Shadow of Destiny Review

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            Shadow of Destiny

Review by Skinny Minnie

If you are an avid adventure story gamer and you don’t like this jewel, then just throw your PS2 away!

Largely ignored by the mainstream gaming press, this fabulous epic of a game will draw you in with both its warmth and its ever-increasing tale. There are a total of six different endings, each full play through the game also opening up new sections of the game and unveiling more of the complex mystery as it evolves …

The tale is woven from the third-person perspective, and you begin it as a frail, blond young man named Eike, just moments before his untimely demise! Eike is then resurrected after his apparent murder by an otherworldly figure called Homunculus. Not remembering who he is or where he came from, Eike is guided in the use of a mysterious time-travel device called a Digipad, given to him by Homunculus, which he must use to change his own destiny and the course of history. Chilled at the thought of being stalked by an unknown assassin but happy to have the chance to live again, you as unarmed Eike go back in time prior to his murder to alter events and foil the attacker. There is a veiled soothsayer (whose identity you may guess at as you play through the story) that Eike will come across, who advises him as the story goes along.  Why does he need advice, you ask? Because the friendly neighborhood lunatic who wants Eike dead doesn’t just throw in the towel after being circumvented in the first level, that’s why! All told, in your first pass through Shadow of Destiny, you will play through ten levels, in each of which Eike will be killed in some way. It is your continuing job to dart through time, not only avoiding these disasters but piecing together the clues of who Eike’s assailant is and preparing for a final confrontation with said assailant in the final level … which is truly only the beginning of the immense story.

As you play through this game the first and subsequent times, Eike will be “drawn” to different time periods by the Digipad, all set in the same quaint German town (where everyone speaks proper English right down through the centuries, of course).  Eike will meet and become entangled with different generations of families, all with their own problems, situations, and dreams.  Guillotines, abductions, family heirlooms, scientific experiments gone wrong, the social caste system, and the ever-present Homunculus are all intertwined with Eike’s mysterious background. Eike can potentially stop another seemingly unrelated murder back in time or continue the game down another path through history without being able to do so. Either way, you may eventually find that this additional murder is more connected to Eike than you had imagined …

You can choose to confide in the characters you meet as Eike’s journey unfolds, but be aware that even Eike’s very presence back in time changes history, never mind anything he might tell of his true situation. You are given many choices throughout this game, especially as you play it through multiple times. You can opt to change the story at many given points depending on whether you decide to confide in or even take certain people along with you in Eike’s travels, or leave them behind in history if you feel they truly belong there. Be aware that the characters you meet may have their own machinations as well! Even Eike’s “stalker” may, upon game replays, turn out to be “stalkers.” The mysterious Homunculus certainly appears to have Eike’s best interests at heart, but who on earth is he, and is there a much grander scheme afoot beyond even Eike’s assassins?

The graphics in this game are slightly marred by graininess, and they do not reach the standard set by some PS2 games. Eike too is quite stilted in his movements, especially while running.  But if you desire to save Eike’s life, as he has no weapons, you will be seeing a fair amount of this, so get used to it. Even at that, the town, its people, and its locales are fairly well-rendered, and the deep storyline will immerse you before long anyway. The movie cutscenes further the storyline immensely and are some of the longest and most prolific I have ever watched in a game. They are funny, heartwarming, and touching, and they will tug at your heartstrings if you have any buried anywhere at all. You will also notice, most likely in hindsight, that certain characters have accidentally given you hints about who Eike really is without meaning to; they will just make offhanded and seemingly confusing remarks about him as they meet him when he is traveling through their time periods.

Although there are a few timed sequences, especially when avoiding Eike’s perpetual murders, much of the game sprawls forth at a languid pace with plenty of room for adventuring and mystery-solving.  However, Homunculus or the aforementioned soothsayer will give you periodic time constraints as to when Eike’s next murder scene will unfold, so at different instances you will feel under the gun to avert the next death in time, but it keeps things interesting and propels the game forward.

You are only able to save at the end of each successful level, meaning when you have averted a killer one more time. In the case of a failure, the levels are not overly long, and you will definitely want to begin that failed level again, to pick up more clues and inventory items you may have missed that will enable your success the next time around.

The background audio is sparse and at many points eerie, hinting at lurking danger but as well accenting lighthearted moments.  The voice acting is, in Eike’s case, flat at times, but perhaps this lends to a belief in Eike’s originally drawing a blank about whom he is and where he is truly from. On the other hand, many of the other characters are quite animated and even moody at times, making this on the whole a well-acted venture.

As in most PS2 games, there aren’t many gamepad commands to learn, and controlling Eike does become second nature quickly. The puzzles are pretty straightforward but are in fairly good supply, most requiring inventory items to be used in creative ways to avoid Eike’s deaths. The inventory management system is easy to use, the only snafu being that you must keep an eye on the power gauge indicating the amount of energy left to run the Digipad. Without coming across and picking up little green energy balls lying around at certain locales throughout the town, your Digipad will not work if you need to leave a certain period in history in a hurry.  You are also bound to be back to the right period in history in time to avert Eike’s next murder, or he will die no matter where he is stuck.

