Shadow of Aten (2026)

Shadow of the Orient is nothing we haven't seen before, and its main idea is actually good, but the conversion to consoles ends up stumbling on some important points that end up discouraging players who enjoy adventures of this type. Add this to the visual issues in the HUD and we have a prospect of what could be a great adventure, but one that urgently needs fixing.

Shadow of the Orient simply smashes it out of the park for being a challenging platformer, especially for the price. While having a good narrative or a well-planned progression system might not be what the game focused on, it still delivers an excellent platformer while having well-built fighting mechanics. The grind is there and is easily fixable by a patch, but until then, you’ll have to spend some time before the game can get really good.

Shadow of the Orient absolutely nails the look and feel - especially the pixel art and overall presentation. But whether it’s down to poor balance or just an intentional difficulty spike, the combat is often more hassle than it's worth. It stops you from settling into a rhythm, which is a real shame because the platforming is genuinely great. The fact that the shop is tucked away without a single in-game hint is baffling. It took me three hours to even realize it was there. Still, at its best, Shadow of the Orient is fun. At its most frustrating, you're scraping by, surviving on the skin of your teeth.

While I honestly enjoyed some of my time Shadow of the Orient, I feel like it was the wrong genre. There’s so much effort put into making expansive levels that I feel this would have worked better as a small Metroidvania than a lackluster platformer. It’s clear Spacelab Games put a lot of time into the experience, and I strongly suspect they might have some future great game in them. As for this one, fans of retro might enjoy it, but probably not many others.

Shadow of the Orient is one that I would have happily paid for back in the day and would urge retro enthusiasts to pick up.