There's A Fly In My Rogue-lite - A Look At The Veil Of Shadows Demo

The first keyword I looked for on the Veil of Shadows store page was ‘difficult’. Sure, it’s a rogue-lite; it’s bound to be a challenge, but why did I keep dying, even when levelling up so often? I’ll tell you one thing: it nails the rogue-lite loop well.

In this demo, from developers Imponix Game Studio, you play as Sirene – a Merida-like hero who wakes in a forest without a clue why she’s there. Cut with a few visual novel-type interludes with the local spirits, she soon learns that she’s a natural with a bow and will quickly put those skills to endurance level 10 as she battles wave after wave of the undead and other monsters.

Veil of Shadows is a twin-stick shooter, so you’ll move with the left stick and shoot with the right. Sirene has a basic attack through her bow and, upon completing a quest, has a charged-based attack that can blast through ethereal walls and enemies. She can dodge, too.

Veil Of Shadows Demo

Right, let’s touch upon the mechanics. This is sort of a random encounter style of play. Black clouds will sniff you out, and should they touch you, the enemies start to spawn – on average, about three or so waves – and upon defeating them, you’ll get a treasure chest that’ll award some health, improve your vision, and sometimes reward with a new weapon that changes your attack with damage and range.

A note on the vision side of things: as you progress, your vision depletes, reducing the circle around you to a minimum. To counter this, enemies drop green orbs, which are obtained by destroying their graves, and this grants an increase to where you can see. This is problematic when battling enemies, but that’s only one aspect. Two others hinder gameplay.

You don’t have a melee attack in Veil of Shadows, so you’re essentially left with Gaunlet’s ranger. That’s fine, as long as you master your dodge roll to get out of the way of enemies/keep them at bay, though increasing agility in the skill tree will mean you can back up much faster, often avoiding incoming attacks. This flaw means you’ll end up backing into another cloud that triggers another wave of enemies and will continue until all are dead, or most likely, you.

Lock(s), Stock, The Lot

So, collecting purple orbs will eventually grant a skill point (as long as you don’t die) to invest in strength (damage), agility (movement speed), and precision (go figure…). This changes gameplay, but I felt overwhelmed by triggering additional ‘clouds’. It’s frustrating, yet this captures the rogue-lite loop very well. If it weren’t for those flies…

Flying enemies are a hefty thorn in my ass in most games, and the flies in Veil of Shadows are a nightmare. Though they can be killed in a shot or two if they touch you, they take the bow, and you have to retrieve it manually. Now, as there are waves of enemies to defeat, and you have no melee attacks, this can be infuriating. Yet still, I would play this on a loop, again and again… 

What next? Hop on to the Steam store page, as you can play the same Veil of Shadows demo I played. Give it a go and let me know your thoughts, or share the love on social media. Or whatever it is that you kids do.