1428: Shadows over Silesia - dark isometric action adventure set in medieval Europe

[cvv]

https://shadows1428.com





So the demo was released today and since I like historical RPGs - Expeditions: Viking and Kingdom Come are in my personal Top 10 - plus I actually live in Silesia now I felt obliged to try it out.

First impressions are actually great, considering this was developed by a handful of Slavs in their bedroom for a few bottles of vodka. The flyover shots of a marching medieval army is super neat, everything is well animated and very pretty.

Then people start talking and two problems emerge - voiceovers are...well, indie. But who the fuck cares about voices right? A bigger issue is the writing. This game is clearly a passion project of a single history enthusiast with very little idea of how to write an engaging story and characters. Right from the intro we're buried under an avalanche of names, places and events, many of which are confusing even for me and I fucking live in Silesia and have a cursory interest in history. Your average Yank or Tommy will be lost 10 seconds in.

And then you start playing and run headlong into the biggest problem of the game - the controls, some of the most obnoxious I've ever seen. The game is real-time isometric and you control your PC with WASD (or a controller, but I used M&K). Problem is steering your dude is like trying to move a heavy dresser through mud.

The problem escalates during combat. You get an immersive sneak peak into what having a cerebral palsy must feel like. I fiddled with the game for about 30 mins, then I got a quest to chase down some arsonists. You get a minute to do it but after 20 seconds being hopelessly stuck on a bunch of trees I just gave up.

The basic idea of the game is healthy. The setting is original (fans of Kingdom Come will love it), the art and animations are good to great and the RPG core seems solid to. But the inexperienced writing and obnoxious controls renders this unplayable for me. Maybe now the demo is out the devs get some feedback, people will chew their asses a bit, and changes will be made. Here is hoping but I'm not holding my breath.

 

[Darth Roxor]

plus I actually live in Silesia

Location: Kingdom of Bohemia

pepik impostor

 

[cvv]

plus I actually live in Silesia

Location: Kingdom of Bohemia

pepik impostor

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Czech_Silesia

Uneducated potato.

 

[wishbonetail]

What's with indies and their total aversion to textured surfaces. Is there some code of conduct among gamedev i'm not aware of?

 

[cvv]

What's with indies and their total aversion to textured surfaces. Is there some code of conduct among gamedev i'm not aware of?

Um...textures need a lot of manpower? Not something indies are typically flush with.

 

[Darth Roxor]

plus I actually live in Silesia

Location: Kingdom of Bohemia

pepik impostor

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Czech_Silesia

Uneducated potato.

pepik impostor surprised he's never heard of places in real silesia

ALSO GIVE BACK (THE REST OF) CIESZYN

 

[Parsimonious cook]

plus I actually live in Silesia

Location: Kingdom of Bohemia

pepik impostor

Pšonek pls.

Anyway, I have been following the dev´s Discord for a while now. The project is very impressive (though I wonder how accessible it will be to foreign audience - then again, KCD already proved that 15th century Bohemia can work so...), though controls are indeed a pain in the ass, especially in combat.

In any case, if you enjoy historical RPGs (and there arent many of those, after all), definitely give the demo a try.

 

[Lord_Potato]

Honestly, it's looking great. Lack of textures is not a problem in an isometric game where the camera is placed far away. The visuals are clear and have a certain charm. And the mine corridors give me positive Baldur's Gate vibes.

Too bad controls are shit. Hope the devs listen to feedback provided after the release of demo and fix it.

I will certainly be keeping an eye on this one. World has to few historical RPGs (even if this one adds fantasy elements to the mix).

 

[wishbonetail]

Honestly, it's looking great. Lack of textures is not a problem in an isometric game where the camera is placed far away. The visuals are clear and have a certain charm.

With every other indie game looking like that, it had lost its charm long ago. I do not consider painting finished when it is only a sketch and impressionism/miimalism bullshit doesn't cut it anymore for me.

 

[thesecret1]

handful of Slavs

It's a single dev, actually.