The replay value of this game is incredible, unlocking more and more of a crescendo of intrigue with each replay, not to mention that on the sixth and final time through you must complete a timed miniquest to create an elixir of life to save … not Eike but his … oh, I can’t tell you! You’ll just have to do what you should have done after reading the first sentence of this review, and play Shadow of Destiny for yourself! The End

The Verdict

The Lowdown

Developer: Konami Publisher: Konami Release Date: 2001

Available for: PlayStation 2

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      Copyright © Electric Eye Productions.  All rights reserved.  No reproduction in whole or in part without express written permission.

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14 Responses to Fear Factor

  • Fear Factor | Tap-Repeatedly.com | Reality Topics Blog

    […] nobody@flickr.com (graftedno1) wrote a very interesting post today.   Here’s a quick excerpt:My greatest fear is to be trapped alone in a confined space with a blind human, in total darkness. They have a heightened sense of smell and hearing, and. […]

  • Matt "Steerpike" Sakey

    Lewis, you made me think of the scariest moments I’ve experienced in gaming, and we’re very similar people.

    Bioshock had two moments – the dentist and the flooded room filled with mannequins.

    Thief had Return to the Cathedral, which was terrifying to me. Thief 3 had Shalebridge Cradle, which is so scary it ought to be fined.

    System Shock 2 kept me on the edge of my seat, but it was more lonely panic than true fear.

    Korsakovia was so scary that I uninstalled it.

    And STALKER. Oh, god, the haunted labs in STALKER. The latter two games don’t have scares like that. Few games do.

    It’s especially rare for a game to have more than mere “moments” – for a game to be scary from beginning to end, that’s a triumph.

    Wonderful article. As if Gregg’s review wasn’t enough to convince me that Penumbra is not something I have the courage to play!

  • DPenn

    I’m with you Lewis … I’m a bit of a puss. I just have a hard time wrapping my head around the idea of dread as entertainment.

    Still, I’m drawn to dark stories when they have something interesting to say, whether it’s a game like Thief or a film like, say, Gaspar Noe’s Irreversible. So I’ll push through, sometimes peering through my fingers.

    The trouble with games, though, is that if you look through your fingers, you’re probably just going to have to play through the scenario again. :~)

  • Mike "Scout" Gust

    I wanted to play this game. I downloaded the demo but the controls were just too wonky for me to get my head around. I liked the atmospheric vibe a lot. I think I’m a bit desensitized from an overdose of horror movies in my youth so I don’t so much get the dread thing from these games as a nice creepy vibration. If only the controls were better…

  • Lewis B

    @ Mike, what’s wrong with the controls bud? As someone who despises poor control schemes, Penumbra’s is just like any other FPS, except to examine things you right click on them.  To use things you left click.  I’m not sure that can be considered difficult 🙂

  • Gregg B

    @Steerpike: Yeah my greatest shit-scared moments were with those games too. A few spoilers below people, so beware.

    Bioshock – Haha, I remember the dentist. I didn’t really find the game that scary overall but the bit where you go into the wine cellar and notice a mannequin facing the wall and after upgrading your weapon it’s stood directly behind you motionless and quiet just for a moment before attacking you. I shat a brick. I also missed that bit originally until Lew told me about it.

    System Shock 2 – same as you really, more unremitting tension all the way through rather than specific terrifying moments. Oh actually, theres a bit where you call a lift and it breaks then you realise a service droid is coming to fix it… I do remember having sleep issues after my first encounter with the cyborg ninjas though.

    Thief: The Dark Project – The Sword and Return to the Cathedral and Down in the Bonehoard and well, loads of them. The Sword made me break out into goosebumps though because there was a bit where you could hear this creepy giggling which seemed like it was following me about then it suddenly changed to this horrible throaty noise. What made matters worse was that the EAX (bless you Creative) made my foot steps sound like somebody else was there with me. That level was incredible, a bit too incredible as it seems I missed great chunks of it because I was so eager to leave.

    Thief II: The Metal Age – Trail of Blood where you end up in that opening with those damn tree beasts. God the first time I saw one of those hurtling towards me I actually died shortly afterward. Do you remember that Mechanist child walking around on one of the levels? That was a little creepy.

    Then there’s Penumbra: Overture – quite a few bits but I’m not mentioning them here.

    Oh and S.T.A.L.K.E.R. – The brain scorcher lab just because it was so damn quiet. My imagination seriously got the better of me there. Those stuffed animals and heads I’d seen in various buildings led me to believe that those creatures were lurking somewhere in the Zone, specifically that lab.

