Shattered: Tale of the Forgotten King

About

"Shattered: Tale of the Forgotten King" is an action-adventure game with a branching narrative, where you explore a ruined continent and engage in combat to uncover the story of a fallen civilization. Traverse the world through skill-based platforming, battle various enemies, and discover secrets to understand the world's past and your own existence. The game features 2.5D platforming and precision-based combat in a vast open world.

Genres & Tags

Play Modes

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

Shattered: Tale of the Forgotten King screenshot

68%

Audience ScoreBased on 609 reviews

graphics107 positive mentions

stability61 negative mentions

The game features stunning visuals and a captivating art style that draws players in.
The exploration aspect is rewarding, with many hidden areas and secrets to discover.
The atmosphere and soundtrack create a unique and immersive experience.

Combat feels clunky and unresponsive, with issues in hit detection and parrying.
The game suffers from numerous bugs and glitches that can disrupt gameplay.
Enemy variety is limited, leading to repetitive encounters and a lack of challenge.

graphics
219 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
49%
47%
4%
The graphics of the game are widely praised for their stunning art style, captivating character designs, and atmospheric world-building, creating a strong initial impression. However, some players noted inconsistencies in character models and gameplay mechanics that detract from the overall experience, leading to mixed feelings about the visuals' long-term appeal. While the aesthetics are often described as beautiful and unique, there are concerns about outdated graphics and technical issues that hinder gameplay.
- “Stunning artwork, captivating character design, and a mesmerizing world silhouette create a strong initial impression.”
- “I love this game’s art style; everything is screenshot material.”
- “The world of shattered looks great; everything has a lo-fi aesthetic with simple textures, but the shapes do most of the visual work.”
- “Unfortunately, the same can be said of the character models, which look like Spirit Halloween versions of their artwork.”
- “There's no voice acting, and the graphics are something from decades ago.”
- “Stairs you have to jump over to walk down, pieces of terrain that just end, clipping issues, and that death-zone behind unopened chests where you and AI can get sucked in and never escape are all distracting from the game's aesthetic.”
gameplay
178 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
20%
72%
8%
The gameplay of the game has received mixed reviews, with some praising its souls-like combat and platforming mechanics, while others criticize its lack of polish, repetitive enemy encounters, and clunky controls. Many players find the exploration visually appealing but ultimately unrewarding, and the mechanics often feel underdeveloped or poorly explained. Overall, while there are elements of fun and potential, significant improvements are needed for a more engaging gameplay experience.
- “The gameplay is great, souls-like combat with some puzzle solving here and there.”
- “I really enjoy this game, the music is calming and the gameplay is smooth.”
- “Amazing game so far, absolutely love the atmosphere, gameplay, design, and fun factor.”
- “The gameplay is where the game just completely falls flat; it's terrible.”
- “Visually beautiful but held back by the lacking gameplay which sadly just feels awful.”
- “Overall the gameplay, even the open-world aspect, are not well fleshed out and it’s quite telling that the best part of the gameplay is something unoriginal and that has been seen in every other souls game and souls-like.”
story
172 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
26%
69%
6%
The story of the game is a mixed bag, with many players finding it convoluted and difficult to follow, often requiring extensive reading and exploration to piece together the narrative. While some appreciate the atmospheric world-building and intriguing lore, others criticize the lack of clarity and coherence, leading to a sense of confusion and frustration. Overall, the storytelling approach, reminiscent of souls-like games, has its merits but may leave players feeling lost or unsatisfied with unresolved plot points.
- “Shattered creates a world and mood that are perfectly in line with the story it’s trying to tell.”
- “The story was absolutely fascinating (and told in the typical, wonderfully vague fashion of other soulsborne titles) - much more so than 90% of video games out there today.”
- “The atmosphere of the game itself is really well done, with stark differences in visual identity between the different levels, a very interesting main character/narrator duo and a story that you have to understand piece by piece by exploring and interacting with a lot of objects.”
- “It wants to be a souls-like, but the story is just too obscure and meaningless with too many text dumps.”
- “The story seemed overly convoluted, even by a souls-like's standard.”
- “You will be completely lost regarding the story for a big part of the game, but consider it as archaeology more than storytelling; you have to find the pieces yourself.”
music
136 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
46%
52%
2%
The music in the game is generally praised for its atmospheric and melancholic qualities, enhancing the overall experience and mood of exploration. However, there are frequent complaints about the inconsistency of the soundtrack, with instances of missing or poorly timed music that detract from emotional engagement. While many players appreciate the quality of the music when it is present, they express a desire for more variety and better integration with gameplay elements.
- “The soundtrack is gorgeous and perfectly furthers the mood of this broken but still beautiful world.”
- “The music is a delight; it really sets the mood in the different areas.”
- “The atmosphere and soundtrack are perfect; it reminds me of Journey with a mix of Demon's Souls universe.”
- “I streamed this game and put it on 'streamer mode' for about half of the playthrough, but I could barely tell the difference when I turned it on because music occurred somewhat randomly at times and sometimes would just stop and not keep going.”
- “The music consists of some very relaxing ambient sounds, and I mostly like it, but sometimes it is just too low or there is no music/sound at all.”
- “But when the OST requires to give you an emotional vibe, it falls flat.”
atmosphere
64 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
78%
17%
5%
The game's atmosphere is widely praised for its melancholic music, stunning visuals, and immersive world design, creating a captivating experience that resonates with players. However, some reviewers noted that technical issues, such as lag and clunky gameplay, can detract from the overall atmosphere, particularly during certain segments. Despite these drawbacks, the combination of art style, sound design, and lore contributes to a rich and engaging environment that appeals to fans of atmospheric and exploration-driven games.
- “The atmosphere is melancholy and has a really nice soundtrack that suits the mood.”
- “The atmosphere this game gives off all the way to the end is phenomenal.”
