Positives:
- A good attempt at bringing lore into the game.
- The gameplay is alright.
Negatives:
- No progression. Puzzles don't change much over the course of the game.
- Unnecessarily heavy grinding required to buy/upgrade everything. Heroic mode makes this even worse than it already is.
- The game becomes really hard to see when it's night in-game.
-----------------------------------
''Shalnor Legends: Sacred Lands had been on my wishlist for quite a while--pretty much since its release actually. After all, the 2D Action-Adventure genre--or for a lack of better words, 2D Zelda-likes--is one that I feel is underrepresented in the current day. Any upcoming game in this genre doesn't have to do much to end up on my wishlist. Unfortunately for this game though, my experience with it wasn't one that I'll look back on fondly.
Let's get the positives out of the way first. Although it was something I overlooked for most of the game since the graphics for books never stood out to me, I do like the good attempt at world building for this game through lore not touched upon in the main story. I wish it was the main story though, since that basically came down to our main protagonist wanting to clear a trial and get out of the sacred lands alongside every other human that's still alive--and that's saying it nicely because it really is just her trying to get a bow and get out. The lore is good, but I would have liked for it to be a bit more in the spotlight. Regardless, it builds up to more, and while I normally am not a fan of that since sequels depend on the first game's success, there is certainly more to be discovered here. Despite my opinions on this game, I do hope that this lore ends up being expanded in future, hopefully better games.
But that short paragraph is unfortunately all I really had to say when it comes to positives. Shalnor Legends lacks one major aspect of the genre it comes with, and that is progression. Over the entire course of the game, nothing ever changes to the puzzles. It comes down to the same traps being used over and over again with very slight alterations, and it becomes repetitive very quickly as a result. New elemental arrows are obtained from dungeons, but they are only used for no reason other than to open up doors, completely avoiding what games such as The Legend of Zelda have been doing with new items to introduce new puzzles. They're good for combat sure, but even the bosses don't need these specific arrows; in fact, they just need to be whaled on and that's it. So yeah, you're essentially doing the same things over and over again for a game that can easily last 8 hours on a first playthrough.
Perhaps the worst aspect about the game though, is the unreasonable amount of grinding asked from the player. There are a lot of merchants to buy one-time stuff from, and both weapons- and armour can be upgraded through distinct skilltrees. Every node on these skilltrees need materials to be upgraded, which are mostly fine to get. On the other hand though, they also cost a lot of money. The only way to get money is to go in a room, break barrels, leave, rinse and repeat for a few coins at a time--or at least, that's the case for almost 90% of the game. As you can imagine, that's a drag and takes way too long--especially given the big amounts needed for upgrading. There is a minigame after obtaining all of a specific collectable that makes getting money pathetically easy, but not only does the game never indicate that getting these (paid) collectables leads to such a minigame, but unlocking it happens near the very end of the game. If you're like me, you probably already wasted countless hours just upgrading everything simply because you didn't expect a minigame near the end of the game. This could have easily been solved if the game had alternative ways to get materials- and money, like sidequests. But as mentioned before, there is little to do in this game outside of trap-avoiding adventuring. Oh, and to add insult to injury: Heroic mode, a higher difficulty unlocked after beating the game once, has reduced material- and money drop rates. Why.
The gameplay loop itself is alright I suppose. It feels a bit clunky at first, but combat and dashing around do both work--it's just not really super satisfying or anything. I do at least like the archery combat, but it is hampered by every arrow consuming so much mana that you can only shoot a few before having to wait again. Exploration itself is also alright, though I'm not the biggest fan of invisible chests that appear only when you're very close to them. There's also a day-night system, but that is basically only used for ghost merchants who appear on the map at night. The game is really dark at night though--a bit too dark for my liking, making it tough to walk around and even find these ghost merchants in the first place. There's not really a distinct map with icons that would make it easier to find them on there either, but the game isn't too big and you still have a general world map to look at that also has teleporting options. It's more on the nitpicky side, though please don't make the game too dark next time.''
