Shadow Brides: Gothic RPG

About

"Shadow Brides: Gothic RPG" is a single-player Role Playing Game with a captivating plot and stunning graphics. Engage in grinding as you navigate through the game's beautiful mechanics. The game invites you to a Thanksgiving Ceremony, where you will face the choice between a "Sweet Poison or a Bitter Antidote".

Genres & Tags

Play Modes

Single-Player Play through the game's story or campaign solo

63%

Audience ScoreBased on 843 reviews

graphics88 positive mentions

grinding10 negative mentions

The graphics and animations are solid, providing a visually appealing experience.
The gameplay is engaging and offers a decent progression system for both free-to-play and paying players.
The developers seem responsive to player feedback and are actively working on improvements.

The tutorial is excessively long and unskippable, making it frustrating for new players.
The game feels heavily pay-to-win, with many players reporting difficulty progressing without spending money.
There are numerous bugs and stability issues, including crashes and problems with account recovery.

graphics
129 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
68%
29%
3%
The graphics in the game are widely praised for their high quality, stunning artwork, and smooth animations, making them a standout feature that attracts players. Many reviewers appreciate the character designs and visual aesthetics, although some express concerns about the originality of the artwork, suggesting it may be derivative or borrowed from other sources. Overall, the visuals are considered a major strength of the game, contributing significantly to the overall experience.
- “The graphics are phenomenal and there are so many things to unlock which will keep you playing for days to come.”
- “The artwork is high quality; the animations are smooth; the gameplay is engaging... for a fairly new game it's actually astonishing how polished and user-friendly everything is.”
- “Love the game and the artwork.”
- “The only good thing are the graphics, the bad extremely poorly designed tutorial that takes more than 20 minutes.”
- “But I really don't like how they are just stealing artworks.”
- “If you want to play Illusion Connect but with worse graphics and translations, then this is the game for you.”
story
87 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
24%
67%
9%
The game's story is often criticized for being linear and lacking depth, with many players feeling that it abruptly halts after the initial chapters, leaving them with repetitive grinding and minimal narrative progression. While some appreciate the interesting premise and character designs, the overall execution is seen as unfinished, with missing backstories and a lack of engaging content beyond the tutorial. Players express a desire for more substantial storytelling and character development to enhance their gaming experience.
- “The story is quite thrilling.”
- “Great artwork, interesting story and I can't wait to see what else I discover.”
- “Love the gameplay, love the graphics, great storyline, plays really easy, I can't get enough of it.”
- “The story stops around chapter 4, and then it's just one unexplained fight after another.”
- “The story is weak.”
- “The story randomly just stops after someone says 'I’ll give you this thing'?”
gameplay
64 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
50%
42%
8%
The gameplay has received mixed reviews, with some players appreciating its engaging mechanics and smooth animations, while others criticize it for being repetitive and lacking originality, often comparing it unfavorably to "Illusion Connect." Many users noted issues with synchronization, bugs, and a steep learning curve due to unexplained mechanics, leading to frustration, especially in competitive modes. Overall, while the game features solid graphics and enjoyable elements, it suffers from a lack of innovation and optimization.
- “I like the game itself, gameplay is nice and the artwork is very good.”
- “The artwork is high quality; the animations are smooth; the gameplay is engaging... for a fairly new game it's actually astonishing how polished and user friendly everything is.”
- “I really enjoy the game it has really good graphics the gameplay is amazing I love the turn-based style that it has it does have a lot going on for it as to what you can do during the battles but I love that even more and then it even has little extras you'll notice throughout the game all in all I highly recommend it very good game one of the best phone RPGs out there.”
- “Unexplained mechanics and synchronous game modes that are just bad in every way (scarlet, crusade) demand a lot of time for very little reward.”
- “The gameplay is literally a copy of Illusion Connect, so there's nothing new.”
- “The combat mechanics are boring and cheap-looking; it purposely puts you against stages you have no hope of winning.”
character development
12 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
50%
25%
25%
Character development in the game is marked by impressive character designs that many players appreciate, though there are significant criticisms regarding the originality and depth of these characters, with several users noting similarities to designs from other games like Illusion Connect. While the graphics and aesthetic appeal are praised, the overall character development is seen as lacking, with repetitive designs and a confusing story detracting from the experience. Despite the engaging gameplay concept, the character development fails to deliver a unique or compelling narrative.
- “Big fan of the concept of gameplay which is similar to a card game and a tabletop-like approach; character designs are a plus.”
- “I've only started playing this game and so far so good. The character designs are top-tier, fairly done gacha rates, and the mini reward events are quite good with the rewards given.”
