Heroes of Shaola Demo

Fantasy RPGs are not very different from each other when you really think about it, but the experience feels different every time. Even if some of the stories take place in the same universe, as is the case with D&D games, the characters and the plots always have something else to drive them forward. In fact, that is why most people remain fans of the genre.

Heroes of Shaola is an indie production that aims to be different from the rest of the RPGs out there, especially when it comes to gameplay and your interaction with the game world. Not only that, but it also features a pretty rich lore for an indie game, one that is inspired by classics like Tolkien, Zelda and even Romance of the Three Kingdoms.

The story starts with the disappearance of a noble by the name of Leonardo, although there are many other interesting conflicts going on at the same time. There’s a lot of politics involved as well, at least if you have the patience to follow them. Hence, your starting party is comprised of Leonardo, a mighty captain and two nondescript soldiers that serve as cannon fodder for the upcoming fights.

Whenever you start a fight with someone or something, the perspective changes to a classic side view, and you give orders to each individual unit under your command. Whether it’s to attack, cast a special ability to use one of the items in their inventory, it’s important that you always find the best solution and strategy. Most enemies drop some loot as well, and it’s great that the developers decided to stop letting beasts carry gold for no reason.

As for the graphics, the top-down perspective should appeal to the nostalgic in you, but the actual artwork is not that great. Hence, everything is a tad too dark sometimes, which makes it difficult to figure out what’s in front of you. On top of that, the level design is very repetitive and uninspired, given the fact that most of the map is either empty or full of trees.

Heroes of Shaola is still a prototype at this time, so it’s understandable that it’s pretty shaky and empty at the moment. However, there are some good ideas here, and it would be nice to see them implemented better in the future.