Shardlight review - A decent apocalyptic adventure game

From Blackwell to Gemini Rue, Wadjet Eye's series of pixel art point-n-clicks have offered engrossing and unique entries in the genre.

Shardlight follows suit; while not reaching the heights of Wadjet's best, it still takes players on a well-told journey through a bleak ruined world.

In Shardlight, the apocalypse has come and gone. Twenty years after a global cataclysm, the deadly disease Green Lung still ravages civilization. The elite and wealthy are protected thanks to an expensive vaccine, while the rest hope to win a lottery and earn access.

You play as Amy Wellard, performing dangerous jobs in an attempt to win that chance at a vaccine; however that simple motivation soon drops you into the midst of a much larger conflict that could uproot the entire system.

Saying more would be to spoil the tale's twist, but even when the narrative drags and enters well-trodden predictable territory, the strength of the world itself keeps the story compelling. Wadjet's pixel art aesthetic have always created wonderfully atmospheric environments, and Shardlight's areas are full of subtle details that flesh out Amy's world: the look of inhabitants, the differences in architecture, the implied histories and unspoken stories of different areas.

Removed from its world and tale, Shardlight is very much a typical adventure game, asking you to explore, talk with NPCs, gather items to solve puzzles and interact with the environment.

The flaws and frustrations of those typical adventures came along as well, such as the obscure logic behind certain puzzles or the slow pace as you carry an item to a spot multiple rooms away. The appeal of the overall world and story partially counters those potential frustrations, but those who find genre aspects annoying won't be convinced otherwise.

Shardlight doesn't tread new ground, and fans of both sci-fi and the genre may find the ground covered by its story too well-trodden to be engaged. However the game's bleak atmosphere and world-building helps elevate Shardlight above its more negative elements.