Shadows: Awakening (v1.31 & ALL DLC’s)

A murdered cabal, devoured souls, and a demon caught between worlds give this action RPG a darker premise than its colorful isometric presentation first suggests. Set in the Heretic Kingdoms universe, Shadows: Awakening casts you as a Devourer: a creature from the Shadow Realm that consumes fallen heroes and uses their bodies as living puppets. The result is a single-player fantasy adventure built around possession, political conspiracies, ancient ruins, and the uneasy question of whether your party serves the demon or gradually shapes it. Its tone balances grim occult fantasy with the satisfying rhythm of a classic dungeon-crawling RPG.

Combat plays out in real time, with direct control over one active puppet while the rest of your small party supports from nearby. Each captured soul brings a different fighting style, from weapon-heavy warriors and agile rogues to spellcasters, so switching characters at the right moment becomes central to surviving tougher encounters. The Devourer can also move between the material world and the Shadow Realm, where enemies, routes, secrets, and environmental puzzles often work differently; an obstacle in one plane may be bypassed in the other. Quest decisions, party composition, loot, equipment upgrades, and skill development provide the usual RPG progression, while the campaign asks players to manage resources and learn enemy behavior rather than simply overpower every fight.

Its realm-switching system is the standout feature, turning exploration into more than a march between combat arenas and making the demon’s possession mechanic matter mechanically as well as narratively. Shadows: Awakening also delivers a substantial, hand-crafted campaign with branching choices and a roster of distinct heroes to collect, encouraging experimentation with different party setups. The fixed-camera presentation and tactical pause-free battles sit somewhere between Diablo’s immediacy and a more deliberate party RPG, though the pace is less loot-driven than a pure action game. Fans of dark fantasy, isometric RPGs, and unusual companion systems should find plenty to enjoy, while newcomers benefit from starting cautiously and learning when to swap worlds rather than relying on reflexes alone.