Fight to bring beautiful colors back to a hand-crafted world of darkness and discover the story of Europa, a young warrior, and her ghostly childhood companion, Apino.
Modeled estimate, not a reported figure. How we estimate →
Prices
Each in the currency that store quoted — not converted: the gap between two rows is the publisher's pricing, not an exchange rate.
Discounts
Every price cut of more than 20% we have observed, in each market that quoted one, with this game's chart position on either side of it. These are episodes, not a model: a sale is one event, and one event cannot tell you what the next one will do.
Reviews, worldwide (the counter carries no country): 2/day in the week to Aug 23 → 2.14/day in the week after.
For scale, across Steam · Top Sellers · Brazil over the last 30 days: the 26 chart moves that followed a price cut of more than 20% went a median of 7 places towards #1, and the 2,400 moves with no price cut behind them went 2 away. One store, one chart, one country — it is the only place we have enough observations to say even that.
Prices outside the United States have been collected since 6 August 2026 and chart positions since 19 July 2026, so a cut older than that has no market to compare and a market that joined later has no history yet. Nothing here is converted between currencies.
About
9 Years of Shadows is a side-scrolling Metroidvania by Halberd Studios. Travel alongside Europa, a brave warrior determined to enter the mechanical giant Talos and stop the corruption within before it swallows the world in darkness. Battle through tainted creatures, meet charismatic musicians and uncover the truth behind the curse that robbed the land of all color.
Many have tried to venture inside the twisted depths of Talos, a dormant fortress where several civilizations have settle over centuries. And, after losing everything she held dear, Europa has nothing holding her back from attempting what others could not achieve. As a noble fighter who refuses to be bound by the curse, she must enter the castle, find the source of corruption, and return the color once and for all.
This adventure is not for Europa to face alone. Inside the giant, she befriends Apino, a cute floating bear who seems to possess magical abilities that can restore color and replenish the health of his allies. He is also able to shield his companions from the multiple dangers that roam Talos’ hallways.
While exploring the castle, Apino can cleanse the corruption around Talos and shoot a variety of projectiles that can destroy dark crystals and inflict damage:
A fist that punches upwards when conjured.
A blast that travels along a surface until collision
A cyclone that returns to Apino like a boomerang.
Use the elements to your advantage to travel the map dynamically. Acquire the elemental armors that were once treasures to ancient civilizations and change on the fly and unlock special abilities to traverse your way: from swimming against waterfalls to traveling underground tunnels or gliding through warm air currents.
Harness the power of lightning, water, earth, and fire. Surprise bosses while you switch armors, perform strong halberd combos, and exploit your foes’ weaknesses to pave your way through the heart of the shadows.
Music is all but the soul of the game. Revitalize the world while you listen to a moving soundtrack composed by Miguel Hasson, as well as soothing pieces scored in 432hz by celebrated composers Michiru Yamane (Castlevania series) and Norihiko Hibino (Metal Gear Solid series). Meet these guest composers as in-game NPCs who aid in Europa’s quest throughout the game.
Music is the binding thread that combines gameplay and storytelling: collect musical notes and perform a healing lullaby to restore your health.
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"Literally stunning"
Keen Gamer
"A stunning Metroidvania"
GamesRadar+
"Excellent & responsive combat"
Game Rant
"Delights all the senses"
GameLuster
"Two thumbs up"
LadiesGamers
Sums Steam only; GOG, PlayStation, Xbox, Epic, Nintendo publish no volume signal, so the true total is higher by an unknown amount.
| Store | Price | Audience | Score | Chart | Est. revenue |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
SteamYou are here | $19.99 | 3.4Kreviews | 77% | — | $1M |
| $7.99−60% | 577ratings | 84% | — | not modelled | |
Engagement
Reviews
Themes across 152 recent reviews and how positive each mention is. A keyword signal, not full sentiment analysis.
Reviews
Fun game to play-- my first Metroidvania that I actually finished! I love the art and the music of the game. A small detail that doesn't really matter to most people is that the heroine isn't depicted in stereotypical "female armor" that you see in most games. If you are looking for a story-driven game, you WILL be disappointed! I wish we had more backstory behind Europa and her relationship with her mentor, whom we eventually meet while exploring. You get some tidbits here and there, but the pacing is quite odd. The elevator talk is really the only way to find out what Europa is thinking and getting some details, but even then that dries out. There was some foreshadowing with the story behind Apino, your companion teddy, but it was immediately thrown in your face at the end of the game. If you are playing on Mouse and Keyboard like I did, expect some awkward controls and to switch out your keybinds. Be careful! I found that there was a bug where it didn't save my keybinds after restarting the game. My least favorite part of the map was the Olympian Smash(?) ability where you'd jet down after a Double Jump. It felt really clunky and inconsistent. I originally started in 2024, but had taken a break at the time. But coming back in 2026 after last year's update adding the fast travel system and map update felt much better when it came to traversing the massive map. The only downside is that those trying to 100% the game and using some of the pre-2025 guides to do so may find that the room placements have changed because of this! A few bugs that I noticed that ruined my immersion and experience: You cannot open the map or interact with the elevators after about 5 seconds-- sometimes using the Talos elevators in the center and trying to open the map at the same time will engulf your screen in a blinding light, this can only be taken care of when exiting to the menu. You can still move, and I've managed to cheese it by blindly wandering to a save site a couple of times. There is a repetitive audio bug in one of the rooms, I cannot recall, but just like the above problem, it can only be solved by exiting to the title. God, was this a ♥♥♥♥♥ to 100%... Anyways, the game will take you about maybe ~8h-10h, the reason why my hours exceed that is because 1) skill issue and 2) I have had 2 previous playthroughs I never finished. I think it's worth the price of $20. If you can get it on sale, even better! I'm hoping that the new game releasing in 2027 (Mariachi Legends) by Halberd Studios will be much more polished.
