Shattered: Tale of the Forgotten King
- February 16, 2021
- Redlock Studio
- 8h median play time
Get on Steam
Get on Epic Games Store"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.
PC
Windows
Reviews
- The game features a stunning art style and captivating landscapes that create an immersive atmosphere.
- The exploration aspect is rewarding, with many hidden secrets and lore to discover throughout the world.
- The combat system, while needing some polish, offers a satisfying parry mechanic and a variety of enemy encounters.
- The game suffers from numerous bugs and glitches, including issues with hit detection, camera control, and character movement.
- Combat can feel clunky and unresponsive at times, with a lack of weapon variety and repetitive enemy designs.
- The platforming sections can be frustrating due to awkward camera angles and inconsistent collision detection.
- graphics110 mentions
- 49 % positive mentions
- 47 % neutral mentions
- 4 % negative mentions
The graphics of the game are widely praised for their stunning art style, captivating character designs, and atmospheric environments, creating a strong initial impression. However, some players feel that the visuals can become bland over time, and there are criticisms regarding the quality of character models and technical issues that detract from the overall experience. Despite these drawbacks, the art direction and aesthetic appeal remain the standout features, often compensating for gameplay shortcomings.
“Stunning artwork, captivating character design, and a mesmerizing world silhouette create a strong initial impression.”
“I love the art style, the overall design, worldbuilding, and level design.”
“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.”
- gameplay89 mentions
- 20 % positive mentions
- 72 % neutral mentions
- 8 % negative mentions
The gameplay of the game has received mixed reviews, with some praising its blend of souls-like combat and platforming mechanics, while others criticize its lack of polish, repetitive enemy encounters, and clunky controls. Many players appreciate the art style and exploration elements but feel that the mechanics are too simplistic and not well-explained, leading to a frustrating experience. Overall, while the foundation shows promise, significant improvements are needed to enhance the 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.”
- story86 mentions
- 26 % positive mentions
- 69 % neutral mentions
- 6 % negative mentions
The story of the game is a mixed bag, with many players finding it intriguing yet convoluted and difficult to follow. While some appreciate the atmospheric world-building and the piecemeal storytelling approach reminiscent of souls-like games, others criticize it for being overly obscure, filled with text dumps, and lacking clarity. Overall, the narrative has potential but often leaves players feeling lost or frustrated, with many loose ends and a need for better pacing and exposition.
“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.”
- music68 mentions
- 46 % positive mentions
- 50 % neutral mentions
- 4 % negative mentions
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, leading to a lack of emotional impact during key moments. While many reviewers appreciate the quality of the music when it is present, they express a desire for more variety and a more cohesive integration with gameplay.
“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.”
“But it is a very rough game (looks like a PS2 title), no soundtrack, the story is very forgettable, the character is floaty, the attacks have no sense of weight, everything clips everywhere where you think it couldn't, you get stuck everywhere where you think you couldn't possibly.”
“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 & I mostly like it, but sometimes it is just too low or there is no music/sound at all.”
- stability32 mentions
- 3 % positive mentions
- 0 % neutral mentions
- 97 % negative mentions
The game's stability is heavily criticized, with numerous reports of bugs, glitches, and crashes that significantly hinder the gameplay experience. Players have encountered issues such as movement glitches, collision errors, and problematic enemy behaviors, leading to frustration and a sense of unfinished design. While some users express hope for future improvements, the current state is deemed too unstable for a strong recommendation.
“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 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.”
- atmosphere32 mentions
- 78 % positive mentions
- 13 % neutral mentions
- 9 % negative mentions
The game's atmosphere is widely praised for its melancholic music, stunning visuals, and immersive world design, creating a captivating experience that enhances exploration and storytelling. However, some players noted that technical issues, such as lag and clunky mechanics, can detract from the overall atmosphere, particularly during certain gameplay segments. Despite these drawbacks, the atmospheric elements remain a standout feature, appealing especially to fans of lore-driven and exploration-focused gameplay.
