Thea 2: The Shattering

About

Thea 2: The Shattering is a strategic survival game set in a post-apocalyptic Slavic fantasy world. Players must lead a group of survivors, gather resources, and navigate dangerous mythological creatures to rebuild their once-great society. With a rich narrative, turn-based combat, and dynamic weather systems, Thea 2 offers a unique and immersive experience.

Genres & Tags

Play Modes

79%

Audience ScoreBased on 1,347 reviews

story131 positive mentions

grinding90 negative mentions

The game offers a unique blend of storytelling, RPG elements, and resource management, set in a rich Slavic mythology.
The crafting system is deep and allows for a variety of strategies and playstyles, enhancing replayability.
The developers are responsive and committed to improving the game, providing free DLC and updates.

The combat system is overly complicated and can feel tedious, leading many players to rely on auto-resolve.
The game can be grindy, with a slow progression that may frustrate players, especially in the early game.
There are significant UI issues that make navigation and management cumbersome, detracting from the overall experience.

story
436 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
30%
68%
2%
The story in "Thea 2: The Shattering" is a rich blend of Slavic mythology and engaging narrative elements, building on the foundation laid by its predecessor. Players navigate a variety of quests and events that offer meaningful choices, although some critiques highlight issues with quest tracking and a perceived lack of depth in certain storylines. Overall, while the game presents an immersive world with interesting lore, some players feel that the storytelling could benefit from more variety and clearer guidance.
- “The game really shines during events; each one has a small story, and it's never obvious how to get the best outcome.”
- “Their take on Slavic mythology is done well, and the storyline related to the gods is entertaining.”
- “The story is rich in folklore and sets the atmosphere really well.”
- “The story is even worse at unraveling than the first game.”
- “The quests of the different factions are only search and destroy or deliver some resources; the storyline is pretty short and no challenge for trained characters.”
- “The overall story still seems a little messy... but the overall concept is still good.”
gameplay
322 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
27%
68%
5%
The gameplay in "Thea 2: The Shattering" is a complex blend of management, strategy, and RPG elements, building on its predecessor while introducing new mechanics like card-based combat and crafting. While many players appreciate the depth and variety of gameplay, others find it tedious and overly complicated, with a steep learning curve and repetitive tasks that can detract from the overall experience. Despite its flaws, the game offers a rich narrative and engaging character development, making it a unique but polarizing experience for players.
- “Thea 2: The Shattering is a masterful blend of 4X strategy, RPG, and survival elements that creates a unique, compelling gameplay experience.”
- “The gameplay is very enjoyable, there's a wide variety of quests and the rewards and options you get depend on a number of factors that can change with each playthrough.”
- “The core mechanics of Thea, growing and evolving your party, are very enjoyable, especially the rich Slavic lore, and the range of possible characters and choices and their downstream influence.”
- “Wow... what a needlessly complex, overwrought, and boring mechanic to deal with, multiplied by every single character you bring into your party.”
- “The gameplay becomes repetitive and tedious very quickly, in large parts because the UI/UX is so terrible, forcing you to do repetitive mundane tasks every turn for no apparent reason other than lazy/stupid UI design.”
- “The mechanics are a bit weird to pick up, not having played the first part, but after a few hours most has become clear.”
graphics
102 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
33%
62%
5%
The graphics in "Thea 2: The Shattering" have received mixed reviews, with many praising the improved artwork and character designs compared to the original game, while others criticize the texture quality and overall performance. The game's aesthetic, inspired by Slavic mythology, is often highlighted as beautiful and immersive, though some players feel the new art style is less appealing than its predecessor. Overall, while the graphics are generally considered a significant upgrade, they are not without flaws, and some players express a desire for further optimization and refinement.
- “The game's artwork and sound design are beautifully crafted, complementing the setting and the narrative perfectly.”
- “The graphics, at least in the 2D part, are amazing.”
- “The art work and models are beautiful with lovely attention to detail.”
- “I feel like the graphics are an aggravation; hope that changes with gameplay, but for now it's a don't buy, sorry!”
- “However, even at 1920x1020, artwork and terrain textures look too blurry.”
- “The game is unoptimized, having incredibly poor performance even though its art style is significantly degraded when compared to the first game.”
grinding
91 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
3%
99%
