SHINESS: THE LIGHTNING KINGDOM
There’s nothing shy about this bamboozling indie RPG
This overwhelmingly ambitious adventure packs a staggering amount of variety into a very small window. One moment we’re watching hero Chado hunt wildlife through a vibrant forest to gain loot, the next he and his travelling party are solving environmental puzzles to open up new areas on the map. Add in an experimental combat system as well as a unique language written for the game and we need to catch our breath. Impressive? Yes, but it’s also extremely exhausting.
The combat is a perfect example of the game chucking too many systems at you. When you go into battle, a magical dome surrounds you and your foe for a one-on-one duel. Taking more inspiration from Street Fighter than Final Fantasy, you can punch, block and parry blows with some simple combos or use magical attacks to scrap. Doesn’t sound too intimidating, does it? Well, we’re not even near a surface to scratch yet.
BLUNDER AND LIGHTNING
You see, those magic spells are split into four elements, such as fire and earth. While fighting, the arena pulses in different colours, indicating which element you should use. Correctly matching element to pulse enables you to deal bonus damage.
Then there are your allies to think about. While you have a party, just like in most JRPGs, they stay on the sidelines during combat until you tag them in. They aren’t useless, though. While waiting to join the fray, they will cast spells and buffs to help out, which you must set up beforehand.
Keeping track of all of this in real time isn’t the hardest thing to do on PS4, but it’s needlessly elaborate and feels at odds with itself. Fighting games rely on quick reactions, but this requires you to study the layout in a much more involved way that inhibits the flow of action.
The thing is, when Shiness doesn’t overcomplicate, it’s incredibly engaging. Not only does the celshaded anime style look gorgeous, but interesting bosses, such as a fallen king who lurks in his crumbling palace while going insane, help to build an intriguing world we want to explore.
We’re crossing our fingers that the complexity makes much more sense once we get the chance to play from the start. With the benefit of working through tutorials we hope to love it – otherwise we can imagine Shiness leaving us dazed and confused.
“A STAGGERING AMOUNT OF VARIETY IN A VERY SMALL WINDOW.”