Shadow of the Depth | PC Early Access Review

Shadow of the Depth is currently in early access, with only a few levels and two bosses available to play (as well as a bug), but promises to be a quality addition to the Dungeon Crawler/Roguelite arena. Come along on a quick ride to see why I enjoyed it as well as a story about that bug with my kudos to the development team.

Were you a fan of Children of Morta? There are quite a few similarities to Shadow of the Depth, but a bit bloodier, a simplified plot, and much better graphics.

Revenge Is a Dish Best Served Bloody

Monsters and creatures have killed your family and taken over your castle. You must kill them all and take back your home. Really, that’s it. Other playable characters that we will discuss later have their own reasons to enter the castle and kill the enemies; in the end the only reason we’re here is to kill the bad guys. In the 2-boss demo that I played, the plot did not progress any further. There weren’t any cutscenes nor narrative devices in use. 

I’m going to make it clear right here: I didn’t care about the lack of plot. These creatures killed my family, let’s kill some creatures. Shadow of the Depth delivers! I was plunked into the first dungeon and presented with the enemies to dispatch using violence that made my eyes glimmer with joyous red highlights. 

The enemies die in as gruesome and bloody a way that a top-down game can provide. Once you have cleared an area, the floors are practically painted red with the entrails of your enemies. I want to collect my loot, refill my health and mana from the enemy death drops (if needed), and advance around the next corner of the dungeon to find more enemies!

Mechanics and Controls

Like most games that offer the option, I played the game on Easy. Besides the boss battles, it was likely too easy. In the unlikely event that I took a hint of damage, enemies dropped health items frequently. The map would also show where available health items were, just in case I was careless and took more damage than normal in one area. Just walk back and pick some up that I didn’t previously need, same with the mana. I freely used my special attacks (minus cooldown) because there were so many mana drops. I’m willing to bet those were less plentiful on harder difficulties. I was having so much fun that I did not care to check. 

You have the standard roguelite health and mana bars. A regular attack is easy and responsive. A dodge requires a short cooldown period. Special attacks use the mana. Shadow of the Depth rewards destroying all enemies and any pots and containers lying around the map. Coins are picked up for later use. You can improve the effectiveness of your attack, increase your health or mana, improve the strength of your weapons, or learn new special attacks through buying them with your found loot. I also enjoyed being able to sell the weapons that you discard or don’t need. At the beginning of a run, I would lose everything. However, those powered-up weapons and attacks were quickly available to make the second run through the dungeon even easier. Even more powerful weapons and attacks would arrive throughout the run, and the second attempt at the boss was a little easier.

The controls are a joy. I didn’t try out the keyboard controls. I plugged my Xbox remote into the laptop and went to town. During the podcast discussion, CB mentioned that he hopes the impressive controller support means that this game might be headed to consoles. For those of us who are unable to game on a PC, I hope so too. Tight control didn’t miss a beat. A few months back, there was a game that I reviewed where I frequently lamented, “But, I hit the dodge button!” I didn’t say that once with Shadow of the Depth. In some areas, I found myself surrounded by enemies and severely outnumbered. I looked for an open area, dodge through the circle, likely countered with an attack to take out an enemy or two, and regrouped in the open area where the zombie-like horde would follow for me to take them out a couple at a time. I pause a moment to behold the beautiful red colors, collect, and move on.

Characters and Kudos to the Developers

I mentioned Children of Morta above. Another similarity is in the playable character design and selection. Your first option is a strong swordsman. Strong attack, a little slow, virtual absence of defense but takes little damage on attacks. Another character is an archer. You can attack from a distance but your health is lower at the start and attacks impact your health more than the other characters. A third option is a knife wielder. Their attacks are in close range and they are super quick. Dodging is a breeze which reduces attack damage. There are a total of 5 playable characters, although I was unable to unlock all of them in the short field of time provided in the demo. Also, I could unlock better attacks for any of them to provide more variety in my runs. 

I did find a bug during my gaming. Against the first boss, I dodged an attack and countered with a special attack just as the boss delivered his attempt to deliver a deadly blow. The perfect-storm timing sent the game into a super-slow-motion bug that didn’t stop. I gave it a full three minutes to self correct. Meanwhile, my character stood still unable to move or attack. The boss kept attacking but nothing connected. I hoped that I might die and just start a new run, but with no damage taken, I decided to return to the main menu. Just for the chance, I clicked “Continue” and was right back in the battle with the boss where I left off at regular speed. The boss connected almost immediately and I died. Time for a new run anyway!

Why tell that story? I tip my hat to the game developers, ChillyRoom, who provided a “Report a bug” button right there on the main menu. I’ve played some early access limited demos in the past. Usually, contacting the game devs was a cumbersome effort via Steam or through difficult to find channels. Not here! I click the button which takes me to a well designed form to tell them about my issue. I am confident that they’ll easily get to the bottom of it and repair the bug.

Graphics and Sound

The dungeons are beautifully designed and filled with vibrant colors. ChillyRoom managed to make the dungeon look dark and foreboding, but bright and colorful at the same time. There are a variety of creatures which each have their own attack style. They are pretty standard enemies. Where this game succeeds is in the details. Each enemy is easily identifiable through the excellent design and drawing on the screen. I easily saw the bow and arrow to know that one enemy would shoot from a distance. Another creature that looks like a cross between an ant and a crab would toss bombs. The forthcoming blast radius was clear, which provided an opportunity to escape harm. Besides times when the sheer quantity of enemies on the screen made it difficult because I couldn’t dodge every style at once, I learned how to control my character and plan my preferred melee style attack through practice.

Where Shadow of the Depth shines brightest is in the boss design. Sharp colors contrast against the dungeon floor, attacks are frequent but tells are provided with just enough time to try to dodge, and MAN those bosses are powerful. I didn’t die on my first run until I met the first boss. Some attacks are seemingly un-dodgeable. It took 5 runs before I defeated the first boss. Reminder, I was on Easy. The win felt deserved and satisfying. I learned the attacks and used my improved weapons and strength to take down the mighty foe!

ChillyRoom put a message at the start of the demo mentioning that some of the sound is still under construction. This is noticeable in the enemy noises when I attack. Most enemies made the same groan upon meeting the business end of my sword. Otherwise, the music and sound is quite good. I’m intrigued to hear the improvements when the full version of the game is available.

Final Thoughts

So much fun! I mostly wrote this review during my lunch break and almost begged off the remainder of my day to return to the demo. I was late to the roguelite party but now that I am here, I don’t want to leave. Shadow of the Depth promises to make my Game of the Year conversation. The simple plot is not a detriment. It works perfectly to get me motivated to regain control of my castle. The game took me the rest of the way with the bloody good fun, beautiful design, challenging & satisfying bosses, and randomly generated maps at the start of each run. 

I have wishlisted this game so that I’ll be notified when the full version is available. I hope that everyone has an opportunity to try this one out for themselves!

To hear me talk more about Shadow of the Depth, be sure to listen to the April 24th episode of The Gaming Outsider podcast around the 1:00:59 time stamp.

This review is based on a PC Early Access copy of Shadow of the Depth provided by Renaissance PR for coverage purposes. As of the time of this writing, it is exclusive to this platform.