When you looked at the title of this video game, what was the first thing you thought of? Maybe you thought it involves some demonic rituals and black magic? I know I thought it had some of that. Maybe you were thinking about Hitman? In that case, you’re not entirely wrong.
Shadowy Contracts by ExiledThunder is a Stealthy Fantasy RPG. Basically, you play as some sort of assassin that goes on contract missions to kill targets for gold. Sounds just like Hitman. However, the game has much more than that. This is where the RPG elements come in and introduce themselves.
The gold earned from killed quarries can be used to purchase newer and better weapons for assassinating or potions, if you want to go at it like that. But you can also use gold to buy yourselves a mercenary army! Let’s take a look at more things offered, on the Steam page:
*There are over 7 contract levels for you to play and more than 4 battle levels!
The “Battle level” sounds like something you would need some mercenaries for.
*You can loot from the defeated or buy from the shop over 52 different weaponry, 38 armor sets, and 21 weapon enchantments! According to the Steam Page, more will be added later.
*You can not only make progress by looting weapons but also by learning new abilities and spells from the talent tree! This is a common but important element in RPG. There must always be some sort of “tree” where the abilities are listed and powerups are branched out.
*One interesting thing Shadowy Contracts does is that when you level up, the difficulty of the level and enemies’ strength levels up with you, or as the Steam page puts it, “scale” with you. This ensures that each new level will always be a challenge for you, keeping you on your toes.
*Last but not least, you can customize your character to look how you want them to!
Now, onto the gameplay experience. Booting up the game, you will be met with not too much on the screen, only four options: New Game, Load Game, Options, and Exit Game.
And as it is Early Access, bugs are bound to be found, and the developers know that. So, they ask that if you do find some bugs or issues, then you can report them to their Steam Page or Twitter.
Starting a new game, there are only three difficulties: Easy, Normal and Hard. Of course, for the newbies to RPG or to this game, Easy is recommended. After choosing a difficulty, you are met with the Character Customization. You have 5 options to adjust: Body, Head, Face, Upper Body and Lower Body. For Body, you have the Height and Skin Color, but interestingly, you can also change your character’s gender and race! There are only three races: Humans, Dwarfs and Semi-giants. The game will explain to the advantages of each one. Example: In game, “Humans have average strength and stealth”.
For the Head, there are specific details like Forehead Size, Ear Size, etc. Changing this is optional, but I honestly am intrigued by the details.
The rest will take too long, so I’ll continue with that you can choose whether or not to skip the tutorial and of course, set the name of the character. Once all is set, you can start the game. The loading screen will give you tips on gameplay.
Once the game is started, your journey begins in a forest, where some lore of the game is revealed: King Arthur had began his reign over Klesgate Kingdom, rampaging through villages and making life tough in general. This is where your character comes in. They learn about an organization that will pay in gold for taking out targets. Having no choice, your character takes the offer.
Check Out the Shadowy Contracts Steam Early Access Trailer:
Shadowy Contracts is available for PC for $12.99 via Steam Early Access.
I'm the kind of guy who LOVES games with rich storytelling elements, but still finds enjoyment in the other games that don't have those. I am always intrigued by how new and upcoming game developers either bring something new to the table or take something existing and bring an exhilarating twist to it.
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