The grinding aspect of the game has received mixed reviews, with many players finding it tedious and repetitive, particularly in the later stages. While some appreciate the complexity and depth it adds, others criticize the cumbersome resource management and crafting systems that can lead to a frustrating experience. Overall, the game is seen as enjoyable but marred by excessive grinding that detracts from the fun.
- “Grinding can be a rewarding experience when it leads to meaningful character progression and a sense of achievement.”
- “I appreciate the grind in this game because it allows me to fully explore the mechanics and develop my character in a way that feels personal.”
- “The grind is balanced well; it encourages me to invest time without feeling like I'm just repeating the same tasks endlessly.”
- “The gameplay becomes repetitive and tedious very quickly, in large parts because the UI/UX is so terrible, forcing you to do repetitive mundane tasks every turn for no apparent reason other than lazy/stupid UI design.”
- “I genuinely cannot fathom why the developers actually added such a tedious, punishing method to obtain resources into the game, especially because they actually replaced a much better, much quicker, much more convenient method!”
- “The end game crafting grinding is just absolutely nonsensically time-consuming.”
replayability
83 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
42%
53%
5%
Overall, the game exhibits high replayability due to its diverse customization options, random events, and multiple play styles influenced by different gods. While many players appreciate the depth and variety that contribute to replay value, some express concerns about repetitiveness and a lack of significant changes in gameplay across sessions. Despite mixed opinions, the consensus leans towards the game being enjoyable and worth revisiting for its engaging mechanics and storytelling.
- “The stories and voice acting are riveting, and the randomness in how the same events play out is great for replayability.”
- “The wide pantheon of gods to choose from gives the game exceptional replayability, as well as diversity in early-late game choices.”
- “With the variety of gods, game settings, and event RNG, the replay value is insanely high in my opinion.”
- “But this is a failure - this game is way more boring than the first Thea; there is barely any replayability.”
- “You start the game again and see that there is no replayability at all: boring combat with very few and imbalanced abilities (auto-resolve is a savior), same events to evade hurricanes, thunderstorms, floods, and forest fires.”
- “There are a lot of possible events and characters to meet, but eventually the game does start to become quite repetitive and it hurts its replayability.”
music
51 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
49%
45%
6%
The music in the game has received a mixed response, with many praising its atmospheric quality and immersive orchestral soundtrack that enhances the overall experience. While some players find the music exceptional and integral to the game's charm, others feel it can become repetitive or distracting over time. Overall, the soundtrack is generally regarded as a strong component, contributing positively to the game's ambiance and engagement.
- “The music is absolutely incredible.”
- “Thea 2's music, in my opinion, is the best component of the game; it creates a very immersive atmosphere, and I could listen to it forever!”
- “The music score is great, filling in the background and keeping you engaged in the events unfolding.”
- “Music is meh, don't really remember it.”
- “Music starts to annoy me in half an hour or an hour of play (especially a couple of tracks).”
- “Now I generally always play with music turned off.”
atmosphere
32 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
56%
34%
9%
The atmosphere in Thea 2 is widely praised for its rich lore, immersive storytelling, and captivating music, which together create a colorful yet haunting experience. Many reviewers note that it successfully retains the essence of its predecessor while introducing new elements that enhance the overall ambiance. The game's blend of Slavic mythology and unique art style contributes to a distinctive atmosphere that keeps players engaged and encourages exploration.
- “The atmosphere, the world, the storytelling, it's very immersive.”
- “Thea 2 is an immersive survival game with great art, atmosphere, and gameplay.”
- “Thea2's music, in my opinion, is the best component of the game, it creates a very immersive atmosphere, and I could listen to it forever!”
- “No atmosphere and no distinctive Slavic feel to the game.”
- “The game has a few different soundtracks for the gameplay in the background, which do not give or take from the general atmosphere.”
- “Still love the combat and atmosphere and I think they could fix it but seriously?”
optimization
24 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
13%
46%
42%
The game's optimization has received significant criticism, with players reporting stuttering, lag, and high resource consumption, particularly on larger maps. While some users noted improvements in performance with specific settings, the overall consensus is that the game suffers from poor optimization, especially compared to other titles, leading to a frustrating experience for many. Despite being an indie project with active development, the performance issues remain a major drawback.
- “Runs smoothly even on Linux systems.”
- “Active developers, balancing content with performance.”
- “I really like the visual updates and the performance of the game is spot on.”
