Shiness: The Lightning Kingdom

Normally I write sh*tpost copypasta reviews, but this game was pretty special.
Let me first start off by saying that Shiness is admittedly a bit rough around the edges, so don’t go comparing it to it’s AAA counterparts. By rough I mean:
- Fighting difficulty alternates between very easy, very hard, then very easy again.
- Probably the most confusing UI and menu design I’ve recently experienced in a game (until you just get used to it).
- Story isn’t explained at all? And seems pretty hard to follow.
- You can literally just sneak past 80% of the enemies in the game (this is part of what helped me complete the main story in just 17 hours).
All of these make for a fairly steep learning curve, and are probably why a lot of people left a bad review for the game while having only put a few hours into it. Less than halfway through the game you’ll start getting achievements that only less than 10% of players have gotten (and these aren’t completionist achievements either, they’re simple ones like beating a boss).
BUT, if you can forgive an indie team for these issues, there’s so much uniqueness to find. I enjoyed this more than a lot of Nintendo games I’d say. Here’s the great stuff:
- It’s a modern game with PS2 style graphics. Who doesn’t love nostalgia?
- Art is all around awesome. Environments are like Studio Ghibli, characters are kinda like Sonic and the cutscenes are panels from the manga itself.
- Soundtrack is seriously beautiful. I wish more modern games had soundtracks like this.
- Zero-grind RPG. If you’re a person who’s in a hurry but wants to be immersed in an RPG, then this is a nice and short game you should play.
When you read about the background on this game, it’s surprising Shiness was even released at all. They were mostly crowdfunded and still managed to pay a large team to create this huge world. There’s a lot to explore besides the main story, and despite occasional stutters when loading into the game, it runs very well.
Just try it for yourself. I got this game for only $1.49 during a sale, so you honestly have nothing to lose.

It's a nice RPG with beautiful graphics and a cute original setting. Reminds me of the older Final Fantasy games.
The combat system is... nice but confusing and sometimes frustrating, especially when fighting bosses.
The game has a few things that could and should be better, but it also has a detailed open world with a good story that will suck you into the action.
It's also cheap (too cheap imo) so it's definitely worth what you pay for.

Ever played a "Tales of" game? If you like those, you'll probably like this.