Yahtzee Croshaw's The Consuming Shadow Available Now

[Lizzy Finnegan]

Yahtzee Croshaw's The Consuming Shadow Available Now


Yahtzee Croshaw's new game, The Consuming Shadow, pits the player against monsters, mysteries, and their own mind.

You may know fast-talker The Consuming Shadow [http://www.escapistmagazine.com/tag/view/yahtzee?from_search=1&&os=yahtzee+croshaw], a Lovecraftian procedural survival horror adventure that features four unlockable playable characters with different play styles, eight different magic spells, 20 different monsters, perma-death gameplay, and the sanity system that made me fall in love with Eternal Darkness.

The Consuming Shadow is now available on Wish List [https://www.humblebundle.com/store/p/theconsumingshadow_specialed_storefront] page for the game.

Two editions of The Consuming Shadow have been released: the game alone at $9.99 and a special edition at $16.99, which also includes Yahtzee's two eBooks, Mogworld and Jam. For a limited time (very limited. Like, until August 7th), you can purchase The Consuming Shadow on the Humble Store and receive the eBooks for free.


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[Callate]

Awesome! Way to go, Yahtzee.

I enjoyed the first couple of beta iterations of TCS, so I'll give it a look. Pity I already have the eBooks, though.

 

[Scrythe]

Is this the first time Yahtzee's put a price tag on one of his games? I'm just curious.

(Also, I'm not really counting the $5 special editions of the Chzo Mythos, since those have been free for quite some time.)

 

[IceForce]

For those who are interested, here is the more than hour long review video that Yahtzee himself put up on his channel:

 

[FalloutJack]

I might get this. Don't get me wrong. This game is lovely. I played the beta and I still HAVE the beta, but I see one hang-up that may gnaw at me if I get it. The beta version's time limit is imposed by your decisions for travel and your actions, thus your actions directly impact the time you have left to save the world. This appears it also have the time go down even during dungeon missions. I have an issue with time limits. I understand this is part of the game, but it looks like it's ever-present in this version and a bit more flexible in the beta. I haven't actually finished the game yet because of time constraints and...well...sucking at it sometimes. Lemme complete it first, build up some confidence. I DO like it, though.

 

[CaitSeith]

Yahtzee lectures about how good horror is made in several of his videos. I can't wait to see how well he puts his own advice into practice.

 

[Aerosteam]

Is this the first time Yahtzee's put a price tag on one of his games? I'm just curious.

It is, yes. He said all of his future games will as well.

 

[Ima Lemming]

GoG let that Dark Matter game on the store which on top of being atrocious didn't even have an ending, but rejected this? How exactly do they decide what they accept? Flipping a coin?

 

[Silentpony_v1legacy]

Yahtzee lectures about how good horror is made in several of his videos. I can't wait to see how well he puts his own advice into practice.

From what I've seen in let's plays, it's the world's best story-based NewGrounds game...
But that's kinda it. Not even sure it's worth ANY money, let alone $10.

 

[Darth Rosenberg]

I'll get it, but I ain't getting it on sale. The Yahtz deserves all the moneys.

 

[Venatio]

Everyone just run over to Steam and Greenlight this already.

 

[Blazing Hero]

Yahtzee lectures about how good horror is made in several of his videos. I can't wait to see how well he puts his own advice into practice.

From what I've seen in let's plays, it's the world's best story-based NewGrounds game...
But that's kinda it. Not even sure it's worth ANY money, let alone $10.

.....Yeah I like Yahtzee's work after all I bought both Jam and Hatfall but that art style just looks plain awful. It looks like a flash game so 10 dollars seems a little to steep. I think I will wait for a sale.

 

[Zydrate]

I'll look into his games when he gets some real capital behind his projects. I love Yahtzee's content but his games look like a glorified text adventure a friend programmed into my calculator when I was in school. It's basically one of those with pictures.
Put it on Kongregate or something.

 

[Made in China]

The fact that the graphics are shit doesn't detract from the game. It's mostly sidestepped by using silhouettes for everything, so you can imagine anything you want as your enemy.

Mechanically, it's a solid action-survival game. Story wise, it's a pretty decent Lovecraftian horror - but unfortunately, that will not draw you in that much, due to the nature of rogue likes.
I'd say, if you're going to complete the game once, it'll take you about 4 hours. With each of the characters, let's say 12 (because of the learning curve). I'd say that's a pretty good deal, considering it's only $10.
Not to mention, you might want to replay after completing each quest, for diary pages and bestiary entries. And you get buffs for you character every time you finish a run, so it rewards you for coming back.

The graphics are the only major downside to this game, but it's still solid. There have been games lately that have screwed up so much other things and were given a pass, so why shouldn't Yahtzee's?

P.S.
The game can be a little cheap with spawning enemies right before you leave the room, so you don't even get a chance to hear the audio cue. You lose sanity for literally nothing, so maybe it should be considered a bug?

 

[Drathnoxis]

Yahtzee's game has a sanity meter? Isn't that a little ironic since he's been railing against sanity meters and other forced emotions in games for years?

"And as an element of a horror game I'm not sure I approve. I'm iffy about any gameplay mechanic that imposes an emotion upon the player character, because if the designer did their job properly then the player should be feeling that emotion anyway. It's like when a game forces me to go rescue some kidnapped love interest I hate because, no really, your character totally loves them, guys. Having a blurry screen effect and heavy breathing sound to show your character is shit scared just seems unnecessary if the player actually is shit scared, and almost comical if they aren't." http://www.escapistmagazine.com/articles/view/video-games/columns/extra-punctuation/8178-Sanity-Meters

I don't know, maybe it implements it in a new and interesting way, I haven't really looked at the game much, but it still seems kind of odd.

 

[FPLOON]

I would totally buy the special edition... but, just for the eBooks...

Other than that, I'm now reminded that I [still] haven't touched my copy of Eternal Darkness yet...

 

[vallorn]

I guess it's time for The Escapists to know the name of The King.

it hurts

 

[Zacharious-khan]

lol "now", you mean like a week ago?

I'm almost annoyed that yahtzee's first few forays(foraies?) into paid game making are things i'm just not interested in.

also while i get where he was going with the aesthetics it does look really janky in places. Well one place. The screen. I just really think he would have benefited from an artist on staff.

 

[IceForce]

I don't know, maybe it implements it in a new and interesting way, I haven't really looked at the game much, but it still seems kind of odd.

'Sanity' primarily affects the usability of the game's UI. Specifically, as your sanity dwindles, buttons on the game's UI will periodically flash "Kill yourself", which equals an instant game over if you happen to click the button at the wrong time.
The more your sanity goes down, the more frequent and persistent these "Kill yourself" flashes become.

(As an aside, the whole "Kill yourself" thing is probably the reason why the game was rejected by GoG.)