9 Years of Shadows Free Download GAMESPACK.NET

9 Years of Shadows Free Download GAMESPACK.NET Since it was announced in 2020, 9 Years of Shadows managed to grab the attention of metroidvania fans around the world. The Halbert Studios project launched a promising Kickstarter campaign that, in addition to raising the money the studio was looking for, garnered several looks for immediately recalling classics like Castlevania: Symphony of the Night . Several years after its reveal and fundraising campaign, 9 Years of Shadows is ready to debut. Was the wait worth it? Did a Mexican team manage to create a metroidvania charming enough to earn its place in a genre saturated indie market? We already played it and we can anticipate that it is a game with quality and that it is worth reviewing. Of course, just do not expect a perfect game that is going to become the new independent gem that everyone loves. Like other indie games, 9 Years of Shadows is a labor of love for video games. From the first minutes you can see the deep affection that the developers have towards franchises like Castlevania , Metroid , Mega Man and many others with which they grew up. TOP/BEST ADULT VIDEO GAMES IN UNITED STATES OF AMERICA (USA)

Gripping psychological thriller storyline with a focus on mystery, horror, and suspense.

Be careful, this is not synonymous with the game only trying to copy those who led the way to deliver a bland product that takes advantage of nostalgia to sell. What it does is take the lessons that the classics left behind to create a new identity that feels authentic, own and modern. 9 Years of Shadow shows love and respect for the greats by daring to have an identity and create their own path. Now, with the above, don’t expect it to be a metroidvania that deconstructs the genre to build something on its ruins. That it has an identity does not necessarily mean that it is revolutionary. In fact, at no point does it try to reinvent the wheel or deliver everything you expect from the genre. What makes it a truly special release is that many elements are well executed. Nine years ago, an orphanage at Talos Castle was the origin point for a truly vile curse. The curse has leeched the world around the castle of color, of emotions, of everything. The world has steadily eroded away, and what is left is a dark, hopeless world where many seek to explore the castle and end the curse… but none have succeeded.

Limited resources that force the player to make strategic decisions and prioritize their goals.

Europa, a young woman with a halberd, enters the castle with little hope of curing anything. She simply would rather die in the castle than not trying to do anything. And as expected, very shortly after she arrives, she encounters the one point of color and light in the whole castle: a huge demon that she can’t even scratch with her strongest attacks. Hopeless, she resolves herself to her fate like her parents before her… Then a small, glowing bear flies up to her, speaking in strange sibilant tones she can understand, and bringing light back to her and her surroundings. Apino seems to want to help Europa, to give her the means to stand against the darkness. Thus begins Europa’s journey through the castle, but it really does have quite a bit more within it. While the broad strokes of the story will probably be obvious to anyone who has, you know, played a video game before (and/or pays the barest attention to the names of the abilities Apino collects), much of the story relies upon its execution. Europa is a kindhearted person at her core, roughened and pushed into an identity she doesn’t like in order to survive a world that has no place for her. Darksiders 

9 Years of Shadows Free Download GAMESPACK.NET

As a result, the story walks a difficult tightrope, at once having more plot than the obvious antecedent of the metroidvania genre while still giving Europa a sense of isolation and sorrow. Yet even as that happens, she steadily rebuilds herself, forging connections with Apino and the musicians roaming the castle. Her old mentor Draythus is roaming around as well, along with two painters who seem to know more than they’re letting on, and… …well, I don’t want to spoil it. While it’s not the deepest or most original story, it gives a good context for why Europa is exploring, what she hopes to find, and what the stakes are for her quest. She’s a fun protagonist, and I especially like the musings she shares as she rides the various elevators between sections of the castle (although there are a bit too few of them for how often you’ll be riding). For all intents and purposes, the inherently all-encompassing broadness of the metroidvania genre makes it difficult to truly get tired of. And the Halberd Studios-developed 9 Years of Shadows emphasizes that point tenfold. Despite not reinventing the wheel or doing anything mechanically novel, its presentation, gameplay pacing, and sense of progression offer one of the most sublime outings on the market. But, unfortunately, its technical performance makes it stumble far too often, causing a troubling, mixed, and inconsistent experience.

Non-linear gameplay that allows the player to explore the world at their own pace and in their own way.

