Reviews

• gamedeal user

  Oct 16, 2021

  Let's start by saying that Shattered - Tale of the Forgotten king is one of the best souls inspired games that I have played so far. I am normally a bit concerned about "souls inspired" games as they tend to replicate not only the good stuff but also the bad stuff of the "souls games". It is also quite difficult to innovate and introduce new game mechanics that complement the "souls ones" in a good way. I think that this games manages to do so. You will find yourself in a big world that you can explore completely freely, furthermore, the platformer mechanics introduced make exploration really fun to do, specially when you can find more than one way of reaching the same place (the bad part of this is that sometimes you might think that a place is reachable and then see that there is no collision, leading to your death). When it comes to the combat, once you get used to parrying it becomes pretty easy, it is easier to parry in this game than in other "souls games", still enjoyable though. In addition to that, exploring the world it is fun enough that will let you take enough breaks from the combat to not feel bored at all. My only complain about it would be that it seemed that the attacks of certain enemies were not possible to parry but there was not visual distinction. I also encountered a couple of bugs here and there but nothing horrible. Finally, the story is quite interesting, if you like game in which the lore is told by exploring the world, then that is another point in favor of this game. In summary, if you "souls inspired" games, a good platformer and to explore big worlds, you should give it a try. At least I loved it and I am really looking forward to any new releases from the Redlock team.
• gamedeal user

  Nov 11, 2021

  while the game is touted by some as a "souls-like" i'd rather call it an arpg with tiny souls-mechanics. combat plays similiarly and you also lose your "currency" when killed by an enemy (and you need to grab it or it disappears), and you also reset mob-spawns at "checkpoints". you can upgrade your weapons and you got health, stamina and enegry (mana) and a dodge+parry. but unlike souls the focus is definitly on exploration, lore and plot. combat is functional. it sometimes feels kinda clunky, but it works. combat is also much more accessible for none-pro-players. your character can take a hit and then some. you get enough health-refills, checkpoints are numerous. that isn't to say that the game "easy". later enemies can 2-3 shot you. but once you get into the game-mechanics it's way more doable than some souls-borne-encounters. what the game offers to the old-arpg-gameplayloop is the way exploration is done. you got a double-jump and mixed with the dodge (or air-dash) exploration is way more open than in similiar games. levels are designed to around these mechanics and there are hidden places pretty much everywhere. just like Nier:Automata the game sometimes switches to a more 2D (very limited 3D plane with a side-scroller-view), which is nice change of pace, but rarely overstays it's welcome. what's realy outstanding is a) the leveldesign b) the lore/world-design c) the incredible art-stlye and unlike most other souls-clones: the plot and characters neither screenshots nor video-capture does the games visual-quality justice. i've seen my fair-share of preview/review videos...but none could prepare me for how amazing the game looks. it's the art-style mixd with the lighting, the colors and architecture. imagine Lovecraft meets H.R.Giger meets Tim Burton. this might be handsdown one of the most beautifull games i've ever played. this quality of production extends to the U.I., where every little window got it's very own stellar art-design. heck even your ingame menu looks amazing. the phenomenal soundtrack supports the ambience nigh perfect. somber, nostalgic tones are mixed with more futuristic sci-fi-themes, and the enviromental sounds are the icing on the cake. NPC interactions, or story-beats are often shown in 2D paintings/portrais which look fantastic, again it's the art-style and the choice of color doing it's magic. the plot, lore and characters are great. it's not as abstract as souls-borne, but also far from in-your-face. let's just say the art-style fits the narritve quite well. i got 0 technical issues; but you can clearly see the size of the studio clashing with the size of the project. the camera sometimes spazzes out in combat (very rare), some 2D-jumping-puzzles are bit hit and miss, cause sometimes it's hard to see where you can actualy jump. in very rare places you see not quite finished texturing, or objects that got textures but no collision. it's very rare, but it is what it is. there's also no voice-over, but the writing is pretty good in general. for this low asking price and abolute steal. unlike the price might suggest there's actualy quite alot of content here, heck even a more Zelda-esque open world after the lengthy tutorial section (post aqueduct). the quality of both the visuals and the music are also way beyond what we get from many tripple A studios. the studio clearly put a lot of love and care into this project and desipte it's lower budget it defintily payed off.
• gamedeal user

