The new Shadow of the Beast is a great tribute to the Amiga version, and both good and evil is limited by not deviate much from the classical system. Forget to perform many combos with strong and weak blows or stringing complex techniques here again you need to play with timing and attack at the right time. There are several levels of difficulty to choose from. If you attack at the right time, an indication of the word “perfect” will confirm our success.
The defense is important in the fighting. You can do locks, do somersaults, and counterattacks, you must play to stop rivals or to trap them by attacking from their back. The enemies have a variety of techniques and weapons that force us to make use of these moves, or you should bring down a stunning blow, either because they use shields or protected armor. Be prepared for a round of enemies coming from both directions.
Aarbron is not exactly helpless. It has some special skills that we can enhance, like health and other basics. The protagonist fills up three bars of blood with each death, and each portion runs out if you get hit. It’s important to have some strategy if you don’t want to die too many times.
Potentially the most devastating and spectacular attack is to unleash a state of fury in which involves a QTE where you need to press the right buttons(appears on screen) at the right time. Aarbron kills an enemy and for a moment we can press one of the two directions accompanied the button to move to the next monster, and then another, and so on until the wave ends or you fail to press the right button.
Shadow of the Beast combines little jumps with the ascension of walls and tiny puzzles that will make you come and go for a run or use shortcuts; it is far from being a “Metroidvania”. The series has already established its style and you shouldn’t except any drastic changes here, but there is an improvement on combat mechanics. There are some bosses with an attack pattern well established: so you know when you can attack and when to get to cover. In general, it is to learn the routine, not blindly attack, and this advice applies to the rest of the game as well.
