If there’s one genre that can be considered “solved” it would be pixelart adventure games. Originally they were born out of the limitations imposed by the hardware of the time, the low resolutions and meagre processing power only able to generate the simplest of graphics. Their appeal came from the stories and puzzles that laid within them, often relying heavily on logic and critical thinking above all else. The pixelart adventure games of today are not much different with the most innovative features being slightly better inventory management and quality of life improvements. Shardlight fits the mold perfectly in this regard, capturing the essence of what made those original adventure games great.
The world ended on the day the bombs fell. Since then, it’s always been like this: disease, hunger, death. The ruling Aristocrats, a faceless oligarchy that controls all resources, have unchallenged authority. There’s never enough food, water, or vaccine to go around. The rich receive regular doses of vaccinations in exchange for their unconditional government support. The poor live in fear, superstition, and squalor until they die. You play as Amy Wellard, a young woman reluctantly working for the government to qualify for the vaccine lottery, believes there’s a cure — and she’s going to find it. Even if it costs her her life.
Shardlight pays homage to the adventure games of old, replicating their pixelart stylings in loving detail. The pixelart is obviously hand drawn, using every pixel carefully in order to convey the maximum amount of information in the smallest number of pixels. The larger, more detailed works show this off well with the character portraits and backgrounds being on par with many top tier games in the same genre. There’s no modern effects or layering in Shardlight, instead staying true to the pixelart adventure games of old. One thing I’ll also note is how well the voice acting is done being a cut above what I’ve come to expect from games in this genre. Overall it wouldn’t be out of place with games that were made 20 years ago, something which I hope the developer takes as a compliment.
Shardlight is your stock standard adventure game affair, pitting you against puzzles of logic, inventory management and dialogue tree exploration. You’ll be hunting around for items to pick up, figuring out how to use them and working out what the intended way of solving a puzzle was. You’ll also need to make sure you choose the correct dialogue options as many puzzles are reliant on you either setting someone up to do something or having a specific piece of information revealed to you at a certain time. Of course there’s all the usual red herrings, unnecessary items and levels where there’s not much to do at all which will make your journey through Shardlight a lot more difficult than it appears on first glance.
Indeed, just like the adventure games of old, Shardlight makes no attempt to hold your hand or guide you through it. Skip through a dialogue too quickly and you might miss something important for solving a puzzle or do something out of its intended order and you’ll be left wondering what you need to do next. Indeed one puzzle, shooting a statue off a ledge, wasn’t allowed to be done until after a certain event had occurred. I have to admit it was these kinds of things which had me reaching for the walk through guide as I honestly couldn’t be bothered retrying everything in order to figure out what I had missed. Still for the most part I was able to get by and I’m sure more seasoned adventure gamers won’t have any issues at all.
Shardlight’s story isn’t exactly an unique one, exploring the issues of a post-apocalyptic society with a stark class divide between the haves and have nots. It is however developed very well, allowing most characters enough on screen time to allow them to develop and have you empathize with them. All the elements come together quite well with no major loose ends left over leaving you wanting. Overall I’d say it was an aptly told story that didn’t extend beyond its reach, achieving what it set out to do without any fluff to get in the way. It may not have engrossed me as much as it seems to have other reviewers but I do recognise that’s a very well told story.
Shardlight is a true homage to the adventure games of old, both in terms of graphics and style. The pixelart is wonderfully done, eschewing any modern flairs and staying true to its roots. The game plays as you would expect it to with no embellishments or enhancements on the old school formula. The story, whilst not the most captivating for this writer, is expertly told owing to the no-frills attitude that permeates throughout the game. Overall Sharlight is a solid adventure game that’s sure to delight fans of the genre and those who just love post-apocalyptic stories.
Rating: 8.0/10
Shardlight is available on PC right now for $14.99. Total play time was approximately 5 hours with 47% of the achievements unlocked. A copy of the game was provided to The Refined Geek for the purposes of reviewing.
