Spanish writer Gorondorf writes: "Take a drink every single time you read something that has been done before in other games or media: we are a stranger who travels to a big city in order to earn some money, but the moment he arrives he gets involved in the middle of some issues regarding religion, poverty and some magical portals that spawn evil foes. Okay, hope you are still conscious because I’ll keep going with the review."
TSA writes: "Every once in a while, a game comes along that claims a unique mechanic or twist on conventional genres. City of the Shroud, an episodic real-time strategic RPG is already a winning card in hybrid genre bingo, but it also brings the wisdom of the herd into its narrative development. Developers Abyssal Arts are writing the overall storyline for each episode to fit the outcome chosen by the majority of players. This democratisation of narrative design sounds like an innovative and original take on the traditional branching storyline, but is it all that it seems? And, perhaps more importantly, is the underlying game good enough to keep you interested?"
The Indie Game Website writes: "Abyssal Arts’ new City of the Shroud tries to innovate in a number of ways, and as much as I want to applaud their efforts, some ideas haven’t been tried for a reason.
City of the Shroud’s story revolves around the mysterious player character, a farmer and refugee to the titular city who accidentally gets involved in a battle for dominance between five competing factions.
That story is City of the Shroud’s first innovation: the story will change based on the cumulative actions of all players over each episode. However, this review is only of the first episode and as such won’t speak to the overarching story of the game or the extent to which the player community’s actions will impact the narrative."
City of the Shroud is an ambitious RPG that adds a dimension of community storytelling to its tactical action gameplay.