Media
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Price dynamics, follower growth, revenue and sales trajectories with interactive tooltips
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Every market we collect.
Genres
Stats
All-time low is the lowest price we've recorded for this game since we started tracking it.
Languages: English*, Spanish - Latin America, French, German, Japanese, Portuguese - Brazil, Russian, Simplified Chinese*languages with full audio support
| $19.99 |
| 184ratings |
| 79% |
| — |
| not modelled |
| $19.99 | 50ratings | 86% | — | not modelled |
| $19.99 | — | — | — | $0 |
| $19.99 | — | — | — | not modelled |
Matched by title — a reused name can pair the wrong games. * is a critic aggregate. Prices and positions are each store's United States storefront; Epic charts worldwide. Audience and Score too, except Steam's, which is worldwide.
Hours played at review time, across 153 reviews with recorded playtime.
positive critical· bar length = how often the theme comes up
Very good MetroidMania, with two strong points : Boss and artistic direction. I firmly recommend !!
Clearly an allegory about grief, short game but very pleasant in many ways, took me longer than some other titles of the same category but overall i consider this to be a nice addition to my metroidvania catalog, hard to tell where my next adventure will lead to
Excelent gameplay. Quite good ost. Excelent graphics and character design. I encountered 2 bugs. One at the end of the first sequence, I couldn't go past a dialogue, and the other one, the same exact bug, at the end of the last sequence, when Europa is grabbing the kids hand, pressing A woulnd't do anything. Quick traveling should be free because there is just not enough money in the game to buy all the upgrades without heavy grinding (I grinded a considerable amout of money, still I was like 800 short for the last upgrades, which is A LOT, and I 100% the map). The story is sadly non-existant: there a is curse in the castle, you must destroy it. That's it. Just a little plot twist there but not much more.
Что хочется выделить в 9 Years of Shadows: 🔸 Классическая метроидвания: вместо оружия — разные доспехи и стихийный урон 🔸 Прекрасная пиксельная графика — глаз радуется 🔸 Приятная и ненадоедающая музыка 🔸 ~10 часов на прохождение (можно закрыть сразу на платину) Единственное, к чему могут быть вопросы — сюжет. Но в таких играх он и не главное. Он есть, он неплохой, он очень драматичный — и это в пиксельной-то метроидвании! 😅 Из забавного: в игре куча отсылок на греческую мифологию, и это выглядит очень уместно. Если вы любите пиксель-арт и метроидвании — проходить мимо нельзя! ⚡ 8 доспехов Зевса из 10!
Me pareció un juego increíble de principio a fin. Es muy entretenido, tiene un arte precioso, una gran banda sonora y una jugabilidad que se siente muy bien. Lo que más me gustó es que no se siente excesivamente complicado, por lo que es una excelente opción para quienes quieren entrar al mundo de los metroidvania. El mapa tiene un tamaño perfecto: lo suficientemente grande para explorar y descubrir secretos, pero sin llegar a ser abrumador para los jugadores nuevos. Yo no soy alguien con mucha experiencia en este tipo de juegos (solo he jugado unos pocos), y aun así disfruté muchísimo la aventura. También lo recomiendo para jugadores más experimentados que quieran algo más relajado. Si vienes de juegos con jefes extremadamente difíciles y solo buscas jugar tranquilo, explorar y disfrutar la experiencia sin tanto estrés, este juego es una gran opción. Excelente apartado artístico, excelente música, excelente diseño y una experiencia muy divertida de principio a fin. Sin duda, uno de esos juegos que recomiendo a cualquiera. 10/10. Totalmente recomendado. 🎮✨
美术和特效救不了系统缺陷的典型，跑路跑得我犯恶心，那电梯动画就不能再短点吗？
Art is nice, but the combat and exploration so far is rather meh. Balancing your HP, or shield, and attacks seems like a nice idea in paper, but I find myself having to disengage with combat every now and then to hug that bear because your shield and HP are extremely low.
Perdí 3 horas de juego por no haber usado los pianos para curarme, ya que es lo unico que el juego considera un checkpoint. Usar atajos, desbloquear poderes o reliquias, vencer jefes o minijefes NADA de eso genera un checkpoint lo cual me parece un diseño terrible. Además es un juego muy facil, por lo que uno no los usa tanto y no se acostumbra a generar checkpoints. Me niego a repetir 3 horas de gameplay, una pena terminaré viendo el final del juego en youtube.
скука смертная
Players by region
Where this game's players are, estimated from review languages.
Players also reviewed
The games this title's players most often review too — audience affinity.
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