SHATTERED: TALE OF THE FORGOTTEN KING: REVIEW

If you thought we were talking about another pixelated "soullike" where action and platformer run hand in hand, then Shattered: Tale of the Forgotten King is not the case: here we are fighting in a dark world with a third-person view. But quite often the gameplay does migrate to the edges of platformers, changing the 3D perspective to 2.5D. How did this affect the game, and what else is interesting about this stylish French Dark Souls?

The magic of mystery and style 

I walked the forgotten paths for days, weeks and months to reach the palace of a Thousand Doors. A place where now only silence reigned. Where the wind froze and the waves retreated with the Great Rift. Time of the Great Exodus ... 

And here I am, shrouded in a fog of memories of the past and the future, stood in this mythical place that has been preserved. The only place that anyone in Hypnos could find, without a map or a compass, during the time when the King still ruled. 

And I remember the silence in my soul. 

Bitter raindrops in the wind.

Here in this language authors (and chief among them - the French artist and designer Maxim Rene [Maxime Rene]) speak to us, and in press releases and in the game itself. Nothing is particularly clear, but stylish, dark, mysterious and melancholy. And it looks exactly the same. In many ways, the picture and character models are reminiscent of another "soullike" - Ashen , but in Shattered everything is somehow darker, perhaps more gothic and again melancholy.

There are also colors other than black and white.

There are also colors other than black and wIt becomes especially impressive when the game changes from a third person view to a side view:

From this perspective, we not only jump, but sometimes fight.

All this, of course, refers to Dark Souls and that halo of mystery and darkness with which the plot is presented there. But Shattered: Tale of the Forgotten King , like many truly French games, has its own charm. Katerina Krasnopolskaya will not let you lie. 

We are playing for a certain Wanderer - in the world of Hypnos, this seems to be a certain position, title or duty. In any case, he must put together fragments of reality and trace the fall of civilization - this world is abandoned and post-apocalyptic, and its collapse occurred after the disappearance of the King. In the process, we periodically discover new secrets of Hypnos, including about our own origin and purpose.

There are obviously many secrets here.

And besides, we are fighting not only with ordinary enemies, but also with demiurges - these are destructive gods from a distant universe, who feuded and devoured each other until they destroyed everything around, and now they “play with corpses” out of boredom. A little creature that the protagonist meets at the very beginning, and then carries it behind him, tells us about this and many other things - here the courier with the baby from Death Stranding immediately comes to mind.

"Who am I? Who are you?"

Souls are not taken away here 

The gameplay is much less mysterious. In general, everything is according to the patterns and precepts of Dark Souls : dodges, parrying and counterattacks, endurance management, the ability to use not only melee weapons, but also magic, collecting "souls" for pumping, bonfires as control points at which we are saved and revived after death. 

In Limba, on a kind of player's base, where you can return almost at any time through portals or using one of the consumables, there is an altar where the collected "souls" are spent on increasing the main parameters - physical strength, magic, health, mana / stamina reserves. The more we pump, the more points will be required for the next upgrade. 

In the same place, in Limbe, there is a forge where you can improve weapons, as well as craft consumables and materials for upgrading piercing and cutting objects.

New weapons are often obtained after defeating bosses.

The difference is that after death we are allowed to endlessly return for "souls" - they will not disappear anywhere, no matter how much you die. This makes the passage somewhat easier and shifts the game from a masochist simulator towards an action-RPG (as in the case of Ashen , by the way). That is, if you cannot constantly demonstrate a great reaction and defeat everyone with your "skill", then you can play more slowly, betting on pumping parameters.

Weapons vary, including the speed of strikes.

A world full of secrets ... and leaps 

In any case, it's interesting to play. Largely also because it is fun to explore the world. There is a unique "lore", non-trivial level design, a lot of verticality, when, for example, you need to climb and jump up the stairs or fall for a long time and jump over the islands hanging in the air to get to the next location. There are many closed for the time being doors, secret portals that need to be found to open short paths, ruins and obelisks with inscriptions that can only be read with the help of special stones.

What's new for this portal?

Moreover, the study is non-linear. There are, for example, doors leading to the next boss, but you are not free to go there right away, but to move on and then return through the portals with renewed vigor and decide on a difficult rendezvous.

There are also city levels.

It is clear that there are problems in Shattered. The world still feels empty - it puts more pressure on aesthetics than saturation. Bosses are not as interesting and difficult as you know in which game. Platform elements and puzzles add variety and charm to what is happening, but the controls and camera are not ideal - and in general it can be difficult to know where to jump something.

But after the fall, the collected souls will remain with you.

Still, Shattered: Tale of the Forgotten King leaves a positive impression. This is an uncommon, stylish "soullike", distinguished by the quality of performance, atmosphere and well-developed world. And most importantly, this is just the beginning - as the authors assure, they have been creating this universe for 10 years and are now preparing new games in the world of Hypnos. I would, by God, go back there. 

Pros: intriguing plot; non-trivial world; colorful characters; hypnotizing atmosphere; generally addictive gameplay; unusual transitions from action to platforming; interesting research process. 

Cons: the world sometimes seems empty; not the most convenient control and camera behavior, especially during platforming.