  Dec 29, 2021

  [h1]Sum-Up[/h1] [h3]In-depth analysis further down.[/h3] [quote]Follow our Curator page, [url=https://store.steampowered.com/curator/41449676/]Summit Reviews[/url], to see more high-quality reviews regularly.[/quote] [table] [tr] [th]🟩 [b]Pros[/b][/th] [th]🟥 [b]Cons[/b][/th] [/tr] [tr] [td] - Excellent freeform, complex level design, with plentiful optional areas and secrets. - Involving, well-written lore that comes together nicely and stays interesting. - Overall reliable, precise combat feeling that works without issues (with a few exceptions). - Solid but fair challenge across the board, alongside (mostly) good boss design. - Above-average soundtrack quality, that emphasizes each environment. [/td] [td] - Poor variety of weapon and spell archetypes: they mostly have similar patterns or uses. - Mediocre enemy roster, that gets repetitive in later-game phases. [/td] [/tr] [/table] [table] [tr] [th]🟨 [b]Bugs & Issues[/b][/th] [th]🔧 [b]Specs[/b][/th] [/tr] [tr] [td] - Poor performance in specific areas, even on high-end hardware. - Unreliable backstab registration: doesn't work half of the time. - No rendering FPS cap while alt-tabbed / out of focus. [/td] [td] - 3900X - 2080Ti - 32GB RAM - SSD - 1440p [/td] [/tr] [/table] [table] [tr] [td][b]Content & Replay Value:[/b][/td] [td]It took me around 16 hours to finish STOFK, taking time to explore each area accurately for secrets and complete all the quests or secondary locations I could find. Those who want to see everything could replay to discover alternate, mutually exclusive endings; however there aren't other reasons to replay as build / equipment variety are not good enough, on their own, to warrant another run.[/td] [/tr] [tr] [td][b]Is it worth buying?[/b][/td] [td]Definitely. The content is fair for the regular price of 25€, and the quality it delivers is definitely a few notches above your average Indie souls-like. To all those who enjoy this genre and aren't intimidated by a heavier platforming presence than normal, I suggest buying for full price.[/td] [/tr] [tr] [td][h3]Verdict: Very Good[/h3] [url=https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2548409603]Rating Chart Here[/url][/td] [td]A high-quality, carefully designed souls-like that despite a few issues, manages to captivate players with a rich lore, satisfying combat and compelling freeform exploration - other than truly impressive landscapes.[/td] [/tr] [/table] https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2690150884 [h1]In-Depth[/h1] [h3]The Endless Stretches of Cosmic Time[/h3] Awakened without memory or purpose, our nameless protagonist finds himself in a world where digital and physical, thought and matter blend together, blurring the line between reality and illusion. Soon enough, a mysterious entity comes forward to guide his steps, help him regain the memories now lost, and face the madness lying ahead. STOFK's world includes many different biomes from high-tech fortresses to sprawling plains and snowy mountains; its style remains consistent throughout, and succeeds at giving away an eerie, mysterious, grandiose feeling with every new room, plaza and building. Additional pathos is gained with the orchestral soundtrack, capable of emphasizing brutal boss fights or the many astonishing landscapes even further. [h3]Journey Across a Broken World[/h3] You'll travel far, and overcome much, in this world ravaged by madness and reality-altering phenomena: it's divided into large stages each with a specific theme and often, enemies or challenges specific to that biome. Generally, STOFK gives total freedom in forging your own path across obstacles, since accurate platforming may enable bypassing large portions of a level early on or even access places you're not supposed to be able to just yet - and this is fine, because none of such exploits ever ends up breaking the game's continuity. The greatest example of open world is the central area, Ancient Lands, a truly immense swathe of land that not only serves as a hub towards all other zones, but houses a large amount of optional dungeons, secrets, bosses and lore-related interactions. Be it the central area or other ones, the amount of secrets and secondary areas is truly impressive, the true, careful explorers will be greatly rewarded. Convenience is present and welcome for traveling: at any time you may return to the last Limbo Well (bonfire) with a specific item, without losing anything; the same goes for returning to the Heart of Limbo - your "base" of sorts, where most upgrades are made. Do not fear falling down a pit, as death due to gravity won't incur in currency loss, as instead happens after being slain by an enemy. Handy teleport platforms are present in each major area, and free to use to quickly reach various parts of the world at any time. https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2692279119 [h3]Fighting the Madness[/h3] Combat works in a classic souls-like fashion: it involves stamina management, dodge animations with (rather generous) i-frames, light and heavy normal or charged attacks, perfect parries to unleash powerful counters, (unreliable) backstabs, support and offensive spells that consume mana (and not charges), plus a good array of consumables that bestow temporary buffs, other than the regular Estus equivalent (Catalyst) that refills itself at each bonfire or upon death. Some notable nuances include half-parries that deflect an attack's damage but do not enable a counter, the possibility to parry ranged attacks back to sender, and that lost Souls are absorbed by the enemy that killed you: hitting them once or more is necessary to regain them. Bosses are fairly challenging and have always some unique nuance, sadly some of them share a large part of their moveset with normal enemies, which was disappointing to see - some others are instead, entirely unique and extremely well done. It's a pity that all weapons, except for one or two slightly different attacks, share the exact same moveset, just with different speeds and damage - and that there're only swords, no other weapon category to use. Each blade can be upgraded at the Crucible, using materials found in the world (not farmable, there's a finite quantity of them) to improve its damage up to +10 Tier, another souls classic mechanic. Spells can also be upgraded, but only by filling quest conditions related to the various NPCs, and they are rather underwhelming, expensive and not really worth it especially later on. The character can as well be enhanced with dropped Essence (souls) at the Heart of Limbo, improving across its five attributes to have better stamina, max. HP, damage, spell damage or mana capacity, other than passive resistances. [h3]All Those Who Wander are Lost[/h3] A handful of NPCs can be found across the world, and they will have much to reveal about the world, the lore and how this patchwork of realities came to be. As usual for Souls games, they will move each time a dialogue is finished: to progress in their quests, other than finding specific items, players also have to find the NPCs themselves - often without a clue of where they might be. I managed to complete a few quests out of raw luck, but doing so with all of them is a monumental endeavor, as some are immensely cryptic. I suggest keeping a notebook besides you for this and the various "come back later" type of areas needing specific items to access, that you may not have yet. Depending on the choices made after defeating bosses, and also your actions with NPCs and optional fights, one of many endings will be chosen, leading to an epilogue that may reveal many secrets... or none at all. 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. https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2690151400
• gamedeal user