    @Mike: My control setup was perfect after some tweaking (as well as the simple weapon swing fix). If you ever fancy giving it another go, give me a shout and I’ll let you know my setup.

  • Lewis B

    I’m not sure why guys, but one of my starting paragraphs had gone missing, even though I copied it straight from the original source, and It was fine earlier. 

    Incase you missed it due to some technical issue you might want to re-read just after “Well no she wouldn’t in truth, but in Penumbra: Overture you don’t want to move anyway.” at the very start for those who’ve already read the article. Apologies 🙂

  • Mike "Scout" Gust

    Lewis, it was the weapon swing. It had this terrible, unresponsive feel to it, like trying to hit through molasses. I couldn’t stand using it. I tried the .ini fix as mentioned in the review but it didn’t seem to help. Of course this was the demo…but that shouldn’t have made any difference. I might try the second game instead as I guess they did away with the weapons thing.

    I’m see your first paragraph just fine. It’s the dialogue, right?

  • jdeuel

    I like the argument that weapons can remove fear, but even loaded to the teeth with ammo in AVP’99 the Marine missions were frightful because the enemy was anywhere at any time.

    As for Penumbra Overture, if the controls are anything like the original Penumbra they need to hack in some Wii-Remote 3d controls. I did not like using my mouse for 3d movements.

  • Gregg B

    @Mike: I’ve read that many people avoided conflict altogether in Overture which incidentally is something forced upon you in Black Plague. As somebody who has been renovating a house over the last 6 months with no DIY experience I can safely say that swinging a hammer is significantly easier in real life than it is in Overture without the fix. The fix balanced that for me.

    I’d highly recommend completing the first Penumbra because it’s one big build up to Black Plague which spoils the ending to Overture in the intro. And it’s a great ending too. Just so you know!

  • Lewis B

    @ Steerpike, those moments you mention are all my worst too!!  Do you remember the Robot labs in SS2? Absolutely terrifying, waiting for robots to burst out on you! 🙁 oh and have you ever player Condemned?

    @ Mike, The use of weapons in Penumbra is different to say HL2, where the player is physically holding the weapon, as in Penumbra it floats slightly infront of you.  However, if you change the control method to normal weapon swing, it’s no different!  Speak to Greggi and he’ll tell you what to do 🙂

    @ jdeuel, AVP the original and its sequal were scary however what type of fear do you think it is? I don’t think it’s anything more than sheer tension.  Having a Smart Gun makes you feel incredibly powerful.  I can honestly say in Penumbra the fear is sheer unrivalled terror, where you actually have to force yourself to play on.  It genuinly is that scary! 🙂

  • Jason Dobry

    It’s so true, an arsenal of weapons and ammo rapidly deflates any sense of horror or uneasiness in any game for reasons you already mentioned. Sakey, I thought Bioshock was more “lonely panic,” while I was pretty much always terrified in System Shock 2. I really, really, REALLY did not want to enter The Many’s nursery, and my weapons were so unreliable and ammo so scarce that I never felt safe.

    Silent Hill was terrifying for the same reasons. Ammo was rare and I frequently had to rely on my pipe for self-defense.  Even when I had ammo, the game mechanics prevented my character from being anything other than marginal with any firearm.

    Fear had one moment for me: I was climbing up a ladder, and as I reached the upper platform, my guy briefly looked down as he climbed off. As my perspective looked up again, that Ring-esque little girl was RIGHT THERE, reaching for me. I screamed and she was gone.

    What else…the original Aliens vs. Predator sent me into a locker room and I could only hear the facehuggers scurrying about somewhere within. I had to go in there. I advanced about three steps before the damn thing screamed and filled up my screen with its repulsive underside as it implanted me with its spawn. My roommate made fun of me for weeks for screaming like a girl child.

    Korsakovia–meh.  I was too annoyed and frustrated by the box rearrangement/jumping puzzles to be scared. I uninstalled it after an hour of play, I think. Maybe the scary parts were later, but I doubt it.

    As for Penumbra, I did play through about half of it before other games distracted me. I remember unease and creepiness, but no sweaty fear. I think I’m to blame here, or, more precisely, my daughter, who was still an infant at the time and generally allowed me only to play during the day for 45 minutes at a time. I was denied total immersion and the fear effect suffered. Maybe I should give it another go after I finish Call of Pripyat since she sleeps through the night now. With any luck, Penumbra will keep me from doing the same.

  • Gregg B

    I played the demo of F.E.A.R. but that ladder scare is the only bit I remember. Christ, that made me jump. I’m not too good with cat scares.

    Also I felt exactly the same about Korsakovia. It was creepy at first but then it began to irritate me far too much and it just soured the experience. I stopped playing as a result. Not to mention, when I realised I could bash those smoke-things with my crowbar they didn’t bother me nearly as much.

  • Online Up

    Great article. I look forward to reading more in the future.

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