Developer: Talerock
Publisher: Asterion Games
Platform: PC, Mac
Tested on: PC
Grimshade – Review
Kickstarter is the go-to place to fund your creative ideas and make it into something you always wanted. TALEROCK did just that, with their story-driven roleplaying game, Grimshade. They achieved 1059 backers and a good amount of money to substantiate their goal and the result is a sight to behold. This single player game takes you to the world of Ree’Fah, where you lead a group of adventurers through their journey.
Story
“After the Great Flood, the Kingdom of Easeon split into three states, torn apart by the heirs of Amon Darvish the Great and a long civil war. Ree’Fah witnessed the dark age for both livs and eleores. Nevertheless, after years of wandering, each group of people managed to find a safe haven from the dreadful monsters that riddle the lands of the Hardfore continent. Amazing technology, the legacy of the ancestors, secret knowledge of the nature of the world, grand ambitious goals for the future were lost forever during the battles for survival and the toils of settling a new society on the ruins of ancient cities, hostile wastelands, and dangerous mountain highlands.
Eighty years have passed. As old wounds have almost healed and people have set out on the road to prosperity, new enemies have gained the power to enter the scene, threatening the fragile stability of every living creature’s existence.”
When starting out you get an overall view of the events that happen. Doctor Gorsk Pershaw is creating test subjects in his lab, The Lambent Sisters get robbed from their guiding light and you get to play a while as Alister who crashed down in the umbrage Weald, a rotten forest near the city. Alister finds a pile of bodies and one survivor who is called Kiba. From this point on you follow the journey of the multiple heroes that you encounter.
They all fight against the evil of the bloodthirsty monsters of Shadow who are surrounding the huge city and the army of Bespierre, a neighbouring country that started an invasion at the same time.
Graphics
If we take into account that this is a game made by a small group of developers, the graphics exceed all expectations. The world is large and well detailed with a lot of interactive objects, which give you a written explanation in-game of what they are used for. The characters and monsters you encounter could be a little more polished if we look at the 3D model because the edges are rough and a bit undefined at some points. The last thing that we want to discuss is something that is quite annoying and should definitely change as soon as possible. We are talking about the size of the letters in the hint and explanation boxes on the top right of the screen. Those are barely legible and after a while, it gets really frustrating to try and decipher them.
Sound
The whole game is provided with some soothing background music that fits right into the story mode. We would have loved to see a fully voice acted game, but the developers promised to add that whenever they reach higher funding. Also, the combat has some nice fitting grunts and slashes which recreates the feeling of an intense battle.
Gameplay
Grimshade is a story-driven RPG set in a fantasy world. It features combat that is turn-based and quests that not always necessarily need to be played in a given order. You take along with you a band of unlikely heroes that probably go on the greatest adventure of their lives. The gameplay is divided into two major parts: Adventure and combat.
You can enter the adventure mode and this takes you to the world of Ree’Fah. Here you can get to know the game and gameplay at your own pace, upgrade your equipment and meet new heroes along the way. You can choose to explore the areas randomly and participate in dungeons. Each area has its unique inhabitants and storyline and you’ll always find somebody to aid you in your quest.
The combat system is turn-based and has a lot of options. You can run into a wide array of different enemies and some of them you are forced to defeat, so you can reach your destination. You start out in each fight with a team of maximum four heroes. These heroes can be deployed against your enemies and the battlefield is divided into two playing fields opposite of each other. Heroes and enemies move and fight in a predefined order. Also, they each have unique features that make every battle surprising and sometimes even difficult to handle. You definitely need to be on your A-(strategy)game to play the combat against some of your foes in Grimshade.
Conclusion
Grimshade provides you with a huge storyline, this is probably the greatest aspect of the game. Due to lack of funding, there are some things they could not add to the game which is a shame, because of the potential all those aspects hold. Overall it is a very nice game that will captivate you for many hours and is easy to get into.
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