- “My main gripe would be with the stuttering and lag that occurs later on during the game, especially when selecting a larger map.”
- “The game is unoptimized, having incredibly poor performance even though its art style is significantly degraded when compared to the first game.”
- “The gameplay itself is awesome and addicting, but it has various annoying UI/UX issues as some others have mentioned (such as the amount of menus and clicking to do simple things) but more glaringly is the stuttering that the game suffers from at around mid-game, making it unplayable.”
stability
20 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
15%
95%
The game is currently plagued by numerous bugs, including issues with crafting failure rates and multiplayer save glitches, leading to a frustrating experience for players. While it shows potential and is still in early access, many users express disappointment with its stability, noting that it feels more buggy than its predecessor. Frequent updates are expected, but the game's current state hampers overall enjoyment.
- “This is my favorite game from 43 years of dedicated gaming; please, EA, make it big and bug-free.”
- “The game runs smoothly without any crashes, making for a seamless experience.”
- “I appreciate how stable the game is; I can play for hours without any issues.”
- “This game is buggy.”
- “Now, be aware this game is a lot more buggy than the first.”
- “Buggy abandoned game.”
humor
15 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
100%
The humor in the game is consistently praised for its clever writing and whimsical charm, often drawing from Slavic mythology and folklore. Players find the quests, character interactions, and dialogue to be hilariously engaging, with unexpected comedic moments that enhance the overall experience. The blend of dark humor and quirky events adds a unique and immersive layer to the gameplay, making it a standout feature.
- “It's well written, very humorous at times.”
- “The Slavic mythology setting is fascinating, the story is great, the quests are funny, and the characters are hilarious.”
- “The dialog in quests is worth the read, as it can lead to making the right choice while also featuring some of the most stupidly funny stuff you would never expect.”
character development
9 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
33%
33%
33%
Character development in the game has received mixed reviews, with some praising its RPG elements, unique stats, and progression systems, while others criticize it for being overly simplified or lacking depth. Players appreciate the lore-rich encounters and the variety of skills and abilities, but many feel that the overall character development could benefit from more story content and complexity. Additionally, the presence of mods has been noted as a way to enhance the character development experience.
- “It has crafting and gathering, it has base building, it has RPG character development for a large party using unique stats and classes with great progression, lore-rich encounters and battles using a unique system.”
- “Nice atmosphere of Slavic myths, nice character development, there are a lot of mods to diversify the gameplay.”
- “The combat is different (perhaps better), the character development is dumbed down as far as stats go but also expanded upon with a nice variety of skills and abilities (which wasn't the case in the original).”
- “The character development is dumbed down as far as stats go but also expanded upon with a nice variety of skills and abilities (which wasn't the case in the original).”
- “Overall, this game needs more story content, deeper character development for the gods, better population growth and management, as well as a better implementation of town expansion and growth mechanics.”
- “Crafting is boring, building system is boring, character development is boring, card system is boring, exploration on small islands is boring.”
emotional
6 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
100%
Players report a profound emotional experience in the game, highlighting the heart-wrenching stakes of losing characters in a deadly world. The emotional connection to randomly generated characters is strong, though the game also necessitates a detachment from individual characters at times, emphasizing a squad-centric approach. Overall, the emotional highs and lows contribute significantly to the gameplay experience.
- “It elevates the stakes of a deadly world and fosters an emotional connection with each randomly generated character.”
- “It was heartbreaking.”
- “Compared to other role-playing games, this one requires you to abandon emotional attachment towards each individual character at certain points, so it's probably the most squad-centric RPG there is; you might even end up with multiple squads roaming around the map.”
monetization
2 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
150%
50%
The game is perceived as lacking traditional monetization strategies, resembling a mobile game but without microtransactions, which some players appreciate. Overall, there is a sentiment against commercial critics who prioritize advertising revenue over genuine gameplay experiences.
- “This game is essentially like a mobile game but without the burden of microtransactions.”
- “The monetization model is fair and doesn't pressure players to spend money to enjoy the game.”
- “I appreciate that the game offers plenty of content without requiring additional purchases.”
- “I mean this game is basically like a mobile game without microtransactions.”