Shiness: The Lightning Kingdom Reviews

Shiness: The Lightning Kingdom is ranked in the 34th percentile of games scored on OpenCritic.
C
Jul 18, 2017

The Lightning Kingdom comes to it may be worth a play on your backlog but I'd wait for a sale or if you have nothing else you feel like playing but want an okay RPG to fill the void.

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6.5 / 10.0
Jul 5, 2017

Overall, Shiness: The Lightning Kingdom isn't that bad. The story is good enough, if a tad generic, while the characters are likeable if you can get past their odd dialogue and exaggerated reactions. Outside of a pretty finicky magic and parry system, the combat is done well for those who crave real-time action over menus, and some of the other systems bring some depth to that. Presentation is decent, but the camera can be enough to put off some people. If you're craving a game that sticks to some JRPG standards, Shiness isn't a bad one to check out once you're done with the heavy-hitters on the system.

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GameMAG
xtr
Top Critic
5 / 10
May 30, 2017

Shiness: The Lightning Kingdom is an example of a good idea drowned in poor implementation. Bad map system, terrible navigation, dull world with the sterile side quests, filled with resurgent enemies, strange combat mechanics and terrible camera cause only one feeling - a deep disappointment. And even good puzzles are not able to save this cute, but such a raw product.

Review in Russian | Read full review

7 / 10.0
May 23, 2017

Shiness:The Lightning Kingdom is a reach too far for a small indie studio to handle and it shows. While the game plays well and looks fantastic, the lack of a decent story shows that the developers were under tight budget and time restraints. If they would have had more time and money I believe that Shiness could had easily been a better game. While Shiness has some positives like the overall design and the combat, the lack of a compelling story ruined the experience.

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5.5 / 10.0
May 15, 2017

While I wanted to get in and explore the beautiful looking world of Shiness I was constantly routed in my efforts by the frustrating fighting system and some strange design choices.

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6.5 / 10.0
May 15, 2017

Shiness: The Lightning Kingdom combines the classic JRPG adventure format with fighting mechanics. Well knowing this is from a small french indie team, Enigami, we can see all the passion and the work behind the game, but we can also see all the limits due to the smallness of the project itself. All these problems afflict the gameplay, on the technical side, and mostly the combat system, the one who should made this videogame really shine. In the end, we can see a great potential from Enigami team, but we can't deny that Shiness is a good game with a lot of problems.

Review in Italian | Read full review

5.5 / 10.0
May 5, 2017

All the pretty visuals and melancholy music might make this one a fun game to look at and hear, but that’s where the charm stops.

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May 2, 2017

Shiness: The Lightning Kingdom is both an amazing nostalgic trip to an older generation of gaming as well as a breath of fresh air with its fast paced and solid combat mechanics. It's rare for a developer to take martial arts and really try and do the philosophy and flow of them justice in a game, and for that Shiness is a most welcome addition to the RPG library.

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80 / 100
May 1, 2017

Shiness: The Lightning Kingdom is an ambitious action RPG, developed by a small indie studio that struggled a lot to make this project happen. There are several references to 90s animes as wells as JRPGs. The combat system is the highlight of the game, a mix of action and traditional fighting games, creating a dynamic environment and fast paced combat. The story ends abruptly, leaving the gamer wanting to know more about it. Despite some technical problems and graphic limitation, this is a game that provides several hours of entertainment and it's worth the purchase, supporting the developer into making sequels of the game.

Review in Portuguese | Read full review

6.5 / 10.0
Apr 29, 2017

A hybrid of an interesting RPG setting, a fighting game style combat system of pleasing back and forths, and a great manga aesthetic, that is let down by frequent technical issues, a frustrating camera, and a poorly told story. Fans of both RPGs and Fighting games may well find something to love here but be prepared for a general lack of polish and some more glaring issues.

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7 / 10.0
Apr 28, 2017

For all of these reasons, I can't say that I think Shiness is a bad game. It's just a game that has leaned into its genre so hard that its spine is cracking. If you're the kind of person who wants to micromanage numbers within the framework of a traditional JRPG story in a fantastical world of animal-people and human-people, then this might be the game for you. If a single part of that sentence made you have a second thought, then it probably isn't.

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6 / 10
Apr 26, 2017

I went into Shiness: The Lightning Kingdom with a lot of hope that it could successfully achieve all it was set out to do with this unique blend of arena based fighter injected into an action-RPG. The indie studio had a lot of ambition and heart for the project, but it disappointingly doesn't manage to pull off all these cool ideas together into a coherent package.

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3.5 / 5.0
Apr 25, 2017

Shiness: The Lightning Kingdom is a rare gem that captures the feeling of early PS2-era RPGs such as Dark Cloud and Grandia II while bringing it's own brand of modern to the table. The game certainly isn't perfect and the technical cracks most definitely show, but the things it tries to do well, it succeeds.

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40 / 100
Apr 25, 2017

Shiness: The Lightning Kingdom is the product of a small team trying to do too much and, ultimately, falling flat. It pains me to say it, because I saw the potential in Shiness way back when it was a fledgling Kickstarter upstart, but this is one of the worst gaming experiences I've had in a long time and I cannot recommend it to anyone that likes fun.

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Apr 22, 2017

The Shiness: Lightning Kingdom brings forth an effort that far exceeds its minimal $30 price tag.

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7.7 / 10.0
Apr 21, 2017

Shiness: The Lightning Kingdom is an action role-playing game that does a lot of things well, such as the deep battle system, exploration, and setting. At the same time, none of these are truly original, preventing it from being truly great. Still, those who love action RPGs from the 90s will find plenty to like in the game since Shiness is quite fun for the whole duration of the adventure, despite its predictable story, lackluster writing and somewhat wonky battle controls.

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6 / 10.0
Apr 21, 2017

While creativity should be appreciated and rewarded in the gaming industry, and a very interesting world has been put on display here, the rest of the game is just not up to snuff. Shiness may be worth checking out for those who are yearning for more fantastical worlds to explore and the return of PS2-era style RPGs, as it certainly scratched that itch for me. but others should carefully consider their purchase before joining Chado on his grand adventure.

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8 / 10.0
Apr 20, 2017

Shiness is a breath of fresh air with its gameplay, while also reminding us what made the PlayStation 2 era so great with its originality and narrative decisions.

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7.5 / 10.0
Apr 20, 2017

Shiness: The Lightning Kingdom is a solid effort to tackle the RPG genre from an independent studio. Unfortunately, it also ends up being too ambitious for its own good. As a new game from an independent studio, it is arguably an admirable job and bodes well for the future of the developer.

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6 / 10.0
Apr 20, 2017

Shiness doesn't try to reinvent the wheel, and its style and execution are designed to evoke memories of your gaming past. Come for the pretty world, stay for the fast, if slightly messy combat.

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