- “Nice character designs, the game runs smoothly, and it's something that can easily pass the time without being annoying in any way.”
- “Even some characters are the same, with the same character design, the same initial lineup, and even the arena and concept of energy are the same.”
- “Just recycled character designs from Illusion Connect; it's so half-assed that the sprites don't even match the character portraits.”
- “This game is a shameless copy of Illusion Connect, right down to stealing the character designs.”
grinding
10 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
100%
Players find the grinding aspect of the game to be excessively tedious and repetitive, often overshadowing any potential story elements. Many express frustration over long tutorials and a lack of resources, which forces them into a grind-heavy experience that feels more like an idle game. Additionally, issues with game resets have compounded the dissatisfaction, leading to a sense of lost progress and engagement.
- “After weeks of grinding and leveling, there was a glitch in the game and the devs reset the game twice, making people lose so much that was earned legitimately, through farming or purchases. They provided compensation and then took it back the next day, citing it was a mistake, which made players lose items and characters again.”
- “The moonlight essence grind to actually max your characters out is long and tedious.”
- “This game is designed to keep you grinding, but is so stingy on resources that you have to play it like an idle game.”
monetization
10 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
10%
90%
The monetization aspect of the game has mixed reviews; while some players appreciate the absence of forced ads and minimal in-app purchases, others criticize it as a cash grab with misleading advertisements and similarities to other games. Concerns about the use of stolen art and uninspired gameplay further contribute to the negative perception of its monetization strategy.
- “Great graphics and art, no ads, and fun as free-to-play with minimal in-app purchases.”
- “What remains is a cash grab gacha with zero reason to actually spend unless you really want to top an empty leaderboard.”
- “Game is an uninspired cash grab, stolen HUD elements and identical gameplay to Illusion Connect.”
- “Kinda comes off as a 'sus' cash grab, so beware beware.”
stability
8 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
100%
The stability of the game has been criticized for frequent freezes and bugs, particularly when navigating menus, which can take 1-3 seconds to load. Users report various glitches, including screen freezes and oversized icons, leading to a frustrating experience, while some players have noted a lack of developer responsiveness to these issues. Overall, the game is described as buggy and at times unplayable.
- “There is quite some instability when returning to the menu; it took 1-3 seconds (freezes) to load.”
- “Buggy, and ultimately unplayable.”
- “Your game freezes after changing from one screen to another, e.g., from mail to any other screen!”
optimization
4 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
25%
75%
Overall, users acknowledge that while the game requires significant optimization and debugging, customer support is responsive and helpful in addressing issues, often compensating players for early-stage bugs. The gameplay is generally smooth and enjoyable, but improvements in optimization and reward systems are still needed for a better experience.
- “Nice character designs, the game runs smoothly, and it's something that can easily pass the time without being annoying in any way.”
- “Understandable and good gameplay, but still needs a lot of stabilization and optimization.”
- “Needs more optimization, convenience, and better pay prizes to make it easier to get SSR.”
- “This game needs deep optimization and debugging.”
music
4 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
75%
50%
The music in the game has received mixed feedback; while some players praise it as excellent and a highlight of the experience, others note issues with copyright, specifically referencing the use of music from the 2004 film "Van Helsing" by Alan Silvestri. Overall, the game's music contributes positively to its atmosphere, despite the copyright concerns.
- “Artwork, music, and gameplay are all aces on all fronts.”
- “I'm loving the game! The character models are outstanding, and I can tell the developers put loads of care into making this game. The music is excellent as well.”
- “This game has good artwork, and the music is captivating, though it features copyright opening music from the Van Helsing (2004) film, composed by Alan Silvestri.”
- “This game has good artwork, but it has copyright opening music from the Van Helsing (2004) film, composed by Alan Silvestri.”
- “This game has good artwork, but it has copyright opening music from the Van Helsing (2004) film, composed by Alan Silvestri.”
emotional
1 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
100%
Players express strong emotional reactions to technical issues, particularly feeling heartbroken when progress is lost due to errors. The frustration of being unable to access their achievements after investing significant time and effort leads to a desire for resolution and a potential return to high ratings.
- “It was a five-star rating when I played it, but then I went to log in today and it said there was an error in an index. Now it won't let me play. I reinstalled it four times and nothing; it's still an index error. You guys fix that, and I'll give it another five stars. It was heartbreaking today because I've unlocked so much and leveled up so high, only to have it taken all away because of an error.”