Skip to main content
GamesRadar+ GamesRadar+ GamesRadar+ The Games, Movies, TV & Comics You Love
Sign in
  • View Profile
  • Sign out
flag of UK
UK
flag of US
US
flag of Canada
Canada
flag of Australia
Australia
  • Games
  • TV
  • Movies
  • Hardware
  • Video
  • News
  • Reviews
  • Guides
  • Deals
  • More
    • PS5
    • Xbox Series X
    • Nintendo Switch
    • Nintendo Switch 2
    • PC
    • Platforms
    • Tabletop Gaming
    • Comics
    • Toys & Collectibles
    • SFX
    • Newsarama
    • Retro Gamer
    • Newsletters
    • About us
    • Features
Total Film
Gaming Magazines
Gaming Magazines
Why subscribe?
  • Subscribe from just £3
  • Takes you closer to the games, movies and TV you love
  • Try a single issue or save on a subscription
  • Issues delivered straight to your door or device
From$12
View
Trending
  • Summer Game Fest
  • New games for 2025
  • Upcoming Switch 2 games
  • Switch 2 stock

Recommended reading

A screenshot shows a hairy monster lunging at a player in Mistfall Hunter while an orange border indicates it is part of summer preview 2025
Action RPGs I didn't know how badly I needed a PvPvE Dark Souls in my life until Mistfall Hunter threw one in my lap
A close-up of Coen during the trailer for The Blood of Dawnwalker.
RPGs Now that I know The Blood of Dawnwalker is a vampire game that's not about Doing The Right Thing as a Very Special Boy, 2026 can't come soon enough
Clair Obscur: Expedition 33
RPGs Former Dragon Age writer praises Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 as "beautiful," saying it's "kind of to JRPGs what Baldur's Gate 3 was to CRPGs"
Tron Catalyst screenshot
Action Games Tron: Catalyst feels like Deathloop and Hades had a baby in the Matrix and I'm hooked on it after just three hours
Malys images
Roguelike Games Former Dragon Age lead David Gaider would love to make an RPG at his new home, but "our last hope to keep the studio alive" comes first – and it looks like a very promising roguelike
Malys images
Roguelike Games Ex Dragon Age writer's new studio shrugs off a failed Kickstarter, chucks its exorcist take on Slay the Spire right onto Steam – and it's a cool roguelike with a mana system I don't think I've ever seen
Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 screenshot of the Paintress painting the number 33 onto a distant pillar while Gustave and Sophie watch from the harbor port, framed by a circle of light
RPGs By channeling Bloodborne, Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 fixes my biggest JRPG pet peeve – it's gloomy and proud
  1. Games
  2. RPG

Shadow Realms: BioWares new RPG is fast, clever, and gleefully cruel

Features
By David Houghton published 14 August 2014

When you purchase through links on our site, we may earn an affiliate commission. Here’s how it works.

There's something epic, stirring in the shadows

There's something epic, stirring in the shadows

Sometimes it's just fun to be a great, big bastard. That's the main thing I took away from my rather grin-inducing hands-on session with Shadow Realms, BioWare's newly unveiled action-RPG. In it, you play 4 vs 1--good guys versus a single bad. And If you're going to be that single, big bastard, do it with spike traps and oversized, comedy bombs. That shit's just hilarious.

Don't worry: it's fun for the good guys too. Covering six potential classes, and a hell of a lot of (promised) customisation, their 'modern fantasy' blend of magic and real-world weapons makes for a hell of a fighting force. But I'm not one of those guys. I am the Shadowlord, the unseen big-bad, and in-game analogue for a good old-fashioned D&D GameMaster. It is my job to absolutely ruin things for them.

Invisible in my natural, demonic form, I run through the dungeon, just ahead of the heroes, planting booby-trapped floor-spikes in all the places I know those desperate fools will tread. I also learn that a well-placed, quickly detonating bomb is one hell of a deterrent from investigating an otherwise enticing loot drop. Possessing one of the dungeon's mooks, as I am free to do at will, I improve my grunts' effectiveness tenfold, hiding my true identity in the fray and causing all kinds of slam-pit misery by catching the co-op players between multiple demonic attacks.

