Ever since Larian Studios released Baldur’s Gate 3 back in 2023, RPG fans the world over have been chasing the next best thing. Of course, there’s a wealth of role-playing games, both old and new, that inspired Baldur’s Gate 3 and are well worth checking out, but Larian’s particular blend of high-fidelity AAA sensibilities and classic CRPG mechanics is a bit of a rarer find.
It might not scratch the exact same itch, but the upcoming CRPG Shadow of the Road could very well appeal to Baldur’s Gate 3 fans or CRPG players more broadly. The game, which is published by Warhammer 40:000: Rogue Trader purveyor Owlcat Games, takes players to a steampunk-infused rendition of 1860s feudal Japan and tasks them with looking after a child with mysterious and uncontrollable powers. Taking after iconic works such as Princess Mononoke, Shadow of the Road juxtaposes traditional high-fantasy (magic, bizarre creatures, etc.) with mostly familiar technology (rifles, flamethrowers, etc.), which has a good chance to heighten the peculiarities of its world-building and combat. Indeed, while this debut from Another Angle Games still has a bit to prove, it’s shaping up to be something quite interesting.
Shadow of the Road currently has a demo available on Steam.
Baldur’s Gate 3’s Githyanki Egg is the Ultimate Litmus Test
The Githyanki egg is Baldur’s Gate 3’s design philosophy at its best because it casts a mirror on a player’s moral choices.
Shadow of the Road Looks a Lot Like Baldur’s Gate 3 in Japan
At a glance, the similarities between Baldur’s Gate 3 and Shadow of the Road are immediately apparent: they both feature a top-down, quasi-isometric perspective with free camera movement, they are both party-based, and they both force players to take a more tactical approach to turn-based combat. It’s within these battles that Shadow of the Road’s setting is at its most striking.
Find all 10 pairs
Find all 10 pairs
Fights are often a jarring mix of honor-bound Japanese men with katanas and sharply dressed Western military units with rifles. At the extreme ends of both regional groupings, there are black magic spells, demonic transformations, and hulking mech suits. While the full extent of these ideas remains to be seen, they certainly fling the doors open to unusual combat scenarios and interesting strategies; these abilities in magic and machinery are not only limited to one side of the fight—players can become a mystical or technological force to be reckoned with as well.
Interestingly, Shadow of the Road frames progression within a skill tree, similar to modern-day action-RPGs. This seems like a promising way to recontextualize growth and build-crafting within a tactical RPG, especially for anyone coming from Baldur’s Gate 3’s DnD-influenced leveling system. At the very least, the inclusion of character-specific skill trees should facilitate interesting techniques and bring Shadow of the Road more in line with traditional tactical RPGs like XCOM.
What I Hope to See From Shadow of the Road in the Future
Like any good RPG, the seeds of Shadow of the Road’s combat are expected to grow into something more complex and compelling over the course of so many hours. Based on what we’ve seen so far, through the game’s trailers and demo, the combat system seems intuitive, engaging, and multifaceted enough to withstand a full playthrough, although there’s no way to know for sure how it will fare over time.
One critical aspect of Baldur’s Gate 3, which can often go overlooked, is its focus on environmental manipulation. For instance, you can position explosive barrels in an area before a fight you know is coming, then detonate them to annihilate your foes, or you can spill grease in a hallway to make enemies slip and fall. These options make BG3 feel almost like an immersive sim at times. We don’t see much of that in Shadow of the Road so far, and while it’s obviously not necessary, this freeform, sandbox-style approach to encounter design is generally a boon for tactical RPGs. After all, movement and positioning are fundamental in the genre, so it’s best to give players as many tools in these categories as possible.
Beyond combat, it will be interesting to see how Shadow of the Road’s narrative RPG features pay off in the long run. You’ll be able to make a bevy of dialog choices throughout the campaign, steering a character’s values toward one ideal or another, or influencing their relationship with various key figures. As is often the case with this sort of RPG, we don’t always see the full impact of these decisions straight away, and seemingly small moments can lead to unexpected consequences. Getting this right is easier said than done, since writers and developers have to strike the right balance between immersion, feasibility, and overall narrative satisfaction. Here’s hoping Shadow of the Road nails this the way it seems to be nailing its combat.
- Released
-
August 3, 2023
- ESRB
-
Mature 17+ / Blood and Gore, Partial Nudity, Sexual Content, Strong Language, Violence
