The Shrouded Isle

TL:DR; Mostly style and not much substance, little to read and even less to do. Almost entirely RNG. This game drops you in the deep end right away with no tutorial or explanation as to the games mechanics. Fortunately they're quite simple- balance 5 stats of your cult and the favour of the 5 family's who represent those stats. Depending on who you pick as advisor for each season these stats go up and down. If they go down too much, you lose. You'll get a few extra tools to manage this system as the game progresses, but not many. One of the good quirks of this system is that you must choose one advisor per season to kill, and this will have repercussions to your cult, your stats, and your standing with the family's. One of the bad quirks is that choosing the "right" or "best" one to get the chop relies on entirely random deduction and interrogation, especially early on when you lack any information from inquiry's. I *think* the snippets of lore given about family members can imply traits, but I don't know for sure. There's just not much here. it feels like 1/3 of a game. After futzing about with the limited mechanics, taking in the admittedly interesting visual style and losing a few times I lost all interest. I'm not being given a reason to care about this village, or its people. I don't have a challenge to overcome that can't be crippled by random chance in a single action.

I bought this game 8 years ago, played it until my first victory, and then promptly forgot about it until yesterday. And despite this, I can guarantee you that this game has no replayability whatsoever. In fact, completing it a second time has been a chore. Let me explain. This is not a management game. Nor is it a "political sim" or a survival game. This is a puzzle game. You have a finite amount of resources, shuffled randomly with each playthrough, and if you don't play your cards well, you lose. Whether that's your god punishing you or one of the houses rebelling is merely cosmetic. As with another "difficult" game in the same "we're so doomed" city management genre, [i]Frostpunk[/i], this means your first few attempts will likely result in failure, as there is only very little margin for error. That is, until you "solve" the order in which to pursue objectives, at which point you're coasting as long as you stick to that plan. The difference is that [i]Frostpunk[/i] offers different scenarios to shake up the formula. [i]The Shrouded Isle[/i] doesn't. Sure, the families will have different members with shuffled virtues and vices each playthrough, but the same "algorithm" still applies. Judging by my playtime you may need up to 10 hours to reach the point after which you're no longer making plans and reacting to events, but rather solve Sudoku. [b]Clunky UX[/b] And this is where the user experience comes in. The detailed month-by-month breakdown is in large parts unskippable, and where it isn't you require extensive clicking to get through each advisors's effects slowly fading in one-by-one. The overview of your standing with the various houses also happens three times each season, with each individual indicator slowly crawling across the screen one-by-one. Time wise, a second playthrough is spend 20% comparing stats, 10% making decisions, and 70% clicking away pop-up notifications. What is this? An online recipe book? Even more questionable UX: having to click a button labeled with an action and then the thing to perform that action on, like in an ancient point&click adventure. The pre-season planning is frankly just exhausting once you seen all the moody flavour text. [b]Achievements[/b] Urgh. I'll pass on 100%ing this one, that's for sure. Most of them are uninspiredly grindy ("Fail the final Fervour Challenge", "Fail the final Obedience Challenge", etc.) if not outright RNG based, because oh boy, let me tell you something: The [i]Sunken Sins[/i] "DLC" (actually just a free update) made one of the 'cheevos nigh impossible to get. Discovering every virtue and vice is actually quite doable, but the spiritual contagions added will randomly overwrite the virtues of a select few citizens. And they each take a season to cure... so you better hope you get very lucky with RNG to not receive a single new one at the start of the final season, because it's impossible to cure in time. Fun. [b]TL;DR[/b] This one of those cases of "buy in a discount, buy knowing what to expect". I definitely had my fun for a couple hours back when the latest coronavirus epidemic from china was SARS, but knowing what I do now, I don't really think I'd buy this game again.

I love a good cult aesthetic game. Visually great. I enjoy a resource management, mastermind style game, but it just feels a bit one note. I would enjoy more variaation or story between the seasons, or something to make it more interesting. Other than the obvious resource balancing, nothing really seems to make that much difference. Takes way longer to complete than it should purely based on the awkward UX and slow animation. I'm sort of interested in trying to get more endings to see what happens, but not sure I can handle the slow slog of the interface. Worth checking out for the lovely artwork if you like this kind of theme.

This game is ahead of its time, because it was released in 2017 but plays exactly like AI slop. The art is cool, but you don't have to buy the game to look at it. The UI is slow, broken, and feels vibe-coded by elite human capital. The game mechanics are unfunny, uninspired, pointless slop.

