So I had a lot of fun with Shadows: Awakening back in the Autumn. For those who might have missed it Shadows: Awakening is the newest instalment in the PC saga Heretic Kingdoms – and you can read my review of it right here.
It is a very solid game and, at times, can deliver a host of dungeon crawling fun. Fans of the series, and of the fantasy genre as a whole, will certainly be able to find a lot of joy here and with the sizable amount of gameplay and depth on offer it’s a great game to delve into. The ability to switch between characters and in between worlds is a great trick and the developers have managed to use these mechanics superbly well. The fully voiced cast (including that of Tom Baker) also offers up an extra dimension. The visuals and gameplay may not have been able to bring anything really new, and you may well find that you have played this type of game a hundred times before, but to be fair what it does do, it does very well indeed.
The story involves you starting out as a demon with a big choice to make, needing to possess one of three dead warriors in order for it to function in both the living and the ethereal plane, with the usual suspects found in most RPGs all present; mage, ranger, and warrior.
This new bit of content for Shadows: Awakening – The Chromaton Chronicles – is not really a bit of extra gameplay for the experts of the game, those who have levelled up and are waiting for a new challenge, though. No, it’s a little smattering of DLC that is nestled near the beginning of the game; aimed at those around level four only. The action takes place in the city of Thole and as soon as you load up The Chromaton Chronicles a quest marker appears in your journal. It is from here where you can open the doors to the Arcanum Laboratory in the city and your quest begins.
Much of this sees you spending time searching a little ornate laboratory and research station, one that has all sorts of diagrams and research notes about the building of golems and how things may work out. It’s full of steampunk influences that mix magic and science in the best way possible. You are left to run around the location discovering new enemies in the demon plane and fighting them to get parts of the body of a giant robot golem. It’s a heady mixture of fighting, puzzle solving and switching between the different realms that are no different to the skills learned in the main game.
When you gain all the different body parts you’ve summoned into the world, a huge mechanical golem arrives and then have to fight it. It must be said that this is a bit tricky, but once you’ve done so, will find that you can now control the character throughout the rest of Shadows: Awakening.
And basically that’s pretty much what The Chromaton Chronicles brings. It’s a nice short quest that delivers a bit of extra fun, sitting nicely alongside the main game without breaking or adding to the main story.
Overall and if you’re looking for a ton of extra content, then Shadows: Awaking – The Chromaton Chronicles wont bring that; instead it is just a neat little questline that gives you an extra character to play with… but then, the price asked fully reflects that. It’s not exactly been created for the utter legends of Shadows: Awakening either, as it is quite low level stuff, and won’t prove much of a challenge for those with a lot of experience, but it’s still just about worth checking out if you are a fan of the base game.
