by It’s a shame but today I’m going to talk about a game that I think has everything I need to like it but it has a pretty big problem (at least for me, although I suppose it will be a problem for many of the readers of this blog as well) that makes you unable to enjoy the true experience; something that the truth is that makes me somewhat angry, but it happens to me for not looking carefully at the characteristics of a game before buying it.
The game in question is Shadows Over Loathing and it is a game that what I have played has enchanted me because of its curious visuals, its absurd humor, its tremendous setting (inspiring by the god Lovecraft is what it has)… and you will say: But Silver what the heck is wrong with this game then? Well, it is not translated into Spanish and this is a game in which that weighs a lot. Now I investigate more in this matter, let’s go with the analysis !
Ah yes, as always I leave the trailer for you to take a look at:
WHAT IS SHADOWS OVER LOATHING ABOUT?
The battles are turn-based and are quite funny because there are very strange abilities. To give an example, I have a mini-turtle that supports a bit of healing. I named her Tortugaleta (Turtle + Galeta), I have a cat called Galeta (in real life).
Shadows Over Loathing is an Indie RPG with classic turn-based combat in which we will have to manage a stick figure who will have to investigate his uncle in a world where things are pretty messed up since, well, that said, it’s inspired by Lovecraft and that The guy didn’t exactly make happy stories.
You will constantly come across very strange things, in case you don’t know a little about Lovecraft’s lore, this is a writer who is no longer alive (a pity because he was a god) who wrote stories about cosmic beings of exorbitant power that influenced human minds for their purposes or creating weird stories (it’s hard to explain). I highly recommend his books because they are tremendous, he always plays a lot with psychological terror and with one of the greatest fears that humanity or any conscious being has in general, the fear of the unknown.
This is one of the game maps, there are several zones.
In the game it is the same. VERY weird things will happen, but the good thing is that usually everything will happen with a touch of humor. About the Lore of the game I am not going to talk too much because being in English, I have found out half of it and I am sure that I will loose something crazy.
THE BIG PROBLEM YOU HAVE (ERROR 404 – SPANISH NOT FOUND)
It’s not the best example, but there’s tons of text in the game.
There are games in which the language is not too important, an example would be Pirates Outlaws (a game that I analyzed recently), since in the end the fun is the fighting and the only thing you have to understand is what the skills or letters in this case and little else.
But in a game like this it’s vital to understand everything perfectly because part of the fun of it is in the texts (and I’m telling you there’s a LOT of text ) since they have a lot of humor, so if you take that away, well loses a lot of fun. The parts that I have understood well, I have enjoyed a lot in that sense, but when you don’t find out anything in the end you end up reading and well, it’s not the same then.
I forgave Undertale because he is a tremendous gamer (SS very clear), there wasn’t that much text and luckily I learned everything very well; but it is not the case in Shadows Over Loathing and it is a pity because the language issue is going to drop a lot of points when we do the typical score at the end of everything.
And that this happens in 2023 seems incredible to me, especially considering that Spanish is, after all, one of the most widely spoken languages in the world. I understand that it hasn’t been done because it’s an Indie game and what a task it would be to translate that game well (because it’s complicated, and they often use jargon and weird expressions). But hey, it is what it is, and in my case that is a big but.
HIS HUMOR: SOME ANECDOTES
That moment when we transform into a mini T-Rex, it’s just great.
I consider it to be the best part of the game, in that sense it reminds me a lot of Undertale. So that it is understood a little better I will tell you a couple of anecdotes that happened to me; Just two so as not to release too many spoilers , if you prefer not to know anything about the game (it would be your thing) continue to the next section.
There’s a moment in the story where you have a weird dream (it happens quite often and crazy things happen) where you turn into some kind of mini T-Rex and you have to vandalize an office to gain dexterity (because like you have short arms…) to be able to do more actions. You will try to eat the people in the office and even the cat (luckily you won’t succeed), you will interact with the others and you will end up entering a very strange room (I won’t say more).
Another anecdote would be that moment when you have to register some lockers (there are clearly 6) and it appears in the options “inspect the seventh locker”, so the game tells you that there is no such locker. But you can insist that there is and that you want to investigate it; Well, overall, after a heated discussion with the game at the end it lets us investigate that non-existent box office and inside you will find something very good.
And I could tell 800 anecdotes like that time my greed sent a house to another dimension (or something like that?), but… it would be spoiling the experience.
TYPICAL ANALYSIS
Now let’s do the standard analysis of the typical aspects that are usually analyzed in games, in this case you will inevitably lose some points in some aspects due to the language issue .
Normally I have the rule of passing the game or at least seeing the complete experience of it (there are games that require too many hours and as long as you put a few hours into it, you get the idea, Monster Hunter or Genshin Impact would be good examples) but I have Thinking that these types of games that I have decided to stop playing for some reason that bother me also deserve their analysis, commenting on what my problem with them has been.
- Artistic Section : The truth is that I love the style of simple painting in black and white with that gloomy and dark roll that characterizes Lovecraft. Yes without a doubt.
- Music : The music and the sound section seem great to me, little more to say. An A.
- Gameplay : The gameplay also seems very good to me. The combats have their thing, there are a lot of interactions with the environment that are quite cool, many little details that are appreciated (such as the shoe issue), but it could be better if the text was in Spanish for Spanish speakers, which is why which I do not put an S. It stays with an A.
- Setting : Good artistic section, good music and Lovecraftnian things, suffice it to say that the setting is tremendous. Again I would give it an S, but the language issue means that in my case it gets a little lost in that sense, so we will leave it at an A.
- Duration : I have thought that for these cases in which I have not played the game too much because something has creaked me, I will rate it as the duration being negative (since the game has not been able to retain me and therefore in my case, its duration has been scarce). A D, a pity.
- Overall : B+. Amazing that with everything he has caught on the subject of translation into Spanish, he gets a relatively high grade.
If they translate it into Spanish, I’ll play it again from the beginning, I’ll pass it on (the truth is that I really want it, but I want to enjoy the true experience that is this game) and I’ll rate it. If you are a person with an excellent command of English, you will surely enjoy the game a lot, because if it weren’t for the lack of translation into Spanish it would be an A+ game at least (it looks like it could get an S, really).
To finish I leave you the link of its Steam page in case you want to keep an eye on it or buy it. You also have it on the Switch.
