Shiness: The Lightning Kingdom

The main character of this open world RPG is an anthropomorphic animal named Chado (Pronounced “Shadow”). That should tell you enough about what this game is about but I will go one further and explain more anyway. Buckle up for Shiness: The Lightning Kingdom by Enigami.

Gameplay

This is an RPG through and through and there is a lot to praise about it. Characters are uniquely designed with their own fight styles that match their personalities. That plays a pretty big part in the game as some characters can complete a trial or puzzle that another cannot, thankfully there is a character switch out feature prevalent throughout the entire game that the player can utilise at any moment be it in combat or said trails.

Included in that is the lovely feature of the entire party levelling up together regardless of whether or not they directly took part in the boss fight or puzzle solving, meaning you don’t have to worry about leaving someone behind in level.

Combat is straight forward enough, it’s a fighter with special abilities laced into each character. You build up your super and then execute it in a moment of slowed time to give you a chance to get it right. I appreciated that as often in fighting games like Dragon Ball Xenoverse, you have to learn the button bashy combo off by heart and execute it flawlessly in the space of a second to actually accomplish the move. What the Dragon Ball games could never quite pull off was an open world.

The setting

The setting of this game takes place in a universe doomed for destruction with the fragmentation of the planet Mahera, the planet the player happens to find themselves on. The world itself is quite large and the blending of linear level sequences is blended with the open world gameplay quite well.

This is a high-concept fantasy setting; it’s got magic and hand to hand fighting but also has airships too apparently. That being said, I do enjoy it when this type of setting is done as well as it is here. It’s a very creative title and to be honest, I enjoyed the concept of a crazy a Kung Fu RPG.

The Art Direction

The style of this game is quite unique, sure people are animals and vice versa but that’s not the only thing about it. The environments are juicy and vibrantly coloured, the towns and villages are quite unique to look at with this gorgeous presentation that you sometimes don’t get in games of this genre.

The characters also had a nice look to them as they all looked different enough from each other to seem unique and diverse.

Pros

• Lush and vibrant world
• Interesting fight mechanics

Cons

• Hard to engage with the story
• Main character is a miss
• Cheesy dialogue