Anyway, I talked to the dev the other day. Pretty chill dude – everything you see is shit he made himself, or bought from the marketplace or comissioned. Clearly a history enthusiast. I played some (well, I only played the combat part. Didn't feel like getting into the story only to be disappointed that it's cut short). It actually wasn't too bad – movement felt a bit like in Exanima to me (obviously much, much more simplistic than that) and the combat was simple, but worked fairly well (it was all about dodging enemy blows and timing your hits. Simple, but definitely better than LMB spam).

From the basic story overview I got from him, it's going to be set during the Hussite Wars (obviously) and you'll actually be jumping back and forth between two characters – a hussite guy and a catholic one (I think he might be a knight?) whose stories are independent on each other at first, but eventually converge. It will also not be a purely historical work, but will also feature fantasy elements, so if you enter some old tomb, you can expect to fight ghosts, etc.

Anyway, it's not supposed to be an RPG, but rather an action adventure – your characters won't level up or get better stats or anything; it'll be more about solving puzzles, sneaking (yes, the game has stealth), etc. with the occassional combat thrown in for variety.

 

[rusty_shackleford]

Lack of textures is not a problem in an isometric game where the camera is placed far away.

Looks significantly better than that Morrowind-esque game with a similar style posted not too long ago.
[edit]
this https://rpgcodex.net/forums/threads...g-inspired-by-morrowind-and-new-vegas.141856/

 

[Tigranes]

This looks great. Art style makes the most of the limitations to give you the vibe. Action adventure style is probably actually a good idea for a single dev.

Controls aside it seems promising, then?

 

[Tavernking]

What's with the last few seconds of the trailer? Completely killed my interest

 

[Infinitron]

RPG

Shadows over Silesia is a dark action adventure game

 

[Serus]

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Czech_Silesia

Uneducated potato.

I knew about it before and it always made me chuckle a little. However, since I would like for Poland to have a region called "Lithuania" (we even own a tiny territory that was part of Commonwealth's Lithuania) so i can understand your Silesia. Even more so because there is some continuity in your case.
Silly southern potato.


Seriously now.
As to the game, I'm would be very interested as i would be in any historical crpg(-ish) project. Until i've read "action" and saw this is indeed an action game. FUUUUU!

 

[cvv]

I left a comment on Steam, the dude answered. So just FYI:

Hey. Hey. Thanks for the opinion. I appreciate you taking the time to write it.

I'd like to say a few things back to you This is a one man indie project. I'm working on the whole game myself. It's not an apology, just an explanation to give you an idea. I don't drink vodka

Story - I understand you got lost right off the bat with a lot of names. It's okay. You're not supposed to remember it or know your way around it. It's there to make it believable. The army wasn't made up of a bunch of a few people and they didn't have one goal. Hynek (main character) remembers them and always explains everything to you in time.

The game will focus on the different narrower storyline very early on (practically as soon as you catch up with the arsonists). I've gotten very good feedback on the story so far from crowdfunding backers who have access to the other chapters. Including the quality of the writing. But maybe I've just found an overly enthusiastic group of people so far? Try to give it another chance and at least finish the demo.

Controls - I don't know exactly where the problem is, but I know from previous feedbacks that it can take a while to get used to it. But then it should work. A horse is not a car and sometimes it has a head of its own. The key is definitely to be in control of the camera! Try to rotate it properly (maybe put it behind your back for simplicity and hold it). You'll see that it goes much better.

Kudos to him, game absolutely does NOT look like a work of a single man, even considering he bought some of the assets. But as I replied to him - game is super impressive but I believe controls that "take a while to get used to" are a total no-go in an action game. Turn-based or strategy games are a different issue but the controls in a action game have to be as snappy and smooth as possible from the get go, otherwise it's bye bye.

 

[Aemar]

Honestly, it's looking great. Lack of textures is not a problem in an isometric game where the camera is placed far away. The visuals are clear and have a certain charm. And the mine corridors give me positive Baldur's Gate vibes.

Same impression after watching the trailer.

 

[Wirdschowerdn]

For a moment I thought this was the Swabian's new game.

