Shadows: Awakening

About

"Shadows: Awakening" is a dark fantasy RPG where you control a demon with the ability to switch between the Shadow Realm and the mortal plane. The game features a unique party system with 3 main heroes and 14 playable characters, each with unique skills and storylines. Engage in tactical real-time combat and explore a rich world full of myths and legends for over 20 hours of gameplay.

Genres & Tags

Play Modes

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

+13

77%

Audience ScoreBased on 2,394 reviews

story537 positive mentions

grinding127 negative mentions

The game features a unique mechanic of switching between characters and realms, adding depth to gameplay.
The graphics and voice acting are well done, creating an immersive experience.
The story is engaging, with interesting characters and choices that impact the narrative.

The inventory management system is clunky and tedious, making it difficult to manage gear.
Puzzles can be frustrating and repetitive, detracting from the overall enjoyment of the game.
The pacing can feel slow, with excessive backtracking through previously cleared areas.

story
1,594 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
34%
61%
5%
The story of "Shadows: Awakening" is a central highlight, featuring a rich narrative that allows players to choose from multiple characters, each with their own backstories and quests, leading to different outcomes based on player choices. While many players appreciate the engaging voice acting and the depth of the lore, some find the story convoluted and the pacing uneven, with a mix of interesting side quests and repetitive fetch tasks. Overall, the game offers a compelling story experience, though it may require multiple playthroughs to fully appreciate all narrative branches.
- “This is a fun game that has unique gameplay and an interesting story.”
- “The story is well-written and engaging, enriched by voiced dialogues that increase the player's immersion in the game world.”
- “The story is really well done with choices that matter.”
- “The story feels rather short; I would have hoped for some more conversation and story about the demon that gets summoned itself.”
- “The story... well, I can't even comment on it because I was so bored I began skipping it after a couple of hours.”
- “Unfortunately, the story is very poorly written and failed to hold my interest.”
gameplay
919 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
41%
51%
8%
The gameplay of "Shadows: Awakening" features an intriguing character-switching mechanic that allows players to control multiple characters, enhancing combat and exploration dynamics. However, many reviews highlight issues such as clunky controls, excessive backtracking, and repetitive puzzles that detract from the overall experience. While the game offers unique mechanics and a solid RPG framework, it struggles with execution, leading to a mixed reception regarding its gameplay depth and enjoyment.
- “This game has a nice mechanic of being able to switch to 4 different classes on the fly which makes for some really fun combat variations.”
- “The character-switching mechanic, where we only see one character at a time during gameplay, is intriguing.”
- “The gameplay is enjoyable for an action role play game.”
- “Incredibly boring gameplay, bland locations.”
- “The entire game is created around this annoying mechanic where you're constantly switching back and forth between characters.”
- “The gameplay is as basic as it could be, the swapping of heroes adds nothing but tedium to the fights, the game doesn't actually have anything new to offer to the ARPG genre and the graphics are very low quality.”
graphics
481 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
60%
39%
1%
The graphics of "Shadows: Awakening" are generally praised for their quality and detail, holding up well even in 2024, with many players noting the beautiful environments and well-crafted visuals. While some animations may feel heavy and the graphics have aged in certain aspects, the overall aesthetic remains appealing, particularly on high-end systems. However, a few reviews mention that the graphics may not meet the expectations set by newer titles in the genre, indicating a mix of opinions on their overall impact.
- “The graphics are still beautiful even in 2024.”
- “The game's graphics are noteworthy, with detailed and well-crafted environments.”
- “The graphics, however, have aged, and it’s noticeable.”
- “Graphics performance is so poor - the game is unplayable.”
- “The gameplay is as basic as it could be, the swapping of heroes adds nothing but tedium to the fights, the game doesn't actually have anything new to offer to the ARPG genre and the graphics are very low quality.”
music
146 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
64%
33%
3%
The music in "Shadows: Awakening" has received mixed reviews, with many praising its orchestral soundtrack and immersive sound effects that enhance the gameplay experience. While some players found the music to be forgettable or lacking originality, others highlighted its ability to complement the game's atmosphere and storytelling effectively. Overall, the soundtrack is considered a strong aspect of the game, contributing positively to its engaging visuals and voice acting.
- “The music is definitely one of the strongest parts of Shadows.”
