Journey into the Masquerada
Indie RPG’s seem to be the bread and butter of the current Nintendo Switch trend.
It makes sense, portability and Indie go hand in hand since the Gameboy days. With massive AAA titles roaring onto every major console and PC including the Nintendo Switch. It’s a challenge to find indie games that holds our gaming loyalty and attention. Masquerada: Songs and Shadows, in my humble opinion, is Not that game we seek, unfortunately.
We are not all negative here at Gameir. It does have an upside, Let me explain.
Unique-ish
Its quirky Renaissance-inspired style, Music and characters are great fun.
Set during a civil war in a magical Venetian city filled with Lore and Intrigue. Masquerada: Songs and Shadows has a great story full of heart and betrayal.
It definitely keeps your attention. The hand-drawn art and brilliant voice acting add to the colourful world of Songs and Shadows. this is very unique and has a beauty that immerses the player.
The story is linear and so this is reflected fully in the gameplay which is our next subject. it is also its let down.
Gameplay
This is where things get a bit unstable! Remember when the first camera phones came out, the Sharp GX10 and GX20 were my choices. One reason I remember these phones is due to the games library you could download for them. the games were always a bit sketchy, the gameplay was jumbled and crowded making it hard to focus on your character. it was a cloud of pixels!
Well Masquerada: Songs and Shadows gameplay reminds me of those mobile games back in 2005! the graphics are way better but the whole blur of 20 characters mushed together, all battling in a fuzz of confusion, still remains.
Now I know there are some WOW players and MMO fans out there who take this style for granted and it doesn’t bother them at all. Well, then this is a great game for you, with similar gameplay and mechanics with an in-depth storyline.
I, However, was never big into that genre and so from a console kid background, this just seems overly convoluted.
While you swim in a sea of flickering bodies, you have different spell options allowing you to channel the elements and cast destructive magic. It is all familiar with any magic casting type RPG. there are quite a few problems with the gameplay, actions, and attacks can be tricky or just plain useless in some cases.
Overall
It isn’t the worst game but it was not my cup of tea. The switch has so many dynamic indie titles available, this one stands out due to its style and depth of story. Yet I felt this was not enough to truly capture my attention, mostly due to the dodgy mechanics and cluttered gameplay.
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