“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.”
“The atmosphere and soundtrack are perfect; it reminds me of Journey with a mix of Demon's Souls universe.”
“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.”
- optimization15 mentions
- 33 % positive mentions
- 47 % neutral mentions
- 20 % negative mentions
Overall, the game's optimization is a mixed bag; while some players report smooth performance on high-end hardware, others experience significant frame rate drops and crashes, particularly in specific areas. Dungeons tend to be better optimized than the open world, which is described as bland and poorly optimized. Despite these issues, many players appreciate the game's potential, considering it an impressive effort from a small indie team.
“Edit: I got a new CG (3070 GTX) and the game runs smoothly; I can only recommend it now.”
“You'll have your performance issues answered within the two hours.”
“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—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 the game.”
“Poor performance in specific areas, even on high-end hardware.”
“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.”
- character development12 mentions
- 50 % positive mentions
- 25 % neutral mentions
- 25 % negative mentions
The character development in the game is highly praised for its stunning artwork and captivating character design, drawing comparisons to unique artistic influences. Players appreciate the aesthetic quality and the intricate designs of both playable characters and NPCs, although some note that enemy designs can become repetitive. Overall, the combination of visual appeal and atmospheric lore contributes to a strong initial impression, despite gameplay concerns.
“Stunning artwork, captivating character design, and a mesmerizing world silhouette create a strong initial impression.”
“I love the character design and the aesthetics in general, which reminds me a lot of Blame, by Tsutomu Nihei, which is a very unique piece of art.”
“From the atmosphere, to the character designs, to the lore of the world of Hypnos, this game is a riot and a half.”
“The aesthetic, writing, character design, and art style are all top-notch, but unfortunately, Shattered falls apart where it matters most - gameplay.”
“The character design of the wanderer is striking and well done (as before), but, alas, as before, the enemies (though well designed) tend to get a bit samey.”
“I love the art style, I love the character design, I love the level design, and I've always been a fan of this 'minimal yet beautiful' design.”
- replayability5 mentions
- 40 % positive mentions
- 20 % neutral mentions
- 40 % negative mentions
Overall, the game's replayability is limited due to a lack of significant gameplay variations and the absence of a new game+ feature, which diminishes the incentive to replay. While there are multiple endings that could entice some players, the potential disappointment of these endings and the presence of bugs further detract from the overall replay value.
“Shattered offers a good amount of content and has replay value due to different endings along with a good price point.”
“This game has no new game+, which hampers its replayability.”
“Despite the interesting story, I don't see 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.”
- grinding3 mentions
- 0 % positive mentions
- 0 % neutral mentions
- 100 % negative mentions
Players generally find the grinding in the game to be tedious and frustrating, often feeling more like a chore than a rewarding experience. While some appreciate the game's overall quality, the necessity of repetitive tasks and challenging platforming can detract from enjoyment, leading to a sense of annoyance rather than satisfaction.
“I understand the need to explore and learn on your own, but it's just a tedious experience for me, especially when I'm running around with only a half heal.”
“Tedious platforming in essential progression areas—it's the kind of experience that makes you think, 'Forget this,' instead of feeling rewarded.”
- emotional1 mentions
- 100 % positive mentions
- 0 % neutral mentions
- 0 % negative mentions
Users feel that while the game's soundtrack attempts to evoke emotions, it ultimately fails to deliver the intended emotional impact.
- humor1 mentions
- 300 % positive mentions
- -200 % neutral mentions
- 0 % negative mentions
The humor in the game is often described as unintentionally hilarious, suggesting that while it may not always aim for comedy, it still manages to evoke laughter through its quirks and unexpected moments.
“This game is sometimes unintentionally hilarious.”
“The humor in this game is spot-on and keeps me laughing throughout.”
“I love how the game blends clever jokes with absurd situations.”