- “Its a beautifully orchestrated soundtrack that has a certain unique vibe to it that helps give the game character.”
- “The music in this title is a wonderful orchestral soundtrack that backs the often tense gameplay.”
- “Story and music are a bit insipid as well.”
- “The sound effects sell the impact of combat, although the music is pretty forgettable.”
- “The only drawback to the sound is the constant footsteps and music in some areas is just too repetitive.”
grinding
137 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
3%
4%
93%
The grinding aspect of the game has received mixed feedback, with many players finding the gameplay repetitive and tedious due to a lack of respawning enemies and excessive backtracking. While some appreciate the absence of traditional grinding for loot, others feel that the game becomes monotonous, particularly in its questing and puzzle mechanics. Overall, the game is seen as less grind-heavy than typical ARPGs, but it still suffers from a lack of engaging content, leading to a tedious experience for many players.
- “Story gets interesting, skills and progression are fun and not grindy, and it runs smooth as silk.”
- “Leveling will feel slow but not grindy.”
- “You'll need a second life for grinding.”
- “There is plenty of tedious backtracking, and since enemies don't respawn there is often nothing to do but trudge along.”
- “You go to an area, wipe out its inhabitants, complete a 'puzzle' that is more tedious than challenging, walk a needlessly long expanse to get to the next area, rinse and repeat.”
- “The game tries to break up the monotonous mob-slaying with puzzles, but these are usually more tedious and frustrating than clever, and the same types of puzzles are repeated without alteration in multiple dungeons.”
replayability
101 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
16%
80%
4%
The game's replayability is a mixed bag, with some players appreciating the option to choose from multiple characters and experience different storylines, leading to a decent level of replay value. However, many reviewers express concerns about the overall lack of substantial content to warrant multiple playthroughs, citing issues like limited farming, no multiplayer, and technical performance. While some find the replay options engaging, others feel that the game ultimately lacks the depth needed for sustained replayability.
- “A lot of replayability in the form of using different characters or focusing on different skills and finding combos that work together.”
- “With 4 different character types, many different characters in each type to unlock and play, and different story lines to play through depending on the character choices you make, this game has great replay value as well.”
- “Your initial choice of 'puppet' will affect a number of things about the main plot as well as introducing side plots, many other puppets and quest solutions are mutually exclusive, and there are three major endings, so there's also a fair bit of replay value.”
- “I don't know what the other two do, but suffice it to say, despite the game claiming replayability, I really think there's barely any point in playing through the entire game again with a different character, making some different choices and getting a bit of different dialogue.”
- “The replay value is zero, in my opinion.”
- “It's a pretty good game, but it lacks a lot in replayability.”
optimization
60 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
27%
43%
30%
The optimization of the game has received mixed reviews, with some players praising the graphics and smooth performance on capable systems, while others report significant issues such as stuttering, poor UI scaling, and unresponsive gameplay even on high-end PCs. Many users express frustration over the lack of optimization for higher resolutions and the overall performance inconsistencies, indicating that improvements are needed.
- “The visuals look really good too and the optimization for this game is fantastic.”
- “Graphics is awesome and well optimized - even my pretty weak computer at this point easily runs it on the best quality, and fps is on point.”
- “The performances and graphics are solid.”
- “Bad performance even though my PC was more than capable to play it.”
- “The game seems to be fairly unoptimized; I got a new CPU and a new graphics card, all pretty good.”
- “Graphics performance is so poor - the game is unplayable.”
stability
58 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
10%
90%
The game's stability has received mixed reviews, with many players reporting minor glitches and bugs, particularly related to quests and the interface, but few have experienced game-breaking issues. Some users noted freezing during gameplay and problems with the two worlds mechanic, while others praised the overall performance and lack of significant crashes. Overall, while there are stability concerns, they vary widely among players, with some finding the game nearly bug-free and others frustrated by persistent issues.
- “There have been no glitches of any kind... graphics are very good... story is fantastic... voice acting is good.”
- “Runs great on my laptop.”
- “Good gear, character selection, and nearly bug free.”
- “The amount of glitches and crashes I experienced in this game was just impossible for me to give it a recommendation.”