- “I seriously wanted to like the game, the visuals are astounding, the world looks really beautiful, it gives a dark atmosphere and feels like being lost in the middle of a modern civilization, and I totally love it; in fact, it's the main factor that drew me into the game.”
- “As it progresses, you are forced into camera-locked, Crash Bandicoot-style side-scrolling platforming segments that break the atmosphere.”
- “The atmosphere of the game itself is really well done, with stark differences in visual identity between the different levels, a very interesting main character/narrator duo, and a story that you have to understand piece by piece by exploring and interacting with a lot of objects.”
- “The atmosphere and the intensity that it built up initially is going to make me keep coming back for more.”
stability
63 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
3%
97%
The game is plagued by numerous bugs and glitches, including movement issues, collision errors, and frequent crashes, making it frustrating for players. While some enjoy the game's charm and potential, many find it nearly unplayable in its current state, with a lack of polish and stability that detracts from the overall experience. Despite being in early access, the persistent technical problems have led to mixed feelings about its future viability.
- “This game is not very buggy.”
- “This game is not very buggy.”
- “So many moments in my playthrough bordered on maddening, not because of the challenges of the game themselves (I love challenging games and I devour them in one bite), but due to movement glitches, collision errors (so many...), ludicrous hit-boxes and the generally unfair or unbelievably backwards-stupid design of some enemies, of camera movements in many spaces and of combat dynamics - sum everything up and at times the only valid strategy is praying for good luck.”
- “In general, the game suffers from a lack of polish: I experienced a couple of crashes, several collision issues, getting stuck in geometry, falling through geometry, missing background music, stacking background music, bizarre physics glitches that seem to consistently occur when fighting on sloped terrain resulting in - for the lack of a better word, enemies or the player yeeting themselves - sometimes across comically large distances or straight to oblivion.”
- “I can't recommend this game as it is now; it could become great in the future, but now it does not work well, it's filled with glitches.”
optimization
30 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
33%
57%
10%
The game's optimization is a mixed bag, with some players experiencing significant performance issues, particularly in specific areas, even on high-end hardware. While many report smooth gameplay during long sessions, others encounter severe frame drops and crashes, suggesting that the game may prioritize visual fidelity over performance. Overall, it shows promise but requires further optimization to enhance the experience.
- “Edit: I got a new GPU (3070 GTX) and the game runs smoothly; I can only recommend it now.”
- “This game is mostly well optimized, but when the game chugs, it really chugs.”
- “Just bought this game and love it already! It needs to be optimized a tad, but it runs fine until you cast that dart spell; the FPS drops when it hits. Definitely a thumbs up and I can't wait to see where this goes!”
- “All that I can say about the open world level is that it’s bland, large, boring, and poorly optimized, but the dungeons are by far the best part of STOTFK.”
- “In addition to that, there are two areas that suffer from severe optimization issues, where even on a 5900X & 3080 I experienced very significant drops in framerates.”
- “- Poor performance in specific areas, even on high-end hardware.”
character development
24 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
50%
38%
13%
Character development in the game is highly praised for its stunning artwork and captivating character designs, which create a strong initial impression and enhance the overall aesthetic experience. Reviewers appreciate the unique art style reminiscent of Tsutomu Nihei's work, noting that the character designs, particularly of the main character and NPCs, are striking and well-executed. However, some criticism arises regarding the lack of variety in enemy designs, which can feel repetitive despite the overall visual appeal.
- “Stunning artwork, captivating character design, and a mesmerizing world silhouette create a strong initial impression.”
- “From the atmosphere, to the character designs, to the lore of the world of Hypnos, this game is a riot and a half.”
- “I'm in love with the character design of both your playable character and NPC portraits.”
- “The aesthetic, writing, character design, and art style are all top-notch, but unfortunately, the game falls apart where it matters most - gameplay.”
- “The character design of the wanderer is striking and well done, but alas, the enemies, though well designed, tend to get a bit samey.”
- “While the character design is impressive, the overall character development feels lacking and fails to engage the player.”
replayability
10 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
20%
50%
30%
The game offers some replayability through multiple endings, but many players feel that the lack of significant gameplay variations and the absence of a new game+ mode limit its overall replay value. Additionally, technical issues and bugs have led to recommendations against playing it for now.
- “Shattered offers a good amount of content and has replay value due to different endings along with a good price point.”
- “Addendum: this game has no new game+ which hampers its replayability.”
- “Despite the interesting story, I don't see that much replay value just to see another ending that may just be a disappointment or a mute cutscene, since there aren't enough other factors gameplay-wise.”
- “This game has no New Game+ which hampers its replayability.”
- “The lack of diverse gameplay elements makes it hard to justify multiple playthroughs.”
grinding
6 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
100%
Players generally find the grinding in the game to be tedious and frustrating, often feeling that it detracts from the overall experience rather than providing a rewarding challenge. While some appreciate the game's depth, many express dissatisfaction with the repetitive nature of exploration and platforming required for progression.
- “I understand the 'you need to explore and learn on your own' though, it's just a tedious thing in my aspect running around with a single half heal.”
- “Tedious platforming in essential progression areas (the kind where you feel frustrated instead of the rewarding feeling kind).”
- “Great game, but a lot of grinding.”
emotional
2 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
100%
The emotional aspect of the game is criticized for failing to deliver the intended impact, particularly in moments where the original soundtrack (OST) is meant to evoke strong feelings.
humor
2 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
100%
The humor in the game is often described as unintentionally hilarious, providing moments of amusement that may not be deliberately crafted by the developers.
- “This game is sometimes unintentionally hilarious.”