Ravensword: Shadowlands

Ravensword: Shadowlands
Developer(s)	Crescent Moon Games
Series	Ravensword
Engine	Unity
Platform(s)	iOS, Android, PC, Steam, Ouya
Release date(s)	December 6, 2013 (Steam) June, 2014 (Ouya)
Genre(s)	role-playing game

Ravensword: Shadowlands is a role-playing game created by Crescent Moon Games. It is the successor of Ravensword: The Fallen King. It was released originally only for iOS and Android compatible devices, but later was also released to Steam, due to it being Greenlit on the platform.^[1]

Gameplay

The game has received many comparison to open world role-playing games in the Elder Scrolls series of games, such as Skyrim.^[2][3][4]

Combat has three main types, with exceptions. Two, melee and ranged, are equipment based. There are various melee and ranged combat styles. Each style has separate skills and equipment, that are individually trained. Magic also has different spells, but all are trained similarly using similar equipment and the same skills.

Reception

Ravensword has been generally well received by critics. It has received a 78 out of 100 rating on review aggregator Metacritic, based on 11 reviews.^[5] TouchArcade strongly praised the game, giving it a perfect 5 out of 5 score and stating that "its hard to believe I'm playing a game of this caliber on iOS...Other than a few minor glitches, Ravensword: Shadowlands is the real deal, and is an excellent open-world RPG with a decent story, ample content, deep character customization and beautiful visuals".^[6] Slide to Play awarded the game a 3 out of 4 rating, stating that the game was "...a beautiful game that stumbles often, but only because it reaches so high" and concluded that it was ultimately "not as polished as a game like Skyrim, but there’s plenty here for an action RPG fan to love."^[2] Gamezebo also compared it favorably to Skyrim, and The Elder Scrolls: Oblivion, stating "If you're going to borrow, you may as well borrow from the best...The open world aspect of Ravensword: Shadowlands is one of its big selling points, and it is fun to explore some non-linear adventures on your iOS device. It does have some limitations though, as there are physical barriers out in the world that prevent you from reaching certain parts of the map as freely as you might think."^[3] Pocket Gamer described it as "...as big and open an RPG as you're likely to get on iOS" but cited uneven combat as a major weakness of the game, describing it as both "frustratingly punishing and ridiculously easy" at certain points.^[7]

AppSpy was more negative towards the game, stating that the difficulty and glitches overshadowed the game's technical feats.^[8]

References