Skjoldur Story

*Note that this review is for version 1.0.01. Some aspects might have been fixed after release. For reference, the release version is version 1.0.03. [b]Playing status:[/b] finished the game, 100% achievement [b]Grindy Achievement(s):[/b] No. [b]Optional Achievement(s):[/b] Yes (23 achievements). [b]Difficult Achievement(s):[/b] No. [h1]Intro[/h1] [b]Skjoldur Story[/b] is what will come out if you mix an action-adventure game with [i]Kirby[/i]. You will have [i]Kirby[/i]'s ability to absorb enemies' projectile as your own along with a shield to deal with the enemies. The game also does a clever job in integrating this ability - instead of making you "eat" the projectile, you just need to deflect it with your shield to absorb it. Each projectile works differently, offering infinite possibilities. [b]Pros:[/b] - Freedom to explore in any order that you want - Cleverly-designed puzzles - Unique boss fights [b]Cons:[/b] - No save - exiting the game will treat you as dying (you keep everything else) - Some controls are well-hidden [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 puzzles, buy this game.[/i] [hr][/hr] [h1]In-Depth Review[/h1] [h3]Visuals[/h3] The visuals look pleasant to the eye. Simple-looking, light-colored visuals are available to feast your eye, all while still giving uniqueness to each area. The menu is also neatly designed, trimming down the fat to include the important parts. What pleases me the most is the map - it looks like a zoomed-out version of the whole area, especially since it updates everything: unopened chests, secret areas - you name it. You just need to open your map to find missed items, cutting down the unnecessary time exploring the already-explored areas several times. [h3]The Game[/h3] [b]Gameplay[/b] The game gives you the freedom in exploring everything in any order that you want. Four areas are available to explore, each with different environments and enemies. Dungeons are also available at the end of each area, which focuses on different projectile mechanics. Absorbing an ability is done by "deflecting" a projectile with your shield. Strangely, I thought that I needed to press the throw button to raise my shield to make it happen, and this makes the game to be harder than it should. Pressing that button will cause you to throw a projectile if you have one absorbed, allowing you to take damage in the process. Holding this button will also render you immobile sometimes, which gave me the hard time clearing the first dungeon. Luckily, I was able to figure out my mistake before I reached the second dungeon, and the game didn't give me problems ever since. https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2460967521 [b]Enemies[/b] Instead of introducing enemies that are easier to figure out near your starting area, it introduces an enemy with a unique projectile mechanic. I was still struggling with the basic mechanics, and it took me several minutes before I could understand how this particular projectile works. Luckily, this is the only enemy that gave me the hard time in the game, although this also means that the game becomes easier as you progress further. Fortunately, it raises the bar again in the final dungeon, introducing a more difficult area and tricky boss. One area looks a bit lazy in the projectile department - it introduces enemies with a physical attack, which will render your shield to be a mere tool to whack your enemies. Your shield is not an offensive weapon, so it has a poor reach and not suitable for combat. The slow attacking animation and the missing feature of vertical walking also do not help in this regard. Some animals can be ridden to ease you with the combat, although the lack of the facing up and down display makes it hard to notice whether their attack will reach your opponent or not. Moreover, they will run away off-screen after a single hit, and risking your way to fetch them might softlock you. [b]"Permadeath"?[/b] You'll have to respawn at the starting point if you die, but you keep almost everything. The only things that will reset are enemies and puzzles, which give unnecessary annoyances to the game. Some puzzles block the way to a certain area, and resetting this also means that you have to redo these puzzles whenever you die. Note that this doesn't seem to happen anymore in the release version (v1.0.03) although it'll still reset the puzzle after you reload your save. There is a checkpoint system for its puzzles at some point, although its use is limited - I couldn't seem to figure out how it works and when it does, it will soon be reset as you progress further in the game. Luckily, the checkpoint system will always work in dungeons - you'll be respawned at the dungeon entrance or boss room whenever you die, although you are forced to fight the boss until you win in the latter case, or close the game to force a reset. Closing the game will treat you as dying, respawning you to the starting area. To be honest, this just gives more problems than benefits. It is not fun to walk the long way to the boss room again just because you have some business to attend to and had to close the game. https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2460969950 [b]Puzzles[/b] Puzzles are scattered everywhere, both in the overworld and dungeons. Some will utilize the projectile-absorbing mechanic, some are not. Although they usually won't give you trouble, some will leave you stumped, making you think of whether you have to absorb a certain projectile to solve them. It took me a while to solve these kinds of puzzles, but it was satisfying when you clear them. [b]Length and Difficulty[/b] The in-game clock states that I finished it in ~8h. It could be done shorter if not for the unnecessary backtracking and the puzzles' behavior. I also didn't notice that I could teleport to other places and had to walk to my destination manually whenever I died or closed the game. Heck, the only reason I found the teleport feature is because I was trying to figure out how to unlock the last achievement, which ironically happened after I finished everything. https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2460970563 The game can be hard at first. My initial experience wasn't good with it because I was struggling with the controls. I died more than ten times in the first dungeon, whether it's for clearing the dungeon or defeating the boss. The game becomes easier afterward, although I'm not sure whether it's because I tackled the hardest dungeon first or because I had understood the controls afterward. [b]Problems[/b] There are several occasions when the game glitched, forcing you to close the game. I had forwarded these issues to the developer although I can't confirm whether these have been fixed or not. [h1]Conclusion[/h1] Despite the rough start, the game turns out to be an enjoyable one. The decision to implement the absorbing mechanic helps to give more variety to the puzzles, which is the strong suit for this game. Each dungeon is focused on a certain mechanic, and the execution of boss fights that utilize these particular mechanics also makes each dungeon to be unique. The permadeath mechanics might annoy you sometimes, but it's still bearable. The game is aimed at casual players, something that I didn't expect after my experience in the first dungeon. You don't have to explore everything to finish the game, and the optional contents are available for those who want more of the game. Secrets are also easy to find through the map, and even if you miss any, it won't affect much to your completion. It's an enjoyable game to play with its calming music and relaxing visuals. [quote]This game was reviewed with a key provided by the developer for free[/quote] [quote]Visit SaveOrQuit.com for detailed game reviews, posted daily![/quote]

