City of the Shroud

City of the Shroud is a tactical RPG developed by an independent studio Abyssal Arts.

Plot

City of the Shroud takes the player on a journey to a fantasy universe. The players assume the role of a brave man who arrived at the city of Iskendrun and defeated a monster that harassed its citizens. The protagonist was named the Hero of Portals. This caused the five most important citizens of the city to start demanding his loyalty. What complicated the matters even further is a magic shroud that separated the city from the rest of the world and caused various monsters to appear on the streets. Now the protagonist must deal with the dangers and restore the old order.

A non-linear story is a characteristic trait of City of the Shroud. The story told in four chapters of the game adapts to the actions of the player and the whole community – the events in a chapter are determined by choices made by the player and by other users of the game.

Mechanics

The action in City of the Shroud is presented from an isometric perspective. In addition to exploring, conducting conversations with non-playable characters, and completing quests received from them, the players are mostly tasked with fighting adversaries on a mesh of square fields.

The battles are fought in real time and the combat system is based on using combat skills of the protagonist and combining them into combos. Attacks are selected from a circle menu and then combined into sequences that consist of input power, output power, and additional effects. The stronger the attack, the more complicated the set of hits that create it. Similarly to fighting games (that were one of the inspirations for the developers), the success depends on finding a weakness in adversary’s defenses and finding the right time for an attack. The developers implemented an active pause (here called Wait Mode) and the option to adapt the gameplay speed to individual preferences of players.

During the game, the players are increasing the potential of the protagonist by gaining more powerful skills.

Game modes

City of the Shroud can be played alone or with other players in a competitive multiplayer mode.

Technical aspects

The graphics of City of the Shroud combine two-dimensional and three-dimensional pieces. The game uses the cel-shading technique.

Last updated on 05 March 2018