Shalnor Legends 2: Trials of Thunder

[b]My Playtime:[/b] 13.6h (24/25 achievement, finished the game) [b]My First Playthrough:[/b] 10.2h [b]Grindy Achievement(s):[/b] Yes (~9 achievements). [b]Optional Achievement(s):[/b] Yes (18 achievements). [b]Difficult Achievement(s):[/b] No. [h1]Intro[/h1] [b]Shalnor Legends 2: Trials of Thunder[/b] is an action-adventure game with a bit of grind. It offers 5 dungeons and 6 boss fights in a slow-paced combat. [b]Pros:[/b] - 5 dungeons - 6 unique boss fights in a slow-paced combat - Collectibles; some require specific unlocks to get - Optional areas to explore [b]Cons:[/b] - Some puzzles, especially the early ones, can be confusing to understand - Grinding is required to progress if you don't know what to do - Dying respawns you in the region entrance, not in the area entrance - Enemy hitboxes are too small, your hitboxes are too big [b]Specs[/b] Intel Core i5-9300H 2.40GHz, 8GB RAM, NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1650 [h1]Should you buy this game?[/h1] [b]Yes.[/b] [i]If you like action-adventure games with a bit of a grind, buy this game at a sale[/i] [hr][/hr] [h1]In-Depth Review[/h1] [h3]Visuals[/h3] [b]Shalnor Legends 2: Trials of Thunder[/b] is drawn in 3D visuals, displayed from a top-down view. Characters look a bit weird due to the angle, but you'll get used to it. Despite the blocky-looking environment, movement isn't tile-based, allowing you to move between areas with ease. However, this also means that you can get hit by a hazard if you aren't careful. The map design is in the same style as [b]Legend of Zelda[/b] games. Dungeons are square-shaped, while outdoors are more varied with a lot of grasses (or other similar items depending on the region) that can give you drops. The art style looks completely different, though. It might not give the same charm as how it would be if it's displayed in 2D, sprited visuals, but it manages to separate itself into its own thing because of it. [h3]Story[/h3] The game presents you with Morgen, a young Orc that is simple-minded and talks like a child. This simple-minded nature of his doesn't seem odd due to him being an Orc, sometimes leading the dialogue into simplistic, childish talks that you might not imagine. That being said, this also makes the dialogue to be simple and easy to understand, although it doesn't mean that it won't be lengthy. However, there is no way to fast-forward the dialogue. The dialogue text runs very slowly and the only thing that you can do is to skip them completely, and the said feature is not even told to the players. For those who haven't played the first game, there shouldn't be any issue in jumping into this one right away. There isn't anything important to the lore in the dialogue apart from the ending that hints at a sequel. Everything is mostly focused on the trials mentioned in the game's title, and what Morgen needs to do to complete it. [h3]The Game[/h3] [b]Gameplay[/b] [b]Shalnor Legends 2: Trials of Thunder[/b] is focused on exploration. Those who have played [b]Legend of Zelda[/b] or similar games should know how it plays already - you have to explore and finish the dungeon in each region to receive some skills that can help you unlock some areas. Each region has several caves that you can explore, both optional and mandatory, which is always worth exploring since it will reward you with optional items. Some caves are locked unless you have certain skills, forcing you to come back to them after you have finished some dungeons. That being said, I feel that the game is running too slow for me. Morgen walks and attacks very slowly. It took me some time to get used to the speed, and the fact that dying will respawn you from the region entrance also doesn't help. You are forced to reexplore the same area again until you reach the area where you were in, which is gonna take a long time due to the reason I stated above. https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=3037022088 I like how the bushes are designed in this game. It will drop either HP orb, MP orb, coins, or items, but the drop will depend on your inventory and your state. It won't drop any HP orb if your health is full, and you won't have to worry about getting another item when you already have too much of it. [b]Enemies[/b] Aside from bushes that you can hit, enemies will also spawn in the area. Their attack pattern is usually simple and can be finished in some hits. Some enemies might surprise you by jumping out from a place that you won't expect, though. However, stronger ones will appear later on, especially ones that have a bigger version that acts as a miniboss. You might die several times trying to beat them, but dying is never an issue since you can just respawn and refight the enemy right away. Bosses are unique. They usually have different attack patterns that you need to figure out to kill. I like that they have a health bar. It can take a very long time to kill the boss and it's gonna be painful to beat them without it. Most of them can be hit easily in between their attacks, and since combat is slow-paced, there is always time to sneak those hits in, especially after you learn a certain skill. https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=3037024582 The hitboxes annoy me. The enemy's hitboxes are too small, forcing me to get too close to them to hit them. However, your hitboxes are too big; there is always a chance that you'll get hit because you accidentally "touch" them. I kept dying several times because of this, and I really hated it. [b]Puzzles[/b] Most of the puzzles are simple with a bit of variation in it. Some will require you to dodge some hazards, some will require you to use your newly acquired skill to clear. The one that I hated the most was where I had to guess. The game has several of these, and sometimes, failure to guess it means death. It isn't a nice puzzle design and I wish it doesn't exist. However, the early puzzles can be confusing. It takes me a while to figure out how to finish the very first puzzle in the game. The next few puzzles also can be confusing since you need to read the hints from the signpost to figure out what the game wants to do, and this can turn off some players from progressing with the game. Luckily, these types of puzzles aren't plenty, and you'll soon get puzzles that are easier to understand. https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=3037022127 [b]Length and Difficulty[/b] I finished the game in 10.2h. The game has several grindy achievements, and I finished getting all of them in 3.4h (13.6h total). I haven't gotten all my achievements as of this writing because I didn't manage to figure out how to open one chest despite having explored every area that I could think of. As for the difficulty, it's not hard. You can use some items to increase your stats if you are having trouble with the bosses, although I don't think it's needed. There is this one skill that you can use to cheese most bosses easily. You still need to dodge the boss attack and be careful not to accidentally touch them, though. [h1]Conclusion[/h1] [b]Shalnor Legends 2: Trials of Thunder[/b] is an okay game, albeit with some flaws. I didn't like some of its design choices, such as the instant-death "puzzles" and the coins requirement to progress the game. I had to grind a bit because I didn't have enough money to progress the game, and that grind might be even longer if I spent the coins on something else. That being said, I still enjoyed the game at the end, and I could recommend it to those who like Zelda-likes, as long as they don't mind some grind and the lack of some QoL fixes. It's not the best Zelda-like game out there, but it's an okay alternative. [quote]This game was reviewed with a key provided by the developer for free through Curator Connect.[/quote] [quote]Follow our curator page: [url=https://store.steampowered.com/curator/32732116-IndieGems/]IndieGems[/url] if you like and want to see more reviews like this one.

