Trulon: The Shadow Engine Reviews
Trulon: The Shadow Engine is an enjoyably fun RPG. It's a very likable game with its beautiful environs and will strike a chord with those who remember and enjoy the slower pace of turn-based RPGs of old. Additionally, the game's card-based battle system offers just enough luck and variety to keep battles from becoming stale.
You can’t just go flinging cards about all willy-nilly and expect to win.
Trulon: The Shadow of Engine offers a fun adventure, simple and full of things to discover. The combat system is very original because it offers you the possibility to create our own tactics. Unfortunately the bugs and their poor balance between easy and hard difficulty make the experience worse.
Review in Spanish | Read full review
Potential for a great, genre-defying game cut short just as this Steampunk adventure truly picks up any steam. Feels more like a demo of a game than the entirety of one, making the $20 price tag for the PC version a hard sell.
'Trulon: The Shadow Engine' is a very basic, easy-going turn-based RPG. It asks very little of you, but still manages to be challenging and fun when it needs to be. Despite its console/PC availability, it's more suitable in its original mobile form.
It’s a shame that Trulon: The Shadow Engine lacks a lot of polish, because at its core, it’s a pretty enjoyable experience.
Trulon: The Shadow Engine certainly looks ready to send gamers on an adventure, especially in creating a world full of fantastical beings, but that’s where the goodness ends in truth.
Trulon: The Shadow Engine shows some interesting aspects in the combat that would have been much more fun to leave the experience with rather than the broken mess it currently is thanks to the error.
Being based on a novel I was hoping for a better standard of story and in being short at only around nine hours, Trulon is also far shorter than I went in expecting for a JRPG. This doesn't make the game bad. I did enjoy the characters and the battles at first, and it is still an enjoyable Sunday afternoon game. I just can't help but think this one could have been more.
Trulon: The Shadow Engine, made by Kyy Games and published by Headup Games, is a single player casually paced RPG. For those new to the genre as well as those with loads of experience, this is a game that has interesting lore and simple game mechanics. Being laid back gives it an edge on some other RPGs currently on the market, as it is easily approachable. Perhaps Trulon: The Shadow Engine will be my gateway game of sorts to exploring other card-based RPG games.
Trulon: The Shadow Engine is a short game, and there's one trophy in particular that asks that you complete the game in less than five hours, which is doable but probably best that you do it during your second run. On the plus side, this one has a Platinum trophy and several Gold and Silver trophies for your time, so do keep that in mind! If you're looking for a turn-based RPG with a twist, then be sure to check this one out!
Somewhere in Trulon: The Shadow Engine lies what could be a decent little RPG. The use of cards makes for an interesting spin on tradition. The somewhat bland characters and storyline are balanced out by quaint graphics and pleasant music. However, in its current state, this game is broken. It's far too easy to soft-lock it, or even ruin a save. Progress is constantly at the mercy of increasingly slipshod scripts. Attempting to play an RPG where potentially everything can go wrong is nothing more than an exercise in frustration.
To sum it up, Trulon is an alright RPG. It does well with it’s innovative combat in an attempt to stand out from the crowd, but is unfortunately bogged down by its generic cast, uninspiring fetch quests, and being forced to go through all of it with your character’s walk speed. That said, it’s still an enjoyable title for its cheap price point and its availability on the mobile platform. While it fails to particularly stand out in it’s other aspects, Trulon’s combat system is fresh, unique, and strategically satisfying.
Given some work, Trulon can be a worthwhile RPG.
Hampered by some poor decisions in porting, Trulon: The Shadow Engine takes a game with some promise and becomes less than the sum of its parts.
Trulon: The Shadow Engine has decent card-based combat and a fantastic world. However, a myriad of issues such as stuttering and crashing plague the game, while the story never really develops in a meaningful way. It's still decently fun to play, however at I can't really recommend it at $20. If it looks like something you'd want to try, wait for a sale.
Trulon: The Shadow Engine certainly isn’t a bad game, but the random nature of the battle system and slightly underdeveloped story leaves it falling behind the masses of better RPGs that are out already. I love the vibrant visual style whilst the nods to classic 16-bit RPGs do give it a good amount of personality, but this charming adventure just falls a little short on most other facets of design.
Trulon starts interesting, but soon enough we find out why people are displeased with the game. Despite its great visuals and interesting mechanics based on strengths and weaknesses it makes us hate it as soon as the difficulty ramps up. There are many points when progress is blocked by almost unbeatable opponents and frustrating card system.
Review in Polish | Read full review