9 Years of Shadows follows protagonist Europa, a woman who’s lost everything, including her family, to a treacherous curse sapping the world of color and life. Now, after years of battle-hardened training, she approaches Talos Castle, from which the curse is said to have been initiated, with the intention of ridding it once and for all. Then, after nearly falling victim to one of the castle’s roaming monsters, a bizarre bear-like creature named Apino arrives and saves her life, also acting as a newfound lease on potentially prevailing the trials of this locale. Halberds aside (for now), the extremely attractive elephant in the room is the visual style. The pixel-art in 9 Years of Shadows is literally stunning. I stopped in my tracks when I scrolled past a screenshot. Looks aren’t everything, of course, but in this case they’re worth noting up front as the clearest representation of the love that’s been poured into every facet of the game. From the teddy bear hugging mechanic (seriously) to the bullet hell boss fights, everything oozes character. Darksiders III 

Immersive gameplay that blends elements of exploration, puzzle-solving, and survival.

There are a few quirks to go along with that strong personality, as well as some frustrating missed potential here and there, but I challenge you to stay mad at a game that asks you to cuddle a soft toy to stay alive.Europa will also meet several other individuals throughout Talos Castle, yet gameplay takes precedence, with a well-constructed map that cleanly informs players of where they are at all times. This may seem like a minor and self-explanatory point not requiring emphasis. Still, after playing some recent games that try to make their maps too fancy or multi-faceted, it’s honestly relieving to have an implementation of it that’s just nice and simple. The aforementioned NPCs Europa will meet in this structure are all significant, as they each provide quests or act as vehicles for upgrades. The latter set of individuals is actually grouped, lending toward convenience. Europa’s equipment and such can be enhanced, though the variety of choices is pretty limited. However, this isn’t a flaw at all since the manual selection can make the perceived growth feel more satisfying. Plus, their acquisitions depend on resources earned via exploration and enemy slaying, so the systems, while compact, work well together.

Realistic and atmospheric art direction that creates a haunting vision of urban decay.

So the plot is good. Not great, but good. But metroidvania games are more about the mechanics than anything, and here 9 Years Of Shadows gets up and does a dance with the best of them. Out of all the many games in this genre I’ve played in the past few years, this is up there with the all-time greats. At the start of the game, Europa has a series of quick slashes with her halberd, a more powerful single strike she can combo into, an upward attack, and not much else. Like any game in the genre, she obviously gets more tools over the course of the game, but aside from Apino’s ability to freely aim and hit targets around the room (which we’ll come back to in a moment) and her early ability to charge up a spinning slash, that’s about it for her combat moves. The core is built around having solid, responsive, and clean basic moves and then putting them together. Darksiders II Deathinitive Edition

9 Years of Shadows Free Download GAMESPACK.NET

But that’s not to say that Europa’s arsenal doesn’t develop. As she explores the castle, she collects a quartet of elemental armors – lightning, fire, earth, and water. Each armor lets her deal extra damage to enemies outlined with a corresponding glow effect, and each one other than lightning also allows her to traverse new environments, like earth negating poison-filled chambers and water allowing her to travel through water. There are even quick transformations available to her in each form, like turning into a mermaid underwater or riding on thermal updrafts in her flame outfit. Of course, the game also swaps you to the relevant armor when you encounter its native environment… which leads naturally to puzzles. If you need to hit a yellow switch in a poison-filled room, you need to find a way to drain the poison so that you can swap to lightning and trigger it. The game does a good job of building escalating complexity with Europa’s powers over the course of its runtime, with several tricky bits that fall just on the right side of frustrating.

Apino’s projectiles are also important as well, but it’s here that the game has another trick with its light field mechanic. Europa only has a couple pips of health (she can eventually upgrade to four total) and once those are gone, she dies. However, Apino and his light form a protective bubble around her that is reduced when she takes damage or when he fires projectiles. Only when the barrier is gone does she take actual damage. Hitting enemies refills it, but you can also take a moment to hug Apino and get about half of it back at the cost of a second of vulnerability. The result is a fusion of a bunch of health systems that works astonishingly well across the board. Most of the game’s larger bosses have segments where you need to pepper them with Apino to let Europa really pound on the boss, and that means that taking a bunch of damage will also force you to miss unloading on the boss. While there’s a certain element of “wait until the boss is vulnerable” here, bosses don’t last long enough for it to become truly annoying. And there are other smaller bosses for quests that you can just damage continually.

ADD ONS/PATCHES AND DLC’S: 9 Years of Shadows