Shrine's Legacy

Great game to play with a friend. Simple combat at first but gets more interesting later on. Decently heartfelt story. Fun puzzle sections and dungeons. Very charming artstyle and a solid OST. I really liked the collectibles that turned out to reward you with (non-story/gameplay spoiler) [spoiler]concept art for the game dating many years back, really made me feel how the devs put their heart and soul into the game.[/spoiler] I hope it sells enough to warrant a future project, I wish the devs all the best.

A marginal no. The basics are there and functional, it's not awful, but the spirit is missing. This game clearly owes a lot to the SNES Gaia series (particularly Illusion of Gaia and Soul Blazer), and to a lesser degree Secret of Mana. They have the vibe down, but it misses the mark in enough places that it's harder to enjoy. 1. COMBAT - Combat is very repetitive. Enemies mostly just sit there and then move slowly towards you, but have too much HP to be killed before they can touch you. So you strike a few times, move back, turn around, do it again. This isn't interesting (or challenging), it's just a little annoying. There's also very little variety in enemy design, even compared to Soul Blazer (which was a very early SNES game). - Spellcasting seems inspired by Secret of Mana, but is extremely limited in comparison -- limited in quantity, limited in variety across elements, and limited in usefulness. - Physical controls are fine, but you basically have an attack and a dash attack and that's it. - You have a partner like in Secret of Mana/Evermore, but unlike in those games, they do almost nothing when you aren't controlling them. They don't attack enemies very much, and you can't even have them cast spells without switching to them entirely. 2. MAP DESIGN - Adequate but unexciting. - There's VERY little terrain interaction. Each new element ability really is MOSTLY used just as a nonliteral key/door to block off progress. - This isn't a big deal, but the main map is very vague and not so useful. 3. STORY - For the most part, it's insipid, slow-paced, and generic. The complaint in other reviews about the slow scenes of sending and reading a letter, when 30 seconds later you teleport and go talk to the recipient, are legit. But there are also times when it descends into basically fart joke territory, usually around gender or relationships. - I can understand why people wonder about AI involvement. It really does feel that generic. I know most of the text and assets likely predate modern AIs, but it still just feels kind of weird. - Did I mention the pacing is slow? The pacing is slow. I don't really feel like I've learned much of any consequence after the intro (and the intro was itself really slow). If at least one of these three points improves, I'd switch to a marginal yes vote. But these seem pretty baked in at this point. I did find the second half better than the first. But there is a lot of slog to get through before that.

I was thinking almost immediately of how this game reminded me of Illusion of Gaia - and within the first 10 minutes of gameplay there was a reference to that game. Has a blend of Zelda, IOG, Terranigma, and Secret of Mana flavor to it and some stellar music. Feels like a game made back then in all the right ways.

Just finished the game. Had a great experience. if you area fan of old games like Illusion of Gaia and Terranigma, Shrines Legacy feels like home. In fact, its like the game was made by former Quintett members. So don't miss out this great game.

I would be enjoying this game if it wasn't for the fact that it has no respect for my time. The excessive dialog, the cut scenes, the flashbacks, the unnecessary attempts at storytelling by making me sit though the characters doing stuff outside my control. Even if the writing was amazing, and the direction of the story-parts amazing, and the delays somehow amazing it wouldn't be enough to make up for the interruptions and delays, and the fact that not only is none of it skippable, there's no fast-forward, nothing, but putting the text of a letter of an NPC on the screen and then leaving each of the three blocks of text up long enough for me to take a bathroom break is insane. What a waste.

Just finished the game and honestly, it was pretty fun! Not gonna lie at the very beginnin everything felt ungodly generic, but the more I ketp going the more I grew attached to the characters. Rio and Reima are just a fun duo to follow, I really liked to see their friendship grow and unfold through the game, it felt pretty natural and I bought these two as a fearsome duo that would take down the evil menace. I was pretty much expecting to see a twist at the end of the story and it did not disappoint, the ending was really one of the better moments of the game and elevated the entire experience by a lot! As for the gameplay, it captures perfectly the feeling of being this lost SNES Action RPG, the controls are smooth the magic is really fun and if you ever played stuff like Illusion of Gaia or A Link to the Past you pretty much know what to expects. Lots of dungeons, puzzles and fights. I enjoyed using the magic system a lot, magic can be quite overpowered in instances but that's more reason to just screw around and have fun with it. I also love the Jewel System because it gives a lot of options for customizing the characters as you see fit. The game is also multiplayer locally and to be honest I feel that's the best to experience it that way. The AI controlled second character tend to stand around and do nothing a lot of the time but that's perfectly understandable otherwise the game would basically play itself. Two Player is the best way to go. Really I expected a throwback SNES RPG with lots of Quintet insipiration and that's what I got. Bravo to the dev team!

[h2]A pleasant RPG with charming characters[/h2] [i]Here are my highlights of this hack and slash pixel RPG:[/i] - The artstyle (although sometimes buggy) is endearing; - Several memorable songs (the main theme, now that I've finished the game, certainly is sullen, and The Sand Seas is particularly good); - Gameplay: The combat is satisfying, if simple. I like how the elements [spoiler]also combine with each other, as cycling through them can be tedious.[/spoiler] The movement is fun too, especially when you unlock the dash and diagonal movement. Skating on those plains; - Simple but fun puzzles. I do also like that some abilities unlock traversability throughout the entire game. This reminds me a bit of CrossCode's overworld exploration. The gem that plays a sound when an unopened chest is in a room was well received; - Attention to detail: There are several optional dialogues that normally you would not find if you didn't take the time to backtrack and talk to an NPC (e.g. at the end [spoiler]after you defeat the army, then talk to Carolyn.[/spoiler] To me it adds to the immersion of the game. - The game has a few side quests. The more notable one leads to optional, harder dungeons and bosses and a rewarding conclusion: [spoiler]an alternate ending where you save someone you love.[/spoiler] - I loved the writing and characters, especially Reima and Rio. [i]Here are some of the things I liked less:[/i] - The dungeon maps unfortunately are not accurate; - There is no outside individual room map. Normally I would not mind, however some achievements (if they interest you) require you to find treasure chests. I'm missing a few essences to fully complete the game and the effort vs reward is too little. Also as someone with ADHD, I like being able to clearly check off every room; - The later parts of the game became laggy (more than just the stuttering from the camera panning too fast); - Last and least: To unlock the [spoiler]alternate ending[/spoiler], you have to replay and rewatch the entire ending sequence, which takes about an hour. Overall a pleasant adventure with characters that I will miss. Clearly a passion project, and I thoroughly enjoyed the sketches, especially those dating back many years.

It's got that Secret of Mana vibe with a lot of silly characters and an engaging story. Quite charming, solid controls.

Since i got older i no longer play often non voice acted games, but play all the game in co op with a friend through remote play i really enjoy the game the characters development, story, gameplay so i leave a positive review :)

战斗手感一般，解谜类型重复性很高且无合作元素，特别是剧情真的不怎么样，非常老套，玩到后面只想快速通关结束