  Feb 11, 2022

  I gave it an honest shot. The art, visuals, and lore are great and well thought-out, as well as the level design and connectivity, but a lot of the rest of the game is lacking. It feels like there are hardly any enemies to fight. Barely any music. The platforming sections ruined it for me, frequent insta-death caused by player collision. Something in the combat itself was missing for me, I think it just wasn't satisfying to hit things. I love the environment and world-building, I just wish there was more "game" in it.
• gamedeal user

  Apr 30, 2022

  The story and lore is incredibly complicated and convoluted but you'll piece it together as you play and its quite cool once you understand it. I'm having fun and the visuals are awesome, some of the best character designs I've ever seen, the level design is great too, lots of shortcuts and secrets. Rough around the edges but a great foundation with alot of love behind it. The only thing thats annoyed me has been the 2.5D parts as I found it hard to judge where I was, the ability to switch between the different camera angles would be a nice addition. To compare it to other game it feels like a combo of souls and nier, not as challenging as souls tho but still hard enough that you have to learn boss movesets and parry timings. I hope Redlock make another game or even a sequel because they've got a great foundation to work off of and I'm sure they learned a tonne making this that they can put into practise in their next game. Didn't really notice any music the first time I played through so on my second playthrough I listened for it and its actually really good, so good in fact that you have to be listening for it as it blends so seamlessly into the background, the game has a great ambience to it because of that, I dunno what to call it but cyber-fantasy seems like the right name for it. Ended up liking this game so much I'm 100%ing it
• gamedeal user

  Jun 28, 2022

  Please follow United Critics for quality reviews

  Shattered Tale of the Forgotten King Review

  Shattered - Tale of the Forgotten King (STotFK) is an open world-ish RPG that is heavily inspired by the souls-like games made by Fromsoftware. Like any souls-like game, this game has a dense and obtuse story and lore that makes it really hard to describe what is happening in the game and even less why it is happening… But basically you are inside a simulation and you have to kill bosses because reasons… If you want to know what this game’s story is, look for a video about it, because frankly I didn’t understand it well. In order to save you time reading this review I would like to mention that his game is an ambitious indie game made by a studio of around 10 people and it is really janky. If you are allergic to jank, this game is not for you.