compared to first one this one just stinks. very lagy slow movement and worse graphics then first game. got a little farther this game is absolute trash buy at own risk.

Fairly meh game, as far as LoZ-styled games go. It's unique, I guess? But nothing really feels all that great. I'd normally do a pros and cons list, but nothing really stands out as much of a 'pro' beyond the game's uniqueness. As far as cons go... 1. Main character's movement speed is too slow, with no way to upgrade it. 2. Stamina and mana regen are too slow, even when fully upgraded. Especially considering that you /need/ stamina and mana for certain puzzles and fights. 3. Lots of money grind (surprisingly, the exp grind isn't /that/ bad, but the money grind is awful) 4. Humor is 90% memes and sometimes feels like it's at the player's expense, like the dev is laughing at the player instead of with them. 5. Most of the upgradeable skills are defensive in nature; I maxed out my offense around 45 minutes into the game, and the combat still felt absurdly slow. 6. The game gives you the strongest special ability way too early, then nerfs the hell out of it by adding traps that go berserk while it's active. Why even give me a time-stop if it's going to make everything go nuts outside of designated puzzles? 7. The abilities other than the timestop and axe throw are mediocre, only really helpful for puzzle solving. The axe throw isn't that great either, it's only really helpful against bosses you can't close to melee range with. 8. The dungeon design is fairly uninteresting. 9. The map gives basically no info. While the game did keep me somewhat interested for a while, as soon as I hit the fourth dungeon, what few hopes I had that the game would get better basically vanished, and I found myself thinking 'why am I still playing this'. So, I stopped playing it.

Do you want to beat a God? You came to the right place! While discovering Thunder Island, you will learn multiple abilities that are nifty and feel really satisfying to use. Throughout the game you will have to solve some puzzles and defeat enemies and bosses. The enemies aren't that big of a threat but the bosses can pack a punch. Sometimes they definitely caught me off guard. The bosses can be fairly easy once you learn their patterns, but that's the fun of it. The game itself has a lot of dialogue, but not enough to make the game boring to sit through. I find the dialogue very down to earth, it reads like how I sometimes talk to my friends. There are even references hidden inside of them to popular video's which is a touch that got a good laugh out of me. On average this game will take ~10 hours to beat and ~15 hours to complete. However completing the game can be a bit boring as it's mostly grinding to get all achievements. Would've loved more side quests to gain xp and gold, as those are fun to play. The ability to rebattle bosses would also be fun. If you haven't played the first Shalnor Legends game, don't worry. You can play this without prior knowledge. But I still recommend to play that one too. In conclusion, the game is fun to play and I recommend it! The controls feel very good and responsive while the mechanics are very smooth and satisfying.

I love the game and the level up system the puzzles are a lot of fun and the game story is hilarious the controls are easy to use and get used to the dungeon designs are fun to look at and the layouts are fun to play through. The one complaint i have is how easy it is to get stuck on corners.. which during a fight is very irritating.. that may just e more user error though

This Game is a huge upgrade compared to the first part: The (main) story was better translated as a game part (I liked the first parts story more however). The combat not only had throwbacks to enemies from the first part, the bosses each had a different feeling to them and took one or two tries. The potion spam was mitigated with food and potion limit, however it made the larger provision bag unnecessary (wish the it would apply to materials). Traps now have different interactions with a certain ability (made some puzzles to easy) and there are more then three trap elements. The UI was reworked and give much more necessary informations and the now free buttons are used to give the protagonist more abilities to play around with. Now to parts I have a real problem with: Still to much grinding, while it got bette with buffs I was still stuck reloading certain rooms to get certain recourses like gold or xp. The lore books aren't important and just a collectable at that point. The 3D style wasn't used, it plays like a 3D port of a 2D game, at least have some puzzle or room that uses 3D perspective to it's advantage to hide a button for example. (also I liked the 2D art more than the 3D art)

Massive improvement over the first game in every aspect. Fun and unique skills, better balancing, more interesting environments, dungeons and bossfights and lots of sidecontent.