The Shattered: Tale of the Forgotten King Review

[@Influfferious]

Oh its not Darkwood

[@LordBigMcLargeHuge]

Sorry Jacob, I am all of those 632 views from Spain.

[@KingMakerRook]

“My personal all-time favorite art style.” We need to play Absolver together sometime. Just to run around its world. You’ll love it. Very tightly-designed.

[@al_lasik-lazer2063]

Right I would love to see an absolver review from Jacob

[@DryAgedMignon]

you excited for sifu?

[@lemagefro9719]

And it's yet another french game, if that helps convince Jacob ;) .

[@dgam4211]

to be honest, an open world game feeling "empty" is not about open space being obviously physically empty, but about having space devoid of anything of value, either by being boring or too copy-pasted, SotC doesnt feel empty because of amazing graphical style & design, little vertical movement & the giant flaming arrow pointing you to a boss-reward, on SotC youre following a trail while on BotW youre no man's sky-ing at launch

[@SuperKratosgamer]

Sotc World is beautifull but it has nothing on it is just empty, it is just to connect point a to b, it gets boring real fast and you just point and sword and go foward,Botw world is so much better.

[@dgam4211]

@@SuperKratosgamer Sotc is about the journey, its difficult to pay attention at the nothing going on in the world when youre galloping by it at 80mph hyping up the next encounter, while in Botw the gameplay loop is as static as the lighting, its world may be a lot more technical than Sotc's but it feels more empty because you will be going through it slower with little more in your mind than figuring out the scope of the game's mechanics & soaking in the environment, and there are few obvious landmarks in between staring at the samey blurry landscape, solid lighting on flat textures & the bokoblin group #87

[@rae5425]

SoTC is the most boring open world, you could have picked a better example. The Witcher 3 is by far the textbook example, the life in that world is lush. There are too many events and characters littered throughout the world with their own quests and stories, deep or not, it is this that give open world games "life". Not graphical style or design (other wise, novels would be the most unalive fictional worlds) vertical movement has nothing to do with it, Arkham Knight has a lot of verticality in its open world, yet its devoid of life. I've played Sotc recently, so i have a clear memory of it. I just played it when the pandemic started, cause I still have my ps2 and I bought a copy of sotc for a while and it's been sitting there. And from my memory, riding a horse, pointing a sword and following the direction of the light, to fight big monster, gave me no hint or trace that the world was alive. It felt like I was doing a video game task, and not exploring an open world teeming with life.

[@alexnoman1498]

Holy crap all the design/palette/ui/animations/... look incredible. I don't think I have ever seen such an incredibly competent debut before. Exploring the world with a (quasi) jetpack and feeling like I'm one-upping the devs doing it made me fall in love with Slime Rancher, we need more of that!

[@FastWinWalkthroughs]

What you talked about the animations. Blending animations need overall design or in-between animation states from example run-slash, might have run-prepare-slash, to make it feel and look better. These eat a ton of time to finetune frame perfect so most indie's won't do it.

[@BigLebowski2000]

Hi from The Netherlands! Thanks for this review.

[@DarkMuj]

The switching to 2d reminds me of the sideways platform bits of Nier Automata. Like that game, Shattered seems like more than the sum of its parts. Great vid as always!

[@blobbything2986]

I remember my jaw actually dropping when I walked through the temple expecting another linear area to see a massive world

[@whinegummi6329]

The art style is freaking beautiful

[@ZappasMudshark]

I just wanted to thank you for introducing me to another game I love. Necropolis and this one have become hidden gems for me that I never would have found before. Like you noted it has a few little problems here and there but I’m thoroughly enjoying it so far. Thank you again!!!!!

[@onyxblack340]

I'm glad you're growing I subscribed when you made the Agony review so it's nice to see you growing cant wait till 100k

[@jsurovy]

I just found out about the game through this review. I absolutely love it so thanks for posting this!

[@arthurdurham]

Breath of the Souls

[@Zarvanis]

Dark Breath of the Colossus

[@broderickblack]

Shadow of the dark breath

[@TheLightFan1]

Thanks for reviewing my whole wishlist

[@basic2528]

Here I thought waiting this late at night wouldn't yield any results. Thanks.

[@spencerbriggs-hale2055]

Every time you post a new video I get excited! I go get some coffee and sit down knowing I'm in for some high quality content.

[@jazzyj2598]

The more frequent and consistent uploads have been awesome

[@JustDaZack]

You are stepping up your game from video to video, such great content! I'm looking forward to every new video on this channel :)

[@herbjacobs3839]

You know the video is about to be fire when he says: "Wait, where's this game from?"

