Shadow Heroes is a 2D Beat’em up with Roguelike elements that is easy to pick up with its main challenge being how long one can one be consistent to last till the (almost) countless waves of enemies.
There are 2 game modes in the game, the main game and the challenge mode (more on this later). In the main game, players first are given the choice to choose a number of characters, each with varying stats, range and weapon reach.
I Know You From Somewhere
For instance there’s “Bruce” (seemingly inspired by Bruce Lee might I add), a martial artist who uses a Nunchaku (which has a little reach) that has a high damage deal but the trade off is Bruce’s defence isn’t that high. Whereas there’s Graves, a range character that has higher defence but weaker attack when compared.
Avoid Corners
Each character has their own skills that come with the button press of “I” and “U” (not to be mistaken by the singer) that will help them overcome enemies (such as bosses) much more easily. These characters also have a move called “Flash” in common that helps them move or “teleport” to a side or across an enemy should they get surrounded or cornered.
More Skills = More Kills
The enemies come from the left or right of the player. The amount of them left being displayed on the right hand of the screen to let the player know how many more before the round ends. The top right hand side also displays the XP bar the player has, which increases with every kill. Once it fills up, the player is dealt a number of cards to choose from which will improve the character’s stats or introduce a new “mechanic” to aid them. This upgrade is done at the end of each round.
Battle of Attrition
As the player goes through the rounds and also chapters, more variety of enemies will appear and will increase in difficulty. Bigger enemies may appear but each has their own limitations. Each chapter will have a number of boss fights. Each boss has their own unique attack patterns that could pose a challenge if not dealt correctly. But once the patterns are identified, the only problem would be the player’s consistency and stamina as the later chapters can be quite long which makes the game feel padded and unnecessary. Dying on the chapter will need the player to restart from the beginning of it.
Hits and Misses
The artstyle is basic, animations serviceable with nothing that stands out. Though it may resemble One Finger Death punch in terms of its gameplay and look to a certain extent, Shadow Heroes lacks the oomph feeling with every punch of hit to an enemy. It also lacks the technique and skill OFD requires making this feel seem shallow and superficial.
The bright side is there’s a challenge mode where players can challenge their way up on the leaderboards against other players. After winning or losing in the main game, players will get these tokens which are used to unlock other characters or to simply increase one of the stats for their future runs.
Final Thoughts
Shadow Heroes doesn’t do anything much to set itself apart from other games of the genre, but for what it does, it does competently with little fault. Levels feel padded but apart from that and some translation issues (achievements), it plays well, there’s the sense of progression and multiple playstyles and playthroughs are possible.
Purchase Shadow Heroes on Steam!
Hailing from a small Island. Huge football fan. Drinks too much tea.
Survival, Roguelikes, Turn-based or Indie games in general are my go to genres but I like to dabble in all kinds of genres. I tend to have a soft spot for Shmups and Hidden Object Games once in a while.
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