It’s a Metroidvania game this time on this review basically the game is Symphonia Of The Night mixed with Metroid Fusion; it focuses on a world that has been submerged in darkness for nine long years in the classic Retro 2D fashion and created a vacuum for any joy or happiness that would come to this world.
The genre provides countless hours of entertainment. The Halberd Studio developed Nine Years Of Shadow emphasizes the point that despite not reinventing the will or doing anything mechanically novel, the story and playthrough are genuinely enjoyable, and although we will be going through some issues this game has on Switch, there have been moments that are very rewarding as a player.
The opening theme of this game will draw you in and the Lo-Fi music continues to play as the soul of the game each song complements the setting wonderfully as you explore the various parts of the Castle in search of the elemental relics in each different zone you cover has a plentiful amount of secrets for you to find in a classic Mario like fashion.
The game has a genuine 80s vibe with modern retro animation quality and play mechanics. The game has definitely bought many eyes towards it since its release back in November 2022 and ever since then the game has had some issues that made players uneasy which to date haven’t been entirely fixed. So what are these issues and are 9 Years of Shadows really worth it? Let’s dive into this review and understand it ourselves.
- Release Date: 14 November 2022
- Creator/Developer: Halberd Studios
- Platform: Nintendo Switch, Microsoft Windows
- Ratings: 9/10 (Steam)
- Genre: Indie game, Platform game, Adventure game, Fighting game
- Price: $15.99
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Gameplay, Story, And What We Think About It
Nine Years of Shadows follows protagonist Europa a woman who’s lost everything, including her family to a treacherous curse sapping the world of color and life now after years of battle Harding training she approaches Talos Castle from which the curse is said to have started with the intention of writing it once and for all.
After nearly falling victim to one of the Castle’s roaming monsters a bizarre bare-like creature named Apino arrives and saves her also acting as a potential ally for the trials ahead, Europa will also meet several other individuals throughout Telus Castle, yet gameplay takes precedence with a well-constructed map that cleanly informs players of where they are at all times in an RPG fashion.
Now, regarding combat Europa’s attacks are few yet highly effective expected directional variation is present providing situational on-the-fly action when taking both Europa and enemies moving into account the combat speed is relatively moderate, so there’s rarely any occasion where you’ll find yourself overwhelmed.
Some of the boss battles defy this notion but if you’re used to playing more fast-paced Metroidvanias and the like 9 years of Shadows could be a gratifying change of pace still the real spice of the gameplay arrives in the elemental armors as progression is made you’ll obtain new equipment that enables traversal to previously inaccessible areas while also granting enhanced offensive power against particular foes typical.
Unfortunately, the most critical fault of Nine Years of Shadows is its performance; even though it’s usually fine the game would frequently face intermittent slow down that would actively interfere with combat scenarios and platforming causing lost time and damage that would have been retained otherwise.
The enemies in 9 Years of Shadows involve corrupted guards creatures and hunters which each have a weakness based on a certain element, who doesn’t love having a bestiary to learn a bit about the lore now even though there’s a wide variety of these enemy types they do become a bit exhausting as instead of having unique ones for each zone you might just find the same enemy with a slightly different attack or color scheme each zone plays and feels different due to the amazing pixel art in focus on elements unlike something you see in Witcher games, and you’ll also occasionally run into these cool little cut scenes.
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Conclusion And Should You Buy It?
Nine years of Shadows is a fleshed-out Metroidvania that offers plenty of exploration and is beautiful to look at however it does have its flaws such as the lack of enemy diversity in the occasional repetitive combat but if you’re looking for a game with an amazing soundtrack some fantastic large-scale boss fights and some creatively fluid gameplay the 9 years of Shadow may be something you’re looking for it’s releasing on Steam however you should be able to find it on the Switch later this year if you do plan to play this tight on Steam then I highly recommend you use a controller.
The game goes for around $15 over different platforms and is only available to play on Windows or Switch, so I would say this is pretty much a hit or miss. For some players, this game can be beautiful, and for others, frustrating. So just go ahead and buy it for what it’s worth, it won’t make a hole in your pocket, and you might even enjoy it even if you never played indie games before.
9 Years of Shadows is a gorgeous Metrovania boasting terrific progression that we would ordinarily recommend to all fans in a heartbeat; its combat also thrives with meticulous loving effort evident in countless areas, yet these strengths make the performance faults all the more disappointing what could have been a must-play outing of this jam-packed genre has instead become a regretful cautionary tale.
Our Rating: ⭐ (3/5).
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