- “There were some buggy quests where the quest marker didn't exactly show you where you should go, so you end up running around trying to figure out where you have to go next.”
- “The game has a lot of bugs and glitches.”
humor
26 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
100%
The humor in the game is highlighted by witty banter and engaging conversations among characters, making exploration enjoyable despite some minor immersion-breaking moments. Players appreciate the unique abilities of companions and the comedic elements, although some found certain dialogues out of place. Overall, the game is described as funny and engaging, with a blend of humor that enhances the experience, despite a somewhat bland storyline.
- “The quipping between the characters is witty and funny.”
- “The game turned out to be engaging and funny.”
- “This game is so unique and special in a very good way, and the combat, fully voiced quests (even side quests!) and the funny dialogue going on with the characters is so insanely well done that I have to rate this game 5 out of 5 stars!”
atmosphere
25 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
56%
32%
12%
The game's atmosphere is widely praised for its vibrant graphics, immersive sound design, and detailed environments, creating an inviting and inspiring experience. While some reviews note that the atmosphere is not groundbreaking, it effectively enhances the overall gameplay, making it enjoyable despite any mechanical shortcomings. Overall, players appreciate the colorful visuals and the atmospheric depth, rating it highly.
- “Although the game was released in 2018, the graphics retain good quality, with light and shadow effects helping to create a great atmosphere.”
- “The graphics are great, the audio is great, and it's an RPG adventure with puzzles and an inviting atmosphere.”
- “Shadows Awakening doesn't have that feeling or atmosphere.”
- “If you like your dungeon crawls with a ladle of gothic atmosphere, you haven’t seen anything like this in an eternity.”
- “The game's design team did a great job on painting the visuals for the game, it's very colorful, bright and detailed, the spells feel awesome to cast, the characters really stand out from each other and the environment, the world is detailed and paints a good atmosphere, not great, but good.”
character development
16 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
50%
31%
19%
Character development in the game is noted for its solid design and integration with the storyline, though it is described as somewhat simplistic and limited in options, allowing players to choose from a few active abilities and passive skills. While the character design and world-building are praised for their quality, the overall depth of character progression may not meet the expectations set by more iconic RPGs. The humor and engaging narrative contribute positively to the character experience, but the development mechanics feel familiar and somewhat conventional.
- “World and character design is superb; a lot of time clearly went into them.”
- “From a voice-acting, customization, skill/visual progression, character development, and writing perspective, this team deserves to be ranked alongside the most iconic RPG parties like Knights of the Old Republic.”
- “Also a great variety of puzzles and a good strong storyline with good humor and character development.”
- “Individual character development has decent options, but is limited.”
- “Story as character development is somehow obvious, a common place in many games lately.”
- “Character development is pretty simple; you can pick 3 active abilities, passive skills, and attributes.”
emotional
6 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
67%
33%
While the game features solid mechanics, engaging puzzles, and a charming cast of characters that evoke a wholesome sense of adventure, many players find the story lacking in emotional depth, leading to a disconnect with the narrative and its characters. Despite the endearing elements, some reviewers express stronger emotional ties to characters from other games, indicating that the emotional impact may not resonate as intended.
- “This good premise is then combined with solid, fluid ARPG mechanics, simple puzzles that are a nice change of pace and encourage paying attention to your surroundings, good music, superb voice acting, good graphic design, and a plot and characters that really bring out a wholesome feel of adventure (the cast of characters, particularly the demon, are quite endearing).”
- “I have deeper emotional bonds to some of the nameless quest givers in Diablo 3.”
monetization
6 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
33%
67%
The game features no microtransactions or exploitative monetization practices, which players appreciate. Instead, it offers a variety of character cosmetics that enhance customization, contributing positively to the overall experience.
- “I had never heard of this game before two days ago and I only happened on it due to an advertisement.”
- “No microtransactions, no greed.”

73%Critics’ scoreBased on 16 critic reviews

Buy Shadows: Awakening

19h Median play time

20h Average play time

8-35h Spent by most gamers

*Based on 30 analyzed playthroughs

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