[@Maggerama]

Cohesive and clever. You pay so much attention to games' mechanics, I loved it from the start. Great job, king! Oh, and that little child's skeleton on your character's back... awww.

[@brandonwoodhouse358]

Def one of my all time favorite reviewers on KZbin!

[@lordmoldybutt6361]

I'm glad you're here sir. You inspire me.

[@trevorsimonson]

Hey man, I have been watching you for a while and just wanted to say keep up the great work. I always love your videos and have been a huge inspiration to me to start making videos of my own. 😊

[@attilaberdy9728]

Wow french people make intresting games! Thanks for the rewiev!

[@ArchonZach]

Good work as always man

[@shrey2154]

NEW JACOB, TODAY IS A GOOD DAY

[@roadsidepeekneek7259]

What was the issue with hellsign again? I remember watching you and charlatan wonder talk about it but don't remember the bad bits

[@Ste12321]

A bit after he released the video, (not sure how long couple months?) the devs basically said we aren't doing anymore to the game its essentially finished and we are releasing it, cause they weren't making enough money to sustain developing it. Although they have added an area and couple bosses since then, so not sure what's happening really.

[@WickedWicka]

@@Ste12321 It's been released with no plans for additional content/major updates. It's just kind of a joke that the devs paid several KZbinrs for reviews, then shortly after, pulled the plug on the project.

[@Ste12321]

@@WickedWicka Oh so its completely released now? I thought they recently started added more stuff? I do regret buying it, i bought it cause of Jacobs video, although not his fault there was no way to know.

[@WickedWicka]

@@Ste12321 It released Feb 24th. And yeah, it's not Jacob's fault the devs kinda duped him. I think if he knew development was coming to a halt, his criticisms of the game wouldn't have been so soft.

[@Ste12321]

@@WickedWicka Damn i seriously thought that MAYBE the criticism kicked them back into gear, when they started releasing more areas and bosses. Guess i was wrong. what a shame.

[@SenialHobo]

Great work as always man! My private place is happy.

[@dunk7264]

Has the spirit of Hidetaka Miyazaki is the best way of saying it's like dark souls I think everyone should start using it if they want to compare a game to dark souls

[@phantomspaceman]

"So it really looks like 3D Berserk and there are snake men."

[@Dibromatic]

Any plans for a HellSign postmortem?

[@jayjohnson9704]

the yoko taro reference got me lol

[@picantepollo6238]

You are still by far my most favorite game reviewer like, ever.

[@jesustyronechrist2330]

Your point about "empty open worlds" is a great one: When I say "The world is empty", I actually almost mean "It's static AND badly designed". You can have a super complex-looking world, but it can still be empty if there's nothing to interact with and nothing going on in it. You can have a super barren world, but it can still be full of interest, be it interesting design in visuals or gameplay mechanics.

[@phantomspaceman]

I'm playing through Outward after watching his review and it has the same issue for some people. Being in a giant field is part of the survival and exploration design. It could have used some horses though.

[@nedwardnobqop6568]

Another skyscraper built on Necropolis’s grave. Has humanity forgotten its roots?

[@ПётрКвилкин]

I've been subbed for more than a month now, and yet KZbin hasn't yet made you a popular dude with lotz of moneyz. Must be a bug, I'll be submitting a ticket this evening. In the meantime, have a complimentary like.

[@kowalski2385]

Just so you know, we love you.

[@woldemunster9244]

C'moon, French use AZERTY layout on their Tele-tv dial-up terminals to pay bills. What would you expect? :D

[@derekdrake8706]

Mm.. French jank. A more.. sophisticated jank.

[@AlexWaff]

"Including a character that looks like the mothman will immediately increase the odds of me giving your game a positive review by about 3 times." Indie Devs: "Write that down, write that down!"

[@manliovalenza7955]

I'm taking notes here

[@StarkeRealm]

*Looks at Fallout 76 with a growing sense of dread.*

[@lucascoval828]

Mothman action/adventure RPG visual novel hybrid where consent is required to unlock the love scenes with romance options.

[@elveone]

You should check out Anima: Gate of Memories - it is a 3d metroidvania by 3-man Spanish developer. It starts in a pretty bland world but you soon get to an abstract dream-like otherworld where you unravel dark fairytales. It has a lot of exploration, similar 2d sections to the ones in Shattered and multiple endings. The game also a stand-alone expansion that expands on the story and there's a third game is coming this or next year by the same guys in the same universe.

