Shadow of the Road – First Impressions

Coming from developer Another Angle Games and publisher Owlcat Games, Shadow of the Road is a curious project that mixes story-driven narrative with deep tactical turn-based RPG gameplay.

However, its unique touch doesn’t end there: in-game, you will find an alternative 1868 Japan, a land torn apart between the traditions represented by the Shogun and the technological progress brought by the Emperor and his allies from the British East Nippon Company. Not only will you see the two ideologies clash and have impact on the story, but take part in the battles where advanced machinery is present at the same time as the mystical beings such as yokai.

The protagonists of the game, Satoru and Akira, have become rōnin after losing their master on the battlefield. However, that was only the beginning of their story and struggles in this conflict. Still loyal to the Shogun’s traditional ideas, they accept a mission: protect a mysterious boy with immense, uncontrollable powers, who just might decide the outcome of this war.

The game enters its first open alpha today! I was lucky to have a couple of hours with the alpha build ahead of the time to share my first impressions.

Shadow of the Road is not for the faint-hearted, and that goes for the game’s narrative, animations and its gameplay alike. You are in for an epic journey as the two protagonists struggle to navigate the path to restoring their lost honor in a brutal war.

In the alpha, you can experience the very beginning of this story, spanning roughly an hour and a half to two hours, depending on your approach and whether you try to replay certain moments. It is enough to gain a very basic understanding of the conflict, where the protagonists come from, and what their motivations are as well as learn the basics of gameplay and combat.

Omura Satoru is a master swordsman of few words who, along with grieving for his master, struggles with his lost honor. Takagi Akira is a more lighthearted archer seemingly at ease with the notion, although his easygoing nature doesn’t entirely conceal the cruel spark beneath. Through your choices, you can push them in different ways – both personally, and as a duo of friends. If their bond will strengthen or break entirely is up to you.

For example, even in the alpha there are a few choices that push Satoru towards embracing the Samurai path of Kamido or sliding to the way of the rōnin. Meanwhile, Akira can either become more cold-blooded or more soft-hearted depending on your approach. Their bond as brothers in arms stands separate still.

In the alpha, it is not yet explored how the changes to characters themselves and to their relationship will affect the game narratively or in terms of gameplay, but it seems like an exciting feature for the full version of Shadow of the Road, and one I can’t wait for. It certainly adds a great deal of replayability not just to certain situations, like sparing a life or executing an NPC, but to the entire game as well.

If you are wondering how steampunk tech fits with the feudal Japanese aesthetics, then the answer is surprisingly well. You don’t start the game by going against giant machines brandishing your katana, at first it is quite tame: guns that deal a lot of damage but can also jam and take a while both to line and execute a shot, and then need to be reloaded.

At a later point, you will also encounter flamethrower-wielding enemies, but even they don’t look out of place. With this type of gradual immersion, soon you get to the point where things happening on the screen paint a cohesive picture that doesn’t cause any raised eyebrows.

In fact, I’d say that the game’s aesthetics are one of its stronger sides. Characters’ Japanese voice-over, plenty of culture-specific terms with explanation, font, UI, camera work, let alone character and surroundings’ models, everything is done with great attention to details.

Additionally, Shadow of the Road does not shy away from violence, far from it. In the world of the game, it is not a question, but rather an answer, and one too readily given in any situation. Playable characters and enemy types have unique battle animations, many of them impactful and juicy, causing you to inwardly wince in awe at the spectacle happening in front of you.

And just when you thought that you had seen it all, the game ups the stakes by introducing the mystical yokai and their awesome, brutal powers.

The feelings that the game evoked in me overall were similar to what I experienced when watching Blue Eye Samurai anime. A mix of great awe with certain disturbance that comes from graphic but impressive scenes of brutality and carnage.

Let’s quickly go over the basics of combat. Shadow of the Road is played exclusively in turn-based mode, rewarding careful planning and strategic approach, and punishing hasty actions or lack of attention. In fact, I had been properly humbled just by the tutorial fight where an enemy I didn’t pay attention to one-shot Akira the archer and sent me to replay with greater care.

Each combatant has their Turn Interval score that affects their place and speed of action on the Timeline. The lower the score, the more frequent the actions. Of course, at a later point you will get abilities that allow you to manipulate the Timeline: either giving your allies extra or quicker turns, or pushing your enemies toward the right and slowing their actions. Enemies can do the same, so make sure to pay attention!

There are also features that you can expect from a tactical RPG such as AP/MP points, attack of opportunity, full or partial covers (some of which can be destroyed to unblock your view), skills that have their AP cost, cooldown, unique conditions or even a delay such as Akira’s Well-Placed shot.

Some skills require the character to focus before unleashing them. Say, Akira has 5 focus while the delay is underway before he fires off the Well-Placed shot. If the enemies deal a total of 5 HP damage to him during that delay, his focus will be broken, and the attack will be cancelled. The same applies to enemies, dealing enough damage to break their concentration is extremely important to achieve victory.

As any alpha out there, Shadow of the Road still has small hiccups when it comes to combat: one time, the last enemy’s model fell through a texture and the battle won’t stop until it finished thrashing like a rag doll and finally fell through. Sometimes, you also can’t move your characters until you’ve clicked on a skill and then clicked it off.

It can also use some optional additions such as speeding up enemy animations for large-scale combat, especially when enemies get reinforcements halfway through, and adding optional battle text/log that records what’s happening. Otherwise, even in its current state and in the few early battles it offers, the combat system shows to be both intuitive to understand and also deep enough where you can think of certain tactics – or get punished for trying to rush.

I was quite impressed with the alpha version, and can’t wait for further iterations such as beta or early access that introduce more content. With more characters, abilities and enemy types, the combat is sure to shine even brighter, and the same can be said about narrative that cuts off at the most interesting part.

Of course, there’s more than just battles and dialogues, the game also has an exploration mode – but at the moment there is only a little bit to actually explore. Still, Shadow of the Road seems like a very special project that I didn’t know I wanted, but now that I’ve tried it? I need it to be released soon.

Check out the game’s Steam page to learn more and sign up for alpha testing!