Over the weekend, I finished playing Shadows of Adam, an indie RPG I backed on Kickstarter.
It’s one of those games intended to feel like a throwback to classic JRPGs, and in a lot of ways, this one really does.
Shadows of Adam follows a boy named Kellan and a girl named Asrael who leave the small town of Adam in search of Kellan’s missing father when a dark power begins to stir. It’s a turn-based RPG with a few twists, such as a percentage-based AP system that is partly restored each round. Enemies appear on the field, and some of the battles can get fairly tough.
I’ve played a few of these JRPG-inspired games now, and Shadows of Adam is definitely one of the better ones. It has some of the heart and soul they often seem to lack. The soundtrack was also pretty catchy.
Now, the story was fairly simple and its nods to classic JRPGs might have gone a bit too far with one obviously-Kefka-inspired villain, but the plot was enjoyable enough and kept me interested. I cared about the main characters, and it took the time to give each of them backstory and make me want to care.
(And I have to admit, while Kefka’s influence on Malvil was blatant enough to take me by surprise, he did make me laugh.)
Shadows of Adam is a short game. I finished it in just under 16 hours, and that’s on the longer end. Most of that was fairly linear plot progression, which I found stronger than when it did open up near the end for a few side quests. Despite the fast pace, it felt complete and I enjoyed it.
We briefly discussed Shadows of Adam last month when the developers announced two new games, and now that I’ve finished it, I’m more interested than ever in seeing how their next games turn out.
Here’s hoping it retains or even improves on the classic JRPG feel of Shadows of Adam.
Shadows of Adam is available on Steam and recently saw a Switch release as well. If you’ve played it, what are your thoughts? How do you think it stacks up against similar indie games?