[@xilefenko]

Breath of the wild is the Dark Souls of grass comparisions

[@ZGamingGuy]

It's really odd to me that you don't have more subscribers. I'd maybe think it has partly to do with people having low attention spans, and don't want to watch long videos. I really like them. Your videos are very well structured, with just the right amount of dry humor. At least your videos seem to get a good amount of views on average. I have around 74k subs, but the views are typically really bad. Where yours are at least in the 5 digits from what I saw. So here's to hoping it keeps going up!

[@CarrotConsumer]

It's because videogame reviews are an incredibly saturated market.

[@ZGamingGuy]

@@CarrotConsumer that's true, but his is closer to a discussion sometimes. Or I guess it just isn't following a typical ign formula. I like ones like this, mandalore, and there's one other that I'm drawing a blank on

[@customercareskeleton]

Ohh! Glad it's out and a fun game, despite its flaws

[@gorillafan208]

new jacob video new jacob video

[@torrb420]

Sounds like Ashen but not nearly as focused, similar art style and makes the same mistakes of having a bunch of weapons that fundamentally do little to nothing to change the play style.

[@thenameschall]

Correct me if I’m wrong but I believe anodyne 2 did something similar with incorporating intentional boundary breaks into its level design, so if you’re interested in that, it might be worth checking out

[@mathiasjrs2878]

Making fast travel a ingame thing is so cool

[@christophertheofilos1063]

Cool video man, thanks for highlighting games no one else is talking about. You end up checking Greedfall out yet?

[@ric4746]

Wow ! Such a great review ! You won a subrscriber. Bonjour de France !

[@rudimentaryganglia]

Your videos are good,love them, don't let yer head get too big tho son.

[@mula7616]

New Jacob video les goooooo

[@scottycheesecake]

Whats this about Hellsign? Did the development stop?

[@Ste12321]

(Copy pasting this from my other comment) A bit after he released the video, (not sure how long couple months?) the devs basically said we aren't doing anymore to the game its essentially finished and we are releasing it, cause they weren't making enough money to sustain developing it. Although they have added an area and couple bosses since then, so not sure what's happening really.

[@StarkeRealm]

@@Ste12321 The short version is, the devs botched their, "leaving early access," announcement. So, it read like they were abandoning the game, even though they were really saying they were moving the game to full release. Is there enough there to justify $20? I'm not 100% sure, but the announcement did result in a hilarious situation where people were attacking them for abandoning the game while they were still adding content to it.

[@Ste12321]

@@StarkeRealm its a weird thing, cause technically they did abandon it, they added more content, but there is two chapters missing that was promised. That's two thirds of the game missing.

[@magisterobscura8632]

Fascinating take, as always.

[@Totoofwarful]

0:26 la france, LA FRANCE MONSIEUR!

[@nickelakon5369]

"An open breath of the wild style hub, srounded by linear dark souls level like zones dotted with small bits of 2d platforming areas" Oh, so it's NieR.

[@ProbablyJacob]

This game is very VERY obviously heavily inspired by nier, i just didnt bring it up in the video because i havent played Automata yet and wanted to know wtf i was actually talking about

[@nickelakon5369]

@@ProbablyJacob understandable. On the topic of Nier is the NieR Gestalt or its upcoming remake on your radar at all?

[@Mad_Oph]

Any game that can incite an existential crisis is aces in my book.

[@PotatoJonson]

4:40 Not gonna be a surprise anymore.

[@skiesquiggles7319]

This game seems cool! I might put it on me ol' list.

[@TheCivildecay]

1:53 I just got a Hellsign add :)

[@johnclare9021]

I am enjoying this game, the shift to 2D is the only thing that I don't enjoy but overall the game play, character design and the world is fun. I appreciate the developers effort and vision.

[@candy-ninja]

I know that they didn't quite nail what they were going for with this game but I'm definitely looking forward to their next one.

[@IsabelCarlota]

Oooh, love the aesthetic.

[@JustSkram]

Where is that Chili's review, Jacob

[@inquisitorowl5215]

This game honestly seems like it needed a bit longer in the oven. It looks really interesting though, so I might pick it up after it gets a few updates.

[@victorneyoy]

oh man i cant wait to see that grimcob crossover

[@one-eyedepi9338]

Hello Probably! Great video! Have you heard of this game called darkwood? It's really good, it's a survival horror game set in a typical Polish forest filled with all manner of enemies including vendigos, wolves and meth goats. It has a great dark artstyle and that combined with its difficulty makes the athmosphere one of the best I have ever experienced. Give it a try, and have a nice day Probably!

