Reviews:
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Continuing the weird style and sense of humor from “West”, Shadows Over Loathing turns the uniqueness dial to 11
When you follow up an oddball treat like West of Dead it must be a bit of a challenge. While Shadows Over Loathing certainly sticks with the original’s trademark stick figure look and abundance of silliness, it takes a bit of a risk by being a bit more ambitious in its overall design, and I can see where that could split opinions pretty easily. Compared to West, Shadows feels like it has added a layer or two of overall complexity, with you having a wider array of attributes and quirk to imbue your character with, which then has a ripple effect on what you’ll be doing on your route to success. The benefit to this I absolutely see is that if you played through more than once and changed a few key decisions you could play out a somewhat different series of interactions and events your attributes may not have let you attempt before. On the flip side I could see where a completionist or someone set on just going through the experience once could be aggravated by there not necessarily being a path to see and do everything. Aside from that difference the rest of the positives from the original still hold true. As adventures go this keeps things more light and less frustrating, and areas are generally on the small side to avoid burning you out on simply exploring everything you can. If you haven’t played the original I’d still probably suggest getting a warm-up with it first, then allowing you to appreciate the contrast in the two and see how the team’s goals have expanded since then.
Justin Nation, Score:Nindie Choice! [8.8]