3 minute read
Stoneshard
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S T O N E S H A R D Article by | Jeff Porter | $14.99 | Developed by | HypeTrain Digital
Are you looking for a classic, in-depth RPG experience that won’t spoon feed you everything? So was I. A lot of games today lead you straight to your objective, some even have an auto-run feature to get you where you need to go. Long gone are the days where you have to actually read a quest and look at a map to figure it out yourself. However, many players are still looking for that experience, they don’t want everything handed over to them so easily. It’s not as much of an experience then. Let me introduce you to Stoneshard. The game with so many interesting features that you will spend hours in this world before you have everything understood.
Thankfully, it does start you out with an excellent tutorial playing Verren, a warrior who awakes in a prison cell looking for the rest of his party. You will have nothing but the shackles around your wrist. Luckily, there are ways to break free from them! As you progress through the dungeon, pop-ups will appear showing and explaining all the features to you. Be careful and read through everything though, as it is pretty important.
Stoneshard is a unique combination of ‘Dungeons and Dragons’, and action-RPGs, adding in its own unique skill system. You do not automatically learn spells and skills as you level up. Instead, you must find tomes that you read and learn the abilities! Once you read the tomes, you will be able to then add points to that skill. Whether it be a fireball spell, or how to wield a specific weapon, you will need to the tomes!
After you finish the tutorial, you will begin in a tavern where you will create
your own character as you speak with Verren. While you can absolutely choose a class system in your mind and build your character accordingly, Stoneshard features completely open character progression. Play as a warrior who shoots fireballs if you wish! The choice is yours.
After speaking with Verren, you will be given your first quest. Now what? Well, get to reading and talking to people around town! I love that the quest didn’t give me a bright yellow line or arrow to follow! I had to completely recalibrate my brain back to my EverQuest days and reread everything. Of course, you can also talk to the townspeople, they will give you information about your quest as well. It’s a nice change of pace and makes you problem solve, unlike many other titles of today.
There are so many features that you need to keep track of as well, it can seem a little overwhelming at first, but so cool once you understand it all. For instance, Stoneshard features a pain management system for each limb and torso. Control pain received with painkillers before it affects your overall life points. Be careful though, because painkillers are toxic and will increase your toxicity level. Decrease toxicity with medicine. One thing leads to another if left untreated!
There’s so much to experience in Stoneshard, so don’t let its pixel art dissuade you away! It’s a true, in-depth RPG experience that will suck you in with its story and features. If you’re a classic RPG player, go download Stoneshard now.
Do you like risk? Then try out the Ironman mode, where every decision is irreversible and your character dies once and for all.