Best of all, the last of my powers--all limited by a cooldown timer, but a pleasingly short one, in keeping with Shadow Realms' breakneck pace--allows me to possess a clone of one of the good guys, quietly infiltrating the group before beating the merry hell out of them. I separate one of them from the pack, passing myself off as his female assassin buddy in the confusion of the fray. We run ahead together to push back a flanking wave. I trap him in a doorway and stab him senseless, hearing the cries of his real-world self across the room behind me. He was yelling at his team-mate to stop attacking him. I laugh my arse off and keep stabbing.

Despite the serious, doom-laden tone of Shadow Realms' teaser trailers, it's one of those most life-affirmingly anarchic romps I've played in a good while. It's also, accessible, lightning fast, and nourishingly smart in its on-the-fly tactics. The full, episodic story will probably bring the trademark BioWare drama, but the core combat is a glorious festival of laugh-out-loud victimisation.

Page 1 of 6
Page 1 of 6
Every player has a hero and a Shadowlord on their profile. The games exact structure is unclear, but youll use both in the story

Every player has a hero and a Shadowlord on their profile. The games exact structure is unclear, but youll use both in the story

Page 2 of 6
Page 2 of 6
Shadow Realms is an episodic, modern fantasy RPG. Narrative will be a big deal, alongside the core action

Shadow Realms is an episodic, modern fantasy RPG. Narrative will be a big deal, alongside the core action

Page 3 of 6
Page 3 of 6
The initial setting comprises the modern world, and a dark, parallel shadow-world, but other realms, maybe even planets, are coming

The initial setting comprises the modern world, and a dark, parallel shadow-world, but other realms, maybe even planets, are coming

Page 4 of 6
Page 4 of 6
Shadow Realms is launching on PC, but may come to PS4 and Xbox One later down the line

Shadow Realms is launching on PC, but may come to PS4 and Xbox One later down the line

Page 5 of 6
Page 5 of 6
As well as grunts, the ShadowLord can possess huge beasts and dungeon bosses. The latter is a stupidly satisfying taste of power

As well as grunts, the ShadowLord can possess huge beasts and dungeon bosses. The latter is a stupidly satisfying taste of power