- A good attempt at bringing lore into the game.
- The gameplay is alright.
Negatives:
- No progression. Puzzles don't change much over the course of the game.
- Unnecessarily heavy grinding required to buy/upgrade everything. Heroic mode makes this even worse than it already is.
- The game becomes really hard to see when it's night in-game.
-----------------------------------
''Shalnor Legends: Sacred Lands had been on my wishlist for quite a while--pretty much since its release actually. After all, the 2D Action-Adventure genre--or for a lack of better words, 2D Zelda-likes--is one that I feel is underrepresented in the current day. Any upcoming game in this genre doesn't have to do much to end up on my wishlist. Unfortunately for this game though, my experience with it wasn't one that I'll look back on fondly.
Let's get the positives out of the way first. Although it was something I overlooked for most of the game since the graphics for books never stood out to me, I do like the good attempt at world building for this game through lore not touched upon in the main story. I wish it was the main story though, since that basically came down to our main protagonist wanting to clear a trial and get out of the sacred lands alongside every other human that's still alive--and that's saying it nicely because it really is just her trying to get a bow and get out. The lore is good, but I would have liked for it to be a bit more in the spotlight. Regardless, it builds up to more, and while I normally am not a fan of that since sequels depend on the first game's success, there is certainly more to be discovered here. Despite my opinions on this game, I do hope that this lore ends up being expanded in future, hopefully better games.
But that short paragraph is unfortunately all I really had to say when it comes to positives. Shalnor Legends lacks one major aspect of the genre it comes with, and that is progression. Over the entire course of the game, nothing ever changes to the puzzles. It comes down to the same traps being used over and over again with very slight alterations, and it becomes repetitive very quickly as a result. New elemental arrows are obtained from dungeons, but they are only used for no reason other than to open up doors, completely avoiding what games such as The Legend of Zelda have been doing with new items to introduce new puzzles. They're good for combat sure, but even the bosses don't need these specific arrows; in fact, they just need to be whaled on and that's it. So yeah, you're essentially doing the same things over and over again for a game that can easily last 8 hours on a first playthrough.
Perhaps the worst aspect about the game though, is the unreasonable amount of grinding asked from the player. There are a lot of merchants to buy one-time stuff from, and both weapons- and armour can be upgraded through distinct skilltrees. Every node on these skilltrees need materials to be upgraded, which are mostly fine to get. On the other hand though, they also cost a lot of money. The only way to get money is to go in a room, break barrels, leave, rinse and repeat for a few coins at a time--or at least, that's the case for almost 90% of the game. As you can imagine, that's a drag and takes way too long--especially given the big amounts needed for upgrading. There is a minigame after obtaining all of a specific collectable that makes getting money pathetically easy, but not only does the game never indicate that getting these (paid) collectables leads to such a minigame, but unlocking it happens near the very end of the game. If you're like me, you probably already wasted countless hours just upgrading everything simply because you didn't expect a minigame near the end of the game. This could have easily been solved if the game had alternative ways to get materials- and money, like sidequests. But as mentioned before, there is little to do in this game outside of trap-avoiding adventuring. Oh, and to add insult to injury: Heroic mode, a higher difficulty unlocked after beating the game once, has reduced material- and money drop rates. Why.
The gameplay loop itself is alright I suppose. It feels a bit clunky at first, but combat and dashing around do both work--it's just not really super satisfying or anything. I do at least like the archery combat, but it is hampered by every arrow consuming so much mana that you can only shoot a few before having to wait again. Exploration itself is also alright, though I'm not the biggest fan of invisible chests that appear only when you're very close to them. There's also a day-night system, but that is basically only used for ghost merchants who appear on the map at night. The game is really dark at night though--a bit too dark for my liking, making it tough to walk around and even find these ghost merchants in the first place. There's not really a distinct map with icons that would make it easier to find them on there either, but the game isn't too big and you still have a general world map to look at that also has teleporting options. It's more on the nitpicky side, though please don't make the game too dark next time.''