The Shrouded Isle is a haunting masterpiece of interactive philosophy, where the medium of games truly becomes art. As High Priest of a fog-shrouded cult, you orchestrate the delicate balance of five virtues—Fanaticism, Ignorance, Penitence, Discipline, and Obedience—while five noble families scheme in the shadows. Every season demands ruthless choices: whom to elevate as advisor, whose hidden vices to expose through subtle interrogation, and ultimately, whose blood will sate Chernobog's hunger. This isn't mere management; it's a meditation on power, faith, and the seductive logic of fanaticism. The stark, ink-washed art style and oppressive atmosphere immerse you in Lovecraftian dread, making every portrait feel like a soul laid bare. What elevates The Shrouded Isle beyond a clever sim is its profound understanding of games as moral laboratories. You don't just play; you confront the philosophy of necessary evil—how societies maintain cohesion through sacrifice, literal and figurative. Uncovering traits feels like peeling back the skin of human nature, and the multiple endings reward replay with chilling insight into loyalty and apocalypse. The tension of limited actions per season creates genuine philosophical weight: efficiency versus mercy, tradition versus survival. It's short yet infinitely replayable, a perfect length for contemplative sessions that linger long after the credits. In an era of bloated open worlds, this gem reminds us that restraint and thematic purity can achieve more than spectacle ever could. If you've ever pondered games as vessels for exploring the darkest corners of the human (and inhuman) condition, sacrifice a few hours here. Chernobog awaits—and so do your well-earned Steam awards. Highly recommended for those who seek art in their play.

It's an OK game, but hard to recommend. First the strengths: it captures the feeling of hopelessness needed in any Lovecraftian work as you attempt to sate a god through ritual sacrifices in a small village. There are no good choices to be made; just bad and less bad ones. Unfortunately the game can feel both too punishing and quite shallow. RNG plays a big role in each run, and learning to mitigate it is a frustrating experience with no positive feedback; you are simply expected to restart. Once you do learn how to manipulate the game it becomes a number management simulation with nothing left to explore and too many cutscenes that inevitably get skipped. Ultimately, I do not dislike [i]The Shrouded Isle[/i]. It is fun for a few hours and has good atmosphere. However, from a gameplay perspective it feels a little lacking.

[h1][b]「主を讃えよ。そして、誰を捧げるか決めろ。黒き神が顕現するその日まで…」[/b][/h1] [h1]ストーリー[/h1] 外界から隔絶された孤島。ここには5つの名家があり、彼らは暗黒の神「チェルノボグ」の復活を待ち望んでいる。 あなたは教団の司祭長として、神が目覚めるまでの3年間（または5年間）、村を導かなければならない。 無知、情熱、規律、懺悔、服従。 これら5つの徳を維持するために、毎月信者たちに仕事を割り振り、そして季節の終わりには……最も罪深い者を一人選び、神への生贄として海へ捧げなければならない。 [h1]概要[/h1] ラブクラフト的なコズミックホラーと、リソース管理シミュレーションを融合させた作品。 独特の単色カラーパレット（変更可能）で描かれるビジュアルが特徴。 プレイヤーは5つの家系から顧問を選出し、教団のパラメータを管理するが、彼らは「美徳」だけでなく「悪癖」も隠し持っている。 誰を生かし、誰を殺すか。政治的バランスと神への信仰の板挟みになる、胃の痛くなるような経営シムである。 [h1]感想[/h1] 雰囲気は最高に「陰鬱」。やっていることは最高に「世知辛い」 まず、このゲームのアートワークは素晴らしいの一言に尽きる。 古びた書物のようなザラついた質感、不穏な色使い、そして常に鳴り響く重苦しいBGM。画面を見ているだけで、潮の香りと腐敗臭が漂ってきそうな没入感がある。 しかし、その実態は「超・ブラック企業の支店長シミュレーター」だ。 部下（顧問）たちは「情熱はあるが無能」だったり、「有能だが嘘つき」だったりと一癖も二癖もある奴ばかり。彼らの機嫌を取り、派閥争いを仲裁し、パラメータが下がれば責任を取らせるために「生贄（リストラ）」にする。 最初は「命を奪うこと」に罪悪感を覚えるが、プレイを重ねると「こいつは生産性が低いから海へ捨てよう」と、思考が完全にサイコパス経営者へと染まっていく過程こそが、本作の最も恐ろしい部分かもしれない。 [h1]評価[/h1] 【GOOD】 ・ラヴクラフト神話の世界観を、単色の独特なアートスタイルと不協和音のBGMで完璧に表現した、唯一無二の雰囲気。 ・「生贄を選んでコミュニティを維持する」という背徳的かつ残酷な決断を毎ターン迫られる、カルト教団運営の緊張感。 ・顧問たちの隠された性格（美徳と悪徳）を調査し、誰が教団にとって「癌」なのかを推理する人狼ゲーム的な面白さ。 【BAD】 ・基本的にはパラメータのプラスマイナスを計算するだけの数値管理ゲームであり、一度攻略パターン（あるいはハズレの顧問）が見えてしまうと、作業感が強く飽きがきやすい。 ・顧問が持つ「悪徳」の内容や配置がランダムであり、運が悪ければどうあがいても詰んでしまう理不尽なバランス調整（良く言えばローグライク的だが）

