Japan has always been an interesting setting for video games, whether we’re exploring the Edo period in games like Assassin’s Creed Shadows, a dark, horror-themed version like we saw in Nioh, or an open world Kyoto in the Yakuza games. We’ve spent time in cyberpunk Japan, ancient Japan, and modern-day Japan. And now Shadow of the Road from Another Angle and Owlcat Games is exploring an alternate history of Japan. It’s set during the final days of the Tokugawa Shogunate, but gives the invading Gaijin an army of steampunk robots against which our Samurai heroes will do battle with swords and bows.
We were lucky enough to attend an online preview and then get our hands on the preview build, and Shadow of the Road is pretty interesting so far. As settings go, it’s interesting. And it works well thanks to a focus on narrative that gives us a reason to get invested in the world and its characters. It presents a somewhat grounded fantasy version of the era, with yokai and oni and other creatures of myth that kind of just exist in this world without much fanfare.
Initially you control the albino archer Akira, and samurai Saturo, who together survived a pitched battle that wiped out their force and killed their master. Now traveling the land as Ronin, the two seek to honour their fallen master by killing everyone who stands up in their presence. Actually I’m being facetious; there are allies who you’ll recruit to your group and even directly control.
It’s an isometric turn-based tactics affair with a few interesting ideas. For example, the turn counter is influenced by “Shift”, dynamic abilities and actions that can change the order of attack. Using items or abilities that change this can make all the difference to the flow of an encounter.
Enemies tend to be plentiful as is often the case in turn-based tactics games, but your protagonists have a variety of special moves and abilities to counter this. Ranged attacks can be set up one turn ahead, which will give you the chance to move to cover, or wind up a powerful shot for any enemy who isn’t going to move before you. The environments I’ve seen so far in the early preview build are quite busy and full of cover.
There’s also no dreaded chance-to-hit mechanic, which always feels like the absolute nadir of artificial game difficulty. In Shadow of the Road if you can hit someone you will, and the only thing affected by chance is whether or not you land a crit. It’s really refreshing and allows combat to flow very well without some infuriating mechanic hijacking the pace.
What I’ve played so far of Shadow of the Road is promising. I like that you can control some dialogue options for both characters, and there are choices that seem like they’ll be meaningful down the road, such as sparing or killing an enemy, and whether you let Akira or someone else do the deed. It records relationships and there’s a definite sense that what you’re doing matters. The combat, of which there is likely to be a lot, feels satisfying and balanced – and the setting is cool.
Alternate history Steampunk is a concept it’s easy to go overboard with, yet Shadow of the Road manages to keep its head in the game and stay grounded – at least so far. What I’ve played isn’t a massive chunk of the predicted runtime, after all. Either way I came away from the preview feeling optimistic. It features one of my favourite video game settings and a great art style, and if Another Angle can nail the story and maintain the momentum of combat it should be pretty great at launch.
Shadow of the Road is developed by Another Angle and published by Owlcat Games. It’s set to release on PC in 2025.