  Questions you might have if you're interested in playing it:

  <*>What is it exactly that you do in the game? Like most games inspired by the Dark Souls saga: you explore dangerous dungeons, fight hard trash enemies and bosses, find cool secrets, go back to your base to level up and improve your gear. There is also the “if you die you drop all your currency”, “all enemies respawn after dying or resting at a bonfire” and “limited healing items” mechanics. STotFK offers very simple platforming and combat mechanics that are really not worth explaining. If you ever played any 3D platformer or souls-like game in the last 10 years you will be very familiar with them. <*> Will it make my eyes bleed? I love this game’s art style, everything is screenshot material. Just be aware that STotFK uses low-poly models and if you are looking for “visual fidelity” this game offers none. I think this game is practically visually perfect: from the very simple but good looking character models, to the stylish and very expressive 2D sprites that are used to represent characters in cut scenes and the stunningly beautiful levels with great lighting and impossibly beautiful architecture… Everything is a pleasure to look at. <*>Does it have a good story? I don’t think this applies for this genre of games. STotFK is a bit different from the norm and gives you walls of text to flesh out the work, but most of it is cryptic and written to be vague or open to interpretation. All I can say is that I liked the setting, but as for “story” I don’t feel qualified to say if it is good or not. <*>Does it have a good soundtrack? It’s rather boring, not bad, just extremely bland. When you are exploring, the OST does its work and gives you something to listen to. But when the OST requires to give you an emotional vibe, it falls flat. I don’t know how to describe it… Imagine you are eating an ice cream made of only water, it has weight and texture, but it doesn’t have any flavor. <*>Does it have replay value? There are a couple of optional bosses, lots of optional areas and tons of items to collect. I won’t say that it has “plenty” but if you like the game and want to get the most of it, there is enough to keep you busy. <*>Does it run well? Most of the time STotFK runs “fine”, you know 60 FPS 1080p max settings. But the game’s open world bits ran at 30 FPS despite me lowering the video settings and resolution. Plus, there are several glitches and this game loves to crash after launch. <*>Is it fun? For the most part, yes. This game loves to shake ups things with 2.5D platforming, traditional 3D souls-like action. For me it is sufficient to make this game feel interesting enough to keep progressing but I have to admit that sometimes this game gets frustrating and unfair.

  So what is Shattered - Tale of the Forgotten King?

  It’s what happens when you really want to make a Souls-like game and innovate over the base of the genre but you are a small indie studio without a big publisher to back you up. I think by now you are really curious on how this game is “open world-like” but not just a regular open world. It’s simple, the game’s hub level is a huge and empty area in the middle of the map that you have to explore in order to find the doors that lead to the small and well-designed dungeons that are inspired by Dark Souls. 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. It’s a joy to explore them, they have multiple sweet secrets that reward exploration. Furthermore, you can break the level design with the jumping mechanics if you are clever. I'm not sure if it is intended, but this is something that I really enjoyed. Something that you have to know is how kind of broken the IA, path finding and sometimes the game’s NavMesh are. Enemies bug out and sometimes disappear to never be seen again, get stuck in this game’s clutter or sometimes in a place where they can’t hit you but you can hit them. I already mentioned how you can break the exploration with jumping, but be aware that you can break combat with jumping too. Most of the enemies’ attacks don’t deal damage if you are not at the same height level as them. but you can damage them. Even when SToftFK’s combat is already too easy and doesn’t require much to exploit it, this trivializes most of the encounters. The combat is not really deep or fun, you have a light attack, a heavy attack, if you hold the input on those you have a more powerful variation and a parry. All of these mechanics have some jank attached to it, the parries sometimes don’t register but what bothers me the most is how janky and unresponsive the attacks are. It's hard to describe but it feels too slow and weightless at the same time. It’s not all bad, but I never managed to enjoy how this game’s combat feels, maybe it’s something related to the fact that I have played way too many Dark Souls and Elden Ring, but STotFK’s combat doesn’t feel right to me.