Page 6 of 6
Page 6 of 6
CATEGORIES
PC Gaming Platforms
David Houghton
David Houghton
Long-time GR+ writer Dave has been gaming with immense dedication ever since he failed dismally at some '80s arcade racer on a childhood day at the seaside (due to being too small to reach the controls without help). These days he's an enigmatic blend of beard-stroking narrative discussion and hard-hitting Psycho Crushers.
See more PC Gaming Features
Read more
A screenshot shows a hairy monster lunging at a player in Mistfall Hunter while an orange border indicates it is part of summer preview 2025
I didn't know how badly I needed a PvPvE Dark Souls in my life until Mistfall Hunter threw one in my lap
A close-up of Coen during the trailer for The Blood of Dawnwalker.
Now that I know The Blood of Dawnwalker is a vampire game that's not about Doing The Right Thing as a Very Special Boy, 2026 can't come soon enough
Clair Obscur: Expedition 33
Former Dragon Age writer praises Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 as "beautiful," saying it's "kind of to JRPGs what Baldur's Gate 3 was to CRPGs"
Tron Catalyst screenshot
Tron: Catalyst feels like Deathloop and Hades had a baby in the Matrix and I'm hooked on it after just three hours
Malys images
Former Dragon Age lead David Gaider would love to make an RPG at his new home, but "our last hope to keep the studio alive" comes first – and it looks like a very promising roguelike
Malys images
Ex Dragon Age writer's new studio shrugs off a failed Kickstarter, chucks its exorcist take on Slay the Spire right onto Steam – and it's a cool roguelike with a mana system I don't think I've ever seen
Latest in RPG
The Witcher 4 tech demo trailer screenshot of Ciri chatting in a market
The Witcher 4 narrative lead says CD Projekt Red "can't break" the stuff that people want from a Witcher game: "We have to do that"
A Short Hike
"I might never finish this game, so I'm releasing the demo": After 9 years, A Short Hike dev soft-cancels Paper Mario-inspired RPG but lets players try a build
The Witcher 3
Cyberpunk 2 director says "mature games" used to mainly be about killing and sex, but The Witcher 3 was part of a "broader process" to change that as devs grew older
Dave the Diver Godzilla screenshot
Dave the Diver celebrates 2nd birthday by sharing messages from Baldur's Gate 3 actor Neil Newbon and the Subnautica studio CEO, bringing back Godzilla DLC, and dang, delaying its next DLC
Marvel Mystic Mayhem codes
All Marvel Mystic Mayhem codes (June 2025) and how to redeem
The Outer Worlds 2 screenshot
The Outer Worlds 2 director "loves" complex RPG systems, which means if "you just want to blow stuff up, you never have to worry about stealth"
Latest in Features
Sam balances across a ladder high up in the mountains in Death Stranding 2
Death Stranding 2 is my favorite online game this year, even though you never directly see any other players
Lee Jung-jae as Gi-hun in Squid Game season 3
The Squid Game season 3 finale is a crushing but ultimately hopeful conclusion – and I wouldn't have it any other way
Resident Evil Requiem
I don't care what Capcom says, Leon not being in Resident Evil Requiem makes no sense
One-Punch Man season 3: Saitama punching while in mid-air during the anime One-Punch Man.
Anime Expo 2025: dates, announcements, and why One-Punch Man fans should be excited
The Shrouds
It may feature corpses, missing limbs, and AI, but with The Shrouds, legendary director David Cronenberg has made the ultimate meditation on grief: "To me, there is no afterlife"
Henry Cavill at the premiere of The Ministry of Ungentlemanly Warfare
Henry Cavill’s Warhammer 40K series should ditch Space Marines for one of the series’ most important characters, and I know exactly how it would work
  1. Sam fires at the ghost mech squid boss in Death Stranding 2: On the Beach
    1
    Death Stranding 2: On the Beach review: "This tarpunk delivery epic is more Metal Gear Solid than ever, for better and worse"
  2. 2
    Rematch review: "As with Rocket League, the just-one-more-game pull is magnetic"
  3. 3
    Tron: Catalyst review: "Disc slinging is a thrill in this gorgeous rendition of the series, but I'm let down by a time-loop story that falls flat"
  4. 4
    FBC: Firebreak review: "A disappointingly bland multiplayer FPS that's missing far too much of what made Control special"
  5. 5
    Dune: Awakening review: "Both extremely compelling and extraordinarily boring, sometimes at the same time – yet still a true Dune love letter"
  1. M3GAN doll in M3GAN 2.0
    1
    M3GAN 2.0 review: "A bold sequel with a slightly underwhelming conclusion"
  2. 2
    28 Years Later Review: "Enough terror, splatter and suspense to satisfy”
  3. 3
    Predator: Killer of Killers review: "Great characters, thrilling action, and gorgeous Arcane-esque animation"
  4. 4
    From the World of John Wick: Ballerina review: "Brilliant action, even if the plot gives you a sense of déjà vu"
  5. 5
    Karate Kid: Legends review: "Better than Karate Kid (2010), nothing on Karate Kid (1984)"
  1. Lee Jung-jae as Gi-hun in Squid Game season 3
    1
    Squid Game season 3 review: "A staggeringly excellent final season wraps up one of the greatest Netflix shows ever"
  2. 2
    Ironheart review: "A relic of Marvel's content-at-all-costs era"
  3. 3
    Star Trek: Strange New Worlds season 3 review: "The show's most assured run of episodes to date"
  4. 4
    Doctor Who season 2, episode 8 spoiler review: 'The Reality War' is "a mix of the good, the bad, and the truly baffling"
  5. 5
    Doctor Who season 2, episode 7 spoiler review: 'Wish World' is "an exciting and ambitious" start to the season finale, with hints of WandaVision

GamesRadar+ is part of Future US Inc, an international media group and leading digital publisher. Visit our corporate site.

  • About Us
  • Contact Future's experts
  • Terms and conditions
  • Privacy policy
  • Cookies policy
  • Advertise with us
  • Review guidelines
  • Write for us
  • Accessibility Statement
  • Careers

© Future US, Inc. Full 7th Floor, 130 West 42nd Street, New York, NY 10036.

Please login or signup to comment

Please wait...