 

[Parsimonious cook]

What's with the last few seconds of the trailer? Completely killed my interest

The game seems to be quite similar to Dark Lands in terms of overal story, ie. adventurers come over a cult that does some dark magic/satanism-type of thing in 15th century central Europe (btw Dark Lands also had Hussites there, though only as enemies, so they could pretty much share the timeline). Fairly early in the demo you encounter some cultists and the story takes off. There are some fairly nice puzzles (various levers to pull and platforms to stand on from what I have seen so far, the ingame tutorial even mentions decyphering of messages).

I got somewhat used to the combat by now, though I would appreciate if there was a possibility to lock on enemies (sometimes its hard to face in the right direction when you want to block attacks). If you try it I recommend doing a few fights in the arena mode to get used to it. The Czech voice overs are sometimes Operation Flashpoint-level of "so bad its fun" (both in terms of lines as well as the voice acting, stuff like "Kde je kněz?" "Šel se někam vychcat." cracked me up hard when being said by Hussites, there was also some funny shit-talking about Poles at the start), its definitely budget stuff, but it works.

I really enjoy the graphics too. Good stuff in general, especially if you can get into the control scheme.

 

[lukaszek]

people in silesia live in runescape world?

Spoiler

it explains so much about dariusz persona

 

[Zariusz]

Looks interesting, i dont really like those visuals but the setting is very unique and i just cant miss the game set in Silesia. I wish that more medieval games would try to copy Kingdom Come aesthetics but since its just one dev its ok...

 

[Lord_Potato]

Looks interesting, i dont really like those visuals but the setting is very unique and i just cant miss the game set in Silesia. I wish that more medieval games would try to copy Kingdom Come aesthetics but since its just one dev its ok...

I think you should check Raubritteter on Steam, looks very promising and graphically looks similar to KCD despite different gameplay. As to this game - pity it's not a rpg.

 

[Rahdulan]

Tried the demo and it's not bad, you will get your Hussite stuff if you wanted some, but I wish it was more of an adventure game rather than a clumsy action one whenever combat is engaged. I get the feeling controls may be the primary antagonist here.

 

[Jenkem]

eyeing this up in the steam sale as it's 50% off and I like to support one-man passion projects.. has anyone played it recently? wondering if any of the complaints of controls or anything was addressed. also curious on general thoughts on game so long after release. sadly the demo doesn't seem to be available any more

 

[Parsimonious cook]

Ayo, what up niggaz.

So I started to play this and its cool, though obviously production values match the one man indie project (the Czech voice overs are often quite lulzy and I assume that the English ones are not gonna be better. It helps that I am currently reading Sapkowski´s Hussite trilogy, as there are plenty of locations and characters that play a role in both.

I am pleasantly surprised to see that a basic stealth mechanics are implemented:

Both LoS and sound play a role and you can distract the guards (for example by ringing the alarm bells) - the stealth sequence when the Hussite character gets captured by cultists and has to escape from prison is p. nice and some parts are actually quite difficult (requiring you to use distraction with right timing to get through guards that are otherwise impossible to get by undetected).

There are some basic puzzles (pull levers and place stones on preasure plates to open doors and such) as well and a simple dialogue system.

There is also decyphering minigame:

Cypher

I have liked this type of stuff ever since playing Sid Meyer´s Cover Action.

Art style might not necessarily be everyone´s cup of tea, but its not actively offensive, the atmosphere is top notch and the story so far seems OK.

The combat system seems somewhat more streamlined now, I have only vague recolections of what it used to be originaly and even now I certainly wouldnt call it perfect, but it doesnt feel annoying much (in any case I recommend spending some time in the arena before you start the campaign. TBH fam, I think that the dev might have been better off if he made this a primarily stealth game rather than primarily combat one however, as the combat system will very likely remain the main complaint that people have about the game. Still, it is somewhat realistic (as fighting more than 2-3 enemies at once is a suicide and even 2-3 enemies put you at significant disadvantage).

All in all, its pretty decent provided you dont come in expecting AAA production values and polish.