Trying to adapt a TTRPG into an arcade beat-em-up is tricky business: it's not a genre that easily captures the breadth and depth of character customization or the sense of complete freedom and nonlinearity that draws many people to D&D. Shadow over Mystara understands this and chooses not to focus on that at all; instead, it plays up the 'teamwork' angle, with different character classes able to help each other with complementary skillsets. The cleric can immobilize enemies for a bulkier character (like the dwarf or fighter) to wail on for major damage, and magic users aren't great on their own but make excellent crowd control and are able to hit slippery bosses with ease. The result is one of the most collaborative arcade beat-em-ups out there that doesn't try to overreach but is excellent at everything it does.

The movesets are expanded significantly from the previous game, and the bread-and-butter game feel is impeccable - it feels really great to wail on a bunch of enemies with a standard combo, send them flying with a charging attack and then continue to juggle them.

I will say that the single-player experience isn't balanced particularly well - some spots will require skills that your character may not have (like an enemy who can only be damaged with magic), and there are plenty of cheap boss 'grab' attacks that drain a lot of your health if you don't have an ally nearby to knock them out of the animation. But I suppose that really is part of the game's intention. Good stuff!