When developing Shadowveil: Legend of the Five Rings, the first video game in the fictional setting, which turns 20 this year, developer Palindrome Interactive wanted to make sure it would accommodate newcomers.
“It’s really a soft start to the universe for new fans, the kind of classic good vs evil scenario,” Game Director Filip told us during a recent hands-on preview event. “We want that as a kind of stepping stone so that you can get into the larger picture of the universe, where you have all of these clans vying for power.”
Although Shadowveil: Legend of The Five Rings mainly focuses on the Crab Clan, Andersson says there’s plenty to dig through for those familiar with L5R.
While I can’t speak for the lore, playing the demo - now available on Steam - intrigued me with how approachable the blend of strategy, rogue-lite, RPG, and auto-battler elements are.
A run of the Shadowveil: Legend of the Five Rings campaign starts with selecting one of two playable characters, each belonging to a different class.
You then prepare to set out into the Shadowlands – a perilous, corrupted area that you’ll grow to know intimately – by interacting with several buildings inside the watchtower that acts as your home base.
There, you’ll select and customize the characters in your party, unlock new abilities and classes, and select side missions.
Although the campaign is divided into chapters, progressing through them involves completing missions structured in a rogue-lite fashion.
You’re faced with branching paths that offer different types of challenges and rewards, getting more complex the further you progress. Carefully weighing which option suits your run better is a key aspect of pushing forward, but overextending can spell doom for your party.
Specific battles can yield cards or items, while others might yield resources or valuable jade, which lets you camp. Pushing too far without giving my troops the time to rest and heal after hard-fought battles predictably brought a swift end to my run.
Characters can equip the former, enhancing their array of skills that automatically trigger during battles. As you unlock more classes, there’s rich potential for synergies and experimenting with your build is greatly encouraged.
Duplicate cards are easily turned into upgrades while combining two items yields new ones that might be better suited for your current situation, so fighting feels rewarding even when you eventually fail a run.
An important thing to note is that once you’ve chosen your party’s equipment and engaged in a battle, you only get to select their starting hexagon, which can sometimes confer bonuses. From then on, the combat itself is entirely automated, with your troops picking their targets.
I was told that some late-game artifacts can give you more direct input during fights, but for the vast majority, you’ll sit in the strategist’s chair, hoping you made good decisions.
Shadowveil: Legend of the Five Rings’ visual style looks a bit rough at first glance, especially given its stop-motion animations, but I warmed up fairly quickly to it and found the latter quite interesting.
Andersson noted that although it already divides the game’s community, it is an artistic choice meant to express the corruption in the Shadowlands, which “almost bends reality.” The team wanted “that uncomfortable feeling” of a strange, foreign territory to shine through.
Autobattlers aren’t my usual jam, so I was surprised to see that Shadowveil’s combat never felt like it overstayed its welcome, while finding new cards and items did make me curious to see more of what it had to offer.
Shadowveil: Legend of The Five Rings is slated to launch on PC on March 4. Its demo is available now so that you can guide your samurai party through the Shadowlands before the official release.
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