Shadows of Adam

Shadows of Adam is a competent if simple JRPG in the SNES tradition. Everything about it pretty decent, a solid 7/10 experience considering both its price and runtime (around 10 hours without doing much side stuff). The story won't blow you away, the characterizations won't leave you astonished, but it is also solidly written and even though it can be a little silly at times, it mostly takes itself seriously - which is important to me. I particularly like that SoA doesn't feature random encounters - you can see roughly 99% of them before they happen, so you can keep your consumables tucked away until it is time. The battle system is straight forward but is definitely better than most classic JRPGs. My one complaint is that you can't see the turn order and since you have to input all of your characters' actions in before a round starts, you don't know if your combo will be pulled off correctly. I'd rather be able to see the turn order as I'm inputting actions, or that action inputs would trigger individually based on turn order. It's not super difficult so long as you gain a certain understanding of how your characters' abilities combo well. Enemies don't respawn, I think, so I don't know that there is a way to grind. But the good news is, even if there is a way, you obviously don't need it since I beat the game without doing so. I did make sure to comb each map for optional fights and treasure to get a leg up. Overall, if you are looking for a short JRPG, you could absolutely do worse than Shadows of Adam.

Short review after finishing the game including DLC: its simple if you love older JRPG then this is the game for you. For everyone else it can be enjoyable but there are some flaws with the game. Pros: - Pure nostalgic feel from the pixel art to the music and gameplay they nailed their main goal (this is the main reason you buy the game) - Average main story that is uplifted by flashbacks from our heroes and some very charming or funny npcs (Lorabeth the witch or 2 rum loving guards who need theraphy come to mind) - Decent amount of sidequesting before final dungeon - DLC biggest strenght is that you can now customize your artifacts and give them different stats or abilities - Good and sometimes challenging puzzles that can be easily reset if you do something wrong - Varied enemies and bosses fun and challenging (with one exception which i will mention at Cons) - New game plus for added replayability Cons: - Rough around the edges (music loops strangely, your cursor doesnt dissapear when you start the game, small skill cast menu means for lower spells you need to move down slowly to select them, takes to much time) - DLC Dungeon is torture (not beacuse of the puzzles those are fun, beacuse of mirage/dodging mobs a broken skills which against it you only have few answers, even less when those same mobs silence or curse you meaning its challenging in the wrong way...pure torture but i still finished it...at great expense...) - Sometimes the dialoge feels very childish but bearable If the asking price is too steep wait for a sale otherwise still a fun game, looking forward to their next one.

Its ok....and that is really all that needs to be said. I've been RPGing since around 1988, and played many of these type of games. SoA doesn't do anything all that special, but nothing really bad too. its a decent RPG to play when you have run out of SNES ones to play. I've played better, but I have played worse. So I will recommend it if it is on sale and you are desperate for an RPG to play.

Very cool but also your typical RPG maker game. intresting puzzles but grinding is not easy.

Rough around the edges with questionable design choices, but pretty good in spite of the issues. Story is engaging enough to keep you invested until the end and combat is nice. To summarize, it does the main things right for a JRPG. It's missing a lot of the features and production values that the classics have and therefore is more of a meat and potatoes kind of throwback low budget JRPG.

Overall the game is just 'decent'. I would recommend it, but not at the current full price of $15 US, I'd suggest waiting for it to go on sale first.

Game slaps

floating eye puzzles are so incredibly frustrating and hang up a playthrough. I can't get past the passageway and don't want to anymore, that's how frustrating puzzles in RPGS are.