be desired.
“I personally enjoyed the character design and storyline, as well as the game mechanics and weapon use. I found it very natural to adapt to this kind of game even though I had never played a Castlevania/Metroid style format, so I would definitely recommend this game to anyone looking to explore different game mechanics and styles.”
“The art is simply gorgeous - character designs are unique, and the various biomes/areas are captivating.”
“Europa is a great character design; I would like to see her in a follow-up where the developers take a few more risks.”
“You meet few characters throughout the game, but there is no meaningful character development, and they don't advance the story.”
“I would prefer if it would go deeper in those powers.”
“Character design is fine.”
- emotional12 mentions
- 100 % positive mentions
- 0 % neutral mentions
- 0 % negative mentions
The emotional aspect of the game is highlighted by its heartwarming and touching narrative, which explores themes of sadness and loneliness, enhanced by beautiful art and a captivating soundtrack. While the gameplay may lack depth outside of boss encounters, players find the story compelling and resonant, making it a memorable experience despite some frustrations with difficulty. Overall, the emotional journey is a significant draw, leaving a lasting impact on those who engage with it.
“Beautiful game with an emotional story, though average exploration.”
“The story has an emotional tone about sadness and loneliness.”
“It's a fairly touching story.”
- replayability7 mentions
- 0 % positive mentions
- 43 % neutral mentions
- 57 % negative mentions
Overall, the game is criticized for its lack of replayability, with many reviewers noting that it offers little incentive to play again after completing it. While the visuals and soundtrack are praised, the linear gameplay, ease of enemies, and absence of features like New Game Plus contribute to a consensus that the game does not warrant a full-price purchase due to its limited depth and replay value.
“I would still recommend the game as the visuals and music are excellent, but I can't recommend buying it at full price given the lack of depth or replay value.”
“The only downside is that the game has 0 replayability unless you have missed some achievements.”
“The game felt a bit easy and gives no reason for replayability.”
- optimization6 mentions
- 50 % positive mentions
- 0 % neutral mentions
- 50 % negative mentions
Overall, the game's optimization has received mixed reviews. While some players report significant improvements in performance following recent patches, including fixes for freezing and stuttering, others still experience issues, particularly with specific boss encounters and general design flaws. Steam Deck users have noted a smoother experience, although the game is not officially approved for the platform.
“I understand it is hard to optimize a game for PC, and I’m super grateful they are working even harder to make the game flawless in performance.”
“- No performance issues for Steam Deck owners (and the patches have fixed typical launch-window deck issues like cutscenes not playing properly).”
“Still, I hope the team will improve performance for everyone.”
“It's a solid game, but it has some performance issues. The last boss has a bug that makes it randomly do damage to me without any visible hits, and the overall design is quite poor, which is disappointing.”
“After the last patch, the technical issues I was experiencing, such as the game freezing on loading screens and the stuttering frame rate, have cleared up.”
“I still hope the team will improve performance for everyone.”
- humor3 mentions
- 100 % positive mentions
- 0 % neutral mentions
- 0 % negative mentions
The humor in the game is noted for its unexpected charm, blending elements reminiscent of classic titles like Castlevania and Metroid, which some players find amusing. Additionally, the abrupt difficulty spike of the final boss is described as hilariously surprising, contributing to the game's overall comedic tone despite some design issues.
“I didn't think I was going to like it, but this game is the perfect blend between Castlevania and Metroid, and I think that's kind of funny.”
“Then the final boss is one of the most hilariously abrupt difficulty spikes I have ever experienced in a game.”
“The game is funny and beautiful, but it has some design problems.”