[h1]简评：有低配塞尔达那味了 [/h1] [u]标签[/u] 像素风，解谜，可爱，类银河恶魔城，类魂 [u]语言[/u] 基本上没有文本，都是通过简易的图像，表情跟动作的形式来表达意思，传递情感，玩家理解起来也很容易。 [u]玩法介绍[/u] 1.这是关于一位手持魔法盾的少年铲除邪恶，拯救小岛的故事。 2.这座小岛并不小，包含了多个拥有不同风格的主题区域，每个区域对应一个类似领主一样存在的地下城挑战。除了需要传送才能到达的地方外，岛上的所有区域无缝连接，玩家需要挨个进行探索。所有区域的样貌在地图上面完整呈现，放大后，甚至连各房间的布局都能看得一清二楚。 3.岛上存在不少的敌人，不同主题风格地区域对应的敌人类型不尽相同。玩家可以通过战斗暂时性地消灭它们，不过过一段时间它们又会重新刷新出来。也有不少的秘密跟宝藏等着玩家去探索，不过获取它们往往不会很容易，有的可能只是很简单的解谜，有的则是比较难的考验眼力跟反应力的其他小游戏，比如类似游戏王中陷阱卡魔术帽子那种我藏钥匙，你来猜在哪里的那种玩法，对应游戏中的木桶藏钥匙。 4.（吸引人的亮点）战斗跟解谜基本上都是基于主角的魔法盾而展开，之所以叫魔法盾，是因为这个盾既可以用来攻击，也可以用来吸收来自其他道具或敌人的攻击，类似”吸星大法”一样。比如吸收莱姆粘球后，可以发射史莱姆粘球进行攻击。吸收回旋镖后，可以使用回旋镖进行攻击。吸收炸弹后，还可以将炸弹抛掷出去等。游戏内存在很多特定的场景跟敌人，不但需要利用到这些吸收后的能力，还需要在合适的地方选择时机进行释放，玩起来也具有一定的策略性。 5.地图大，玩家操作起来也比较自由。不过某些时候，因开启地下城所需道具的获取方式跟地形特殊性具有一定顺序关联，所以本作也并非完全的自由，仅仅是在有限空间中可以自由探索的线性流程而已。 6.（容易劝退的部分）本作画风看上去人畜无害，实际上游玩难度并没有那样休闲，特别是在游戏前期，玩家血量少，没有熟悉攻击节奏，躲避跟吸收能力时机的掌握操作时，即便是一次性面对2-3个敌人都有可能被干掉。好在作者只是想增加耐玩性，并不是真的为难玩家，角色死亡后除了需要浪费时间多试几次外，基本上没有什么惩罚。 [u]时长[/u] 4-5小时起步，根据不同玩家的手残情况适当增加或减少1-2小时，因为是线性流程+无多结局设定，所以猜测没有二周目的探索价值。 [u]点评[/u] 画风可爱，氛围休闲，带有策略性的战斗跟解谜，丰富且自由的探索玩法，合理的挑战难度，略显僵硬的偏硬核手感 [u]推荐意向[/u] 值得一试休闲作品，原价有点小贵，不急着玩的话也可以等打折后再入手。 [quote] 加入[url=https://steamcommunity.com/groups/ADZZW]爱の榨汁屋[/url]&关注[url=https://store.steampowered.com/curator/34815366/]爱の鉴赏家[/url]，用爱品鉴世间作品，用心流淌真情实感。 [/quote]

