Shadows and Lies

NOT RECOMMENDED Ratings 4/10 (Lots of bugs on release day, Poor staff attitude) First, let me say that I have been a long-time supporter of Aldorlea games. On the store page, when I clicked on "Developer: Aldorlea Games", I counted that there are 51 games that I have bought from Aldorlea. That, I believe is a lot of games from a single company, and it is because I used to love Aldorlea games. I especially love the great classics like the 5 games in the fantastic "Millennium Series" made by Indinera Falls. Those were the days where each game was carefully tested to ensure that they are of great quality before they are release. However, things unfortunately have gone downhill from there. I was very excited about "Shadows and Lies" and bought it on release day June 20. To my disappointment, 10 minutes into the game and I start finding bugs. Most (7 out of 8) of the steam achievements were not even working, and many of them can be easily verified by testers as they should have triggered in the early games (but they did not). I am just wondering how they could have release a game where 7 of the 8 steam achievements are not working. There were other weird bugs, like Quest 7, where after you complete the quest and goes back to the quest giver, the main hero then says he has no time to do the quest, when he has actually finished it. The quest is then marked as not completed and you lose all your hard work. Ouch !!! I would have been happy if the developer decided to quietly fix the bug and apologize. Unfortunately the developer on the steam forum does not seem to be familiar with the game at all and was less than helpful. I am also disappointed at the way Aldorlea is fixing bugs nowadays. They fixed the bugs BUT expect the customer to restart the game from scratch for the patch to work. After I have spent 20 hours in the game and reported a bug, they release a patch but require me to start a new game ?? This is perhaps the straw that breaks my confidence with Aldorlea. This is especially evident for steam achievements, many of which occurred at specific points in the story. Now, if you are past the point in the story that triggered a particular achievement, you are out of luck if you do not have a savefile. This is because the Aldorlea fix does not do anything after you have past that point in the story, so you will have to restart your game for the patch to work. Ouch!!! This is a really bad fix. I am sorry, but I do not recommend Shadows and Lies even though it was developed by Aldorlea. I really hope Aldorlea would start testing their games properly in future and regain the trust of long time customers like me.

This is my first review ever and I am sad to say I do not recommend this game. This game is best describe as a "good journey but horrible destination." The ending is terrible. The awfulness is magnified greatly by the fact that the writer of the story clearly has the talent to write a decent to good conclusion to the story. There is no excuse for such a lazy and anti-climatic ending. If you hate having your expectations subverted, do not buy this game.

From Aldorlea Games ( Millennium 1-5, Asguaard,, etc.) comes another excellent game in the style of the classic rpgs that are becoming more abundant and popular. But nobody offers the superior quality that is consistently presented by Aldorlea ---- and this game keeps that ball rolling. This story involves a search for sisters that have left for reasons unclear to investigate something that we need to determine. A party of 4 is formed fairly quickly, and the quest is on ---- and the action and story never slow down as the game grabs your attention almost immediately and holds it. Obstacles, dungeons, terrific maze-like overworld, and a host of NPCs all add to the interesting and very well told story. And the technical aspects are great ---- there is a system of adding stat points that keep you thinking as you go along, there are side quests, hidden rooms you really need to find,, and tons of things to be discovered as abundant as I have ever seen ---- so always investigate your surroundings completely. Look everywhere! The game runs smoothly throughout, there is absolutely no slowdown at any point, the controls are responsive, and I found no bugs of any kind ---- haven't even seen a misspelled word. I have been playing and buying Aldorlea's games since long before coming to Steam, and am a huge fan. You can not beat their high quality, their more than reasonable pricing point, or their always helpful customer service ---- and this game is an excellent example of all of that. It belongs in the library of anyone who likes this type of game, and I highly recommend it. 10/10

Overall I thought the game was pretty good. Avid RPG player here and the game fits most of the boxes. The battle system has some depth and gives you a couple ways to play it. You can chose classes for two of your characters at the begging and you get a total of six (although the last joins pretty late) and have a 5 person battle party. The exploration is decent and rewards you with items and even some stat ups. The music is average but isn't a hindrance either. My gripe with the game is that it is waaaaay shorter than it could be and the ending is a complete letdown. Give me a post dungeon or superboss or something! I missed a few things on the first playthrough so it is good enough to replay. I'd also like to see a way to get some extra equipment in there since other than status protections it feels kinda like you could skip them altogether. It definetley isnt a waste of time and will hit that RPG itch, it just feels like the game falls slightly short of the mark from getting from a good game, to a great game.

Фиг запустилась(

Приєднуйтеся до Елдана та Датана, які вирушають на складну місію, яка відразу закінчується катастрофою. Навколо них зростає загроза з боку зловісної секти Зеррлан, що змушує інших приєднуватися до них, щоб убезпечити себе. Чи можете ви знайти допомогу на своєму шляху в численних монастирях віртранських монахів, розкиданих по всьому світу? І що важливіше, чи можуть вони допомогти вам знайти зниклих сестер Датана?

trash

Love this game so far, story is fun and doesn't drag on, game play is smooth and easy, just what I wanted!

Only 1 hr play so far. It's a real RPG Maker game - nothing fake. Unique story, unique environment, sounds, gots it all. I like variety more than deep complexity at the later hours. I especially like the characters and dialogue and nuance so far and expect it to be one of my higher favorites of the $1 on-sale buys. The "bad reviews" (probably from rivals try to kill off business) shouldn't be believed. one says "totally linear". Not true. Anyway many rpgmaker games have a new thing of telling a player "there is nothing you need to do here". Some people like that - it prevents them from spending an hour in some direction that will end up a waste and is "a hint" for easy mode. So "linear" is a lie. A real "linear game" (that older gamers use to avoid) doesn't allow any exploring (you are taken from each fight and talk scene to next scene period: and i've seen maybe 1 rpgmaker game people claimed did that - and this ain't it). This game allows exploring.

If you like old school RPGs this game is for you. The characters are well defined and I especially like Eldan - tubby and balding with a broken nose and a false hand. Doesn't sound promising does it? But he's a decisive leader, coping well with the foibles of his team. I also like that you can choose the classes of your team members - i.e. what kind of fighter they'll be. First playthrough I chose Acrobat for Dathan and second time I chose Bard so I could get all the achievements. There are pros and cons of both classes but I prefer Bard for the healing skills. There are 27 secret rooms to find and you get a special reward at the end if you get them all. The artwork and music are good too. The only downside is that the game is a bit short. It took me 22 hours first time through and I wanted more!