I'll start this review by saying, I can't recommend this game. Honestly, when I first saw the images and videos, it seemed like a beautiful game, with cool aesthetic choices and some kind of fun management story type game. And it was, at first... Well, I booted up the game and happily enjoyed those nice graphics and illustrations, the deep green with yellow looked just right. And god, great work by the artist ok? Well done! It stays consistent through the whole game and it's very very good. And well... the game starts with lots of information, and it is interesting for a while, with loads of characters, some different mechanics, and yea, you'll get entertained for the first hour and so, but come on. That's it. Once you learn everything, you still have at least half the game ahead, and it doesn't change much. The pace stays the same, you have to manage some numbers, you will get bored, and there's not much more development, just get to the end and watch the 30 sec animation. This game has a lack of deepness to it, as it doesn't explore the universe theyve created... just purge all those characters to get to the end of it and never open the game again. Oh! Also, the UX of this game is not the most friendly I've seen, so you'll click loads to get to the purge time. With all of that in mind, this is a game of 2017, and it seems so far, but we had games that were so much better then. That it's not an excuse to be an aesthetic simulator, oops, sorry! Anyway, we had Cuphead, Doki Doki, Danganronpa V3, Nier, Divinity Original Sin 2, Football Manager 2018, idk, Just Dance 2018, and you still prefer spending your hard earned money on this? Well, at least try getting it the cheaper you can find then, because it's really not worth it.

The aesthetic wears off and you realize the game is a uninteresting resource management game where every single resource is the same. There are ten numbers to manage. If any of those ten numbers is low two rounds in a row you lose. That's it. That's the entire game.

[H1]너가 뭘 할 수 있는데, 망하는거 말고 뭘 할수있는데[/H1] <슈라우디드 아일(The Shrouded Isle)>은 파멸이 예고된 외딴섬에서 이교도들의 교주가 되어, 고대신 '체르노보그'가 강림하기 전까지 5개의 가문과 섬을 관리하는 이교도 관리 시뮬레이션 게임입니다. 5년 동안 매 계절마다 무지, 열정, 순종 등 다섯 가문이 맡고 있는 영역의 고문을 채택하여 마을 유지에 필요한 수치를 관리해야 하며, 진실한 신자와 죄인을 가려내기 위해 조사를 진행하고, 찾아낸 죄인을 매 계절 제물로 바치는 방식으로 진행됩니다. 잔잔하지만 미쳐있는 분위기가 매우 인상적입니다. 잔잔한 파도 소리와 음산한 배경음에 대비되는 채찍 소리와 철창이 잠기는 소리는 강렬한 투톤 그래픽 및 기괴한 인물 묘사와 어우러져 게임 특유의 축축하고 기괴한 느낌을 아주 잘 표현해냈습니다. 다만 이러한 요소를 통해 효과적으로 몰입하게 했는가를 묻는다면 실패에 가깝다고 봅니다. 몰락해가는 마을을 어떻게든 이끌어가려는 교주의 시선과, 겉으론 독실한 척하지만 속으론 악행을 일삼는 주민들 사이에서 서서히 파멸해가는 마을을 의도한 듯합니다. 그러나 5년이라는 시간은 어렵지만 해볼 만하다는 도전 의식보다는 막막함을 더 크게 줍니다. 과거 버전의 3년(15시즌)이라면 어떻게든 해보겠지만, 5년은 너무 멀게만 느껴집니다. 또한 명색이 대교주로서 매 계절 한 명씩 제물로 바칠 권한이 있음에도 실질적으로 하는 일은 고문 정하기, 일 시키기, 불평 들어주기, 뒷조사하기가 전부라 이도 저도 아닌 답답한 느낌입니다. 결정적으로 각 가문의 반란이나 마을 유지 수치 미달로 게임 오버가 되었을 때, 이를 묘사하는 비극적인 서사나 삽화가 전혀 없이 단순히 "당신은 XX로 인해 XX 했으며 그로 인해 몰락했다"라는 텍스트 한 줄로 게임이 종료되어 버리니, 플레이어로서 더 이상 이 게임을 붙잡고 있을 동기와 의미를 찾지 못했습니다. 차라리 시작 시 모든 권력을 쥔 상태에서 점차 통제력을 잃고 파멸해 나가거나, 단순한 인간 가문이 아닌 코즈믹 호러적인 요소로 인해 파멸하는 방향으로 기획되었다면 훨씬 매력적이지 않았을까 싶습니다. 결국 이 게임은 제작진이 의도한 '잔잔히 몰락해가는 미스터리한 마을'의 축축한 느낌은 잘 살려냈지만, 이러한 분위기를 토대로 나온 게임 플레이는 정작 플레이어에게 불합리하며, 수치 그래프만 쳐다보게 만들어 관리 시뮬레이션 '게임'으로서의 매력을 찾기 어렵게 합니다. 하드코어한 관리 시뮬레이션 게임을 원하시는 분들만 할인할 때 구매하시는 것을 추천합니다.