[@Dunmerdog]

I love this “have you heard of darkwood” meme

[@manliovalenza7955]

I won't perish like a dog! I love dogs!

[@User-xw6kd]

Hey man, would you ever do an in-depth analysis of Red Dead Redemption (2010) or Silent Hill 2 (2001)? Would love to hear your thoughts.

[@Shakedown1969]

well it’s not darkwood

[@xavierjordan7678]

Super interesting coming back to this vid post elden ring and seeing the devs were actually ahead of the curve, just lacking experience.

[@Joseph_S_Clark]

damn, jacob has been making consistent videos and I just haven't been shown them, bullshit

[@ineptsparrow]

Great write up!

[@CitizenCoder]

Ive been playing this game recently due to the art style and looking for a souls like that wasnt so damn depressing to look at. Its been really fun so far, nice to look at, definitely noticed the jank with the enemies especially when you can cheese them with the ranged ability and they wont chase you down. Still, theres something about it that just draws me in. The art, the masks, the lore. Good stuff for a janky french indie game 😂

[@doombloomers9609]

Mortal Shell: Made by a small studio that was passionate and ambitious but fully aware of their limitations and kept the scope of the game within their capabilities. -VS- Shattered: Made by a small studio that was passionate and ambitious but only realizing halfway through development that they needed to rein themselves in. (If some areas seem unfinished... it's because they are but the devs decided to work it into the lore of the game.)

[@chriscangelosi9438]

French Jenk sounds like a new genre 😆 and a cool tee shirt

[@jakearnett1511]

Love it dude.

[@evanthegreatgamer4956]

wait what happend with helsign

[@greenhowie]

This looks like a lot of cool shit and I'm down with that. Imagine if it had got a lot of attention early in development and they couldn't implement something though... be kinda like No Man's Sky... the plot twist that explains all the jank is pretty damn similar too, thinking about it...

[@krakkentrace6095]

reminds me of blame for some reason

[@cerebrustusbordungolski7183]

Oh, yeah it has a lot of that transhuman vibe to it.

[@HiddelS143]

What happened with hellsign?

[@paulhermann2956]

eyyy!!! Jacob back at it again! XD .. ..... ....... ........livestream when jacob?

[@Thyrork]

I am providing engagement.

[@HollowJacket]

I am confused what happened to hellsign since you flashed it ?

[@StarkeRealm]

The devs announced the game was leaving early access, but the actual news post was phrased poorly, and it read like the devs were abandoning the game... even as new maps and bosses were being added ahead of the full release.

[@ridhosamudro2199]

Ah nothing better than listening to ProbablyJacob video while drawing R34 of SCP 1471-A

[@paulhermann2956]

"confused noise"

[@PolarBear0]

whelp that makes me want to insert pointy things into my eyes.

[@TurtleFlowerboi]

Hoverboard ? Buying it.

[@codydagg2259]

Mmm, if they add the left out bosses I think it'll be great.

[@jake212]

Bought this game forever ago and was kinda buggy. Never made it out of the tutorial zone. Now I gotta go back and give it a try. Had to stop watching the video at 4min just to save my self on spoilers. Ty for the video.

[@morenoramonvictor]

this isnt darkwood

[@ih8theleft]

Played it at early access, didnt like it. Came back last night. Absolutely love it. Longest ive used my pc in a long time.

[@taeeat12]

hey Jacob i'm a fan of your content that is all

[@marcopivetta7796]

reading book IRL: :) :D reading text dumps in a videogame: >:(

[@owenmajor3666]

outro song?

[@melynxforce8918]

Never heard of it but I'm instantly downloading this shit.

[@Monochromeglobox]

Here's your algorithm boost Dad.

[@artolis]

3:20 Soul Reaver? Anyone?

[@enveritas4948]

Seems like a victim of kickstarter scope creep. Would the game have been better overall without the open world? Giving more time to polish combat, items, animations and story?

[@husenberg1]

Kinda weird how French people can put out high concept stuff like this and EYE and then there is Ubisoft

[@husenberg1]

Also what's the violin music in the end?

[@CarrotConsumer]

Ubisoft is just one corporation. Every country has scummy companies.

[@StarkeRealm]

The corporation is French, but most of their games you're (probably) thinking of were developed in Canada.

[@rijadsabic]

I presume you have watched The Mothman Prophecies.

[@yosef.a6995]

oh lol you post this video today