Remember the feeling of exploring the original Legend of Zelda? Skjoldur Story captures an echo of that. https://youtu.be/cW1r8vDc3v0 If you want to see gameplay and my first impressions as they happened, click on my video. Skjoldur Story puts you into the armor of a shipwrecked... viking? It's not really clear who you are, but you've got the legendary Master Shield, and it's up to you to set the world right! Or something. Contrary to what the trailer and description imply, your shield does have a basic attack, but it can also temporarily absorb the powers of enemies and unleash them back on your foes and on environmental puzzles. The premise is good, exploration feels very open, and riding animals adds a dynamic rarely found in 2D Zelda clones. But control is awkward at times, and the difficulty is very uneven. I keep coming back for short runs to try to make progress, but it's slow-going. The first dungeon is difficult. Overworld enemies are surprisingly challenging. If this game was Early Access, I would give it a thumbs up, but as it stands it really needs some smoothing over for me to be able to recommend it. Which is a shame, because the things Skjoldur Story does right it does well. The exploration is exciting. The world is engaging. Mini-puzzles are frequent. But it needs some cleaning up. If it sounds like your kind of game, wait out a sale.

Great music, love the art, game play is solid. Overall everything seems to really work well together. Its challenging but rewarding, which is a combination present in any game worth playing.

Think original NES Zelda gameplay meets NES Kirby power absorption, colors, and environment. The world is a nice large landscape to explore with some troll-y vibes in there (at least the minimap fast travel helps minimize that.) Solving the numerous puzzles felt rewarding after scratching your head for quite a bit. The bosses were my biggest draw. I find it refreshing not having to spam attack to defeat something by mashing a button as fast as you can while they have an opening. They are all like a puzzle in themselves and man does that boss music get stuck in your head. The mini-games are an adorable change of pace to a surprisingly stressful world of baddies (okay still a lil' stressful, lookin' at you penguin ball.) Controls feel a little clumsy at first, but once you realize it's more like a 4-directional NES game and you learn to just be patient and block, it all fits into place. Ultimately, it feels like an homage to days gone past of loading up your NES, blowing on a cartridge, and gaming for hours without a care in the world. If you're an old timey gamer like me, you'll enjoy a lot of these nods with a modern twist.

A cutesy if perhaps a bit basic Zelda-esque. I like the logogramic approach to storytelling and tutorializing that simplify it, but the lack of diagonal movement outside of riding the goat and some other small jank with the controls mars it a fair bit.

The cute ascetic belies how challenging this game is. But that makes it all the more rewarding when to accomplish something. Take your time with this game instead of just trying to smash your way though everything and you'll have a wonderful time.

Fun and lighthearted, but offers a challenge. There is a little bit of puzzle solving, I get the sense it will get more difficult as the game progresses. The shield mechanic takes a bit to get used to and the lack of hand-holding from the game probably caused me to be on the starting island a bit longer than would be average. All in all, I am having fun so far!

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My first game that I remember playing through was Link to the Past on my SNES, so I figured this game would be right up my alley (and it was!). Like it's predecessors it is top-down, but non-linear so you aren't beholden to a specific order of dungeons or biomes. I will say, though, that similar to games of old this is no walk in the park. You're probably going to die a bit, but that's OK - failure is how you learn. Graphics are colorful and 'cute', a nice contrast to everything that can kill you. :) It's not too long of a commitment, and the dungeons are great original ideas that don't just rehash other games' ideas. I would definitely recommend picking this one up. P.S. Did I mention you can ride animals? Cause you can ride animals.