  Things that I like about this game:

  <*>Amazing visuals <*>Amazing level design. <*> Awesome atmosphere. <*> It’s a cinematic experience. <*>This game is sometimes unintentionally hilarious. <*>Platforming is fun.

  Things that I dislike about this game:

  <*>A general feeling of jank over pretty much all of this game’s aspects. <*>The AI is kind of dumb. <*>The sound design feels lacking. <*>It’s a game way too easy to break and exploit. <*>This game is mostly well optimized, but when the game chugs, it really chugs. <*> All the weapons are the same sword but with different colors and different stats. <*>Some mechanics are way too obtuse for my taste, even for souls-like standards.

  Is this game worth my hard earned money?

  For most players: no… But if you are the kind of person that wants a different flavor of a “Souls-like” game, doesn't mind jank and all the shortcomings that I mentioned in this review… if you find it on sale, it’s an interesting, beautiful and fun-ish experience. Rating: 6/10 Fun but very janky
• Fogmoz

  Nov 13, 2022

  I love the art style, the overall design, worldbuilding, and level design. Many areas simply blew me away, visually. However, the combat is incredibly basic and the enemy variety is almost nonexistent. The exploration, while visually interesting, did not feel very rewarding from a gameplay perspective; usually a small essence item (currency) or more weapon upgrade materials (you will quickly have more than you want/need). I wouldn't mind seeing a sequel (especially if the art team has more ideas up their sleeves) but any attempt at combat needs some serious work. For me, it single-handedly dragged down an otherwise amazing - if unpolished and slightly janky - experience. Also crashed twice, once during a boss fight (rip souls) and once during an ending sequence.
• gamedeal user

  Dec 17, 2022

  Honestly pretty enjoyable game despite the jank and roughness. I actually enjoyed the platforming sections, but I also like platforming in general. Overall the game is pretty easy, no boss took me more than 5 tries to beat (and I'm bad at Souls/Souls-like games). Music and aesthetics are very good and the story itself seemed pretty interesting. I'm looking forward to checking out the additional endings at some point in the future. The worst part is the hoverboard. It's worse than the Warthog and the Mako combined. And don't even get me started on the racetrack section. But thankfully that was a small part of an otherwise fine game. Buy it on sale if you can stomach platforming and jankness in your souls-like games.
• gamedeal user

  Jun 5, 2019

  I can ONLY recommend this, if you want to support the project. The game is very far from being a full release but it looks very promising. So I have just seen a trailer and wanted to jump on immediately. What really stands out is the design of characters and world. A world filled with secrets and mystery like any good souls-like has it. And yes, souls-like is, from the small part I played, the best comparison so far. Though I can't yet say too much about whatever the game will become until full release, I still want to say some things about the flaws which you might have to tollerate mostly due to the status of early access: - Slow Animations, Backstabs seem to take forever - Not that many sounds besides some ambient music - If you try to climb mountains you might fall through their walls and into your certain death. - Enemies that are above you might become problematic since you often can't hit them with your sword and if you lock on and try using magic the camera actually looks down and not up. - Camera might glitch in objects. - Text boxes might not disappear. But even though I found quite a few issues and half an hour I still want to play more. I want to wait for patches and see this become a small but full fleshed souls-like game with an art-design I like so really much.
• gamedeal user

  Jun 5, 2019

  I wasn't planning to review this game so early, but I feel a lot of people aren't giving this game a fair chance. Shattered has been available less than one day in it's beta form. BETA. As in, there will be bugs right now. The devs will be fixing most of these in the coming weeks and months. On my ryzen 1600 & rx570, my only bug so far has been my sword passing through enemies 33% of the time, and the inventory controls don't work, which I'm sure will be fixed very soon. I'll edit this review as I go, but at this point I am absolutely LOVING this game, and would recommend it for sure! My only request is, let me map my own controls.