Shadows Over Loathing PC Review 8.5/10 "Very Little To Loathe" 🧟‍♂️ @asym #IndieGames #GameDev

Asymmetric’s previous title – West of Loathing – was my 2017 game of the year,  to this day, over five years later – I’ve rarely laughed as heartily as I have at that game. It was reviewed before we integrated our rating system, but it would have honestly been teetering on being the first 10/10 game I’d played.

That’s a pretty hard act to follow, and whilst Shadows over Loathing is a fun and extremely funny game that leans heavily on the template set down by its predecessor, it doesn’t quite have the impact of the original.

Whereas West of Loathing was set in a surreal stick-figure-populated Wild West, Shadows over Loathing has a more turn-of-the-century Lovecraftian vibe. Whilst the series plays fast and loose with the setting -to get maximum comic potential - it does make sense to move from a western setting to a horror setting, as there’s so much room for humour. You play a character (in my case, Jonald Flegg), who has been urgently called back to his uncle’s antique store, only to find that he has gone missing – naturally setting you off on a deeply hilarious and idiosyncratic quest to find him.

There’s no denying that the dialogue in this game is among the best comedy text ever written. The tone, delivery and accompanying visuals/descriptions are completely on-point throughout, and I found myself taking screenshots to share with my friends to the point that I was actually asked to stop as they wanted to discover these highlights for themselves, everyone loves Loathing at GF! In terms of mechanics, it’s all very familiar. Comedic turn-based combat with preposterous weapons and items, zany upgrades and an obsession with collecting meat as you discover bizarre locations and characters in your quest to find your uncle. 

Visually, the black and white imagery is crisp, clean and sharp, with Ryan Ike’s music being as charming and engaging as ever – I picked up West of Loathing on vinyl and will absolutely be doing the same here, when available.

But there are negatives here, and they come through the pacing, length and reliance on the main mechanics set down in WOL.

The game is set over a series of chapters, each requiring you to locate and uncurse various objects, each of which leads you closer to your uncle, as shadowy figures make themselves known, hinting at a larger, darker scheme. As much as I enjoyed the vast majority of the game, and felt I was making swift progress – something that is key in this sort of game, as the strength is in the humour, and it needs to keep coming - there were two sections of the game where I could feel my engagement slipping, and at one point, I was…dare I say it…actually a bit bored.

The game is larger in scope than WOL, and whilst this could have been a great thing if it was handled well, it ends up feeling padded and bloated. There were sections in a teleporting house in the latter stages of the game and a university earlier on where I struggled to maintain my interest, and they really stood out as trudges, as I had such fun with the rest of the game.

I also wasn’t sure of the few moments where there was the option of multiple choices. In a game like this, it should be tight enough – and funny enough – to want to show off all of the strongest moments, so when you have these occasional branching paths – which were the weakest parts of the game - I had to assume I chose poorly but couldn’t understand why they were there in the first place, as it’s not often enough to warrant a replay, but yet ensures that you miss out on comedy content.

I also found the sheer amount of similar items in the game to be a bit off-putting as my inventory bulged ridiculously, making sorting and working out the worthwhile items a chore. I didn’t expect it to be an issue, but it does feel like the scissors should have come out at a handful of points in Shadows over Loathing, and it would have made the game a sharper and much more joyous, flowing experience.

Whilst Shadows over Loathing didn’t quite win my heart in the same way as West of Loathing, it’s still one of the funniest games ever made, and the stumbling blocks in the slightly extended length and multiple paths aren’t enough to make too much of an impact in your enjoyment.

Asymmetric are still the masters of the style of humour and visuals on display here, and Ryan Ike’s music is as gorgeous as ever.