The
debut
title
from
Baby
Robot
Games,
Ereban:
Shadow
Legacy
is
a
stealth
game
following
Ayana,
the
last
of
the
Ereban,
a
race
capable
of
merging
into
the
darkness.
She’s
come
to
Helios,
a
megacompany
that
has
seemingly
saved
the
world
by
finding
a
way
to
provide
unlimited
energy,
but
Ayana
suspects
something
is
amiss
and
that
Helios
might
know
something
about
what
happened
to
the
Ereban.
There’s
no
shortage
of
stealth
’em
ups
in
the
indie
and
double-A
scene
though,
so
what
does
Ereban:
Shadow
Legacy
offer?

To
the
surprise
of
absolutely
nobody,
Ayana’s
suspicions
are
proven
correct
and
she
has
to
make
a
hasty
exit
before
Helios
can
grab
her
and
use
her
for
their
nefarious
plan,
whatever
that
may
be.
Aid
comes
from
an
unlikely
source,
though,
as
one
of
the
goons
working
at
Helios
turns
out
to
be
a
member
of
a
resistance
called
the
Second
Suns.
And
so
we
have
the
premise
of
our
adventure:
Ayana
needs
to
discover
the
evil
secret
of
Helios,
learn
about
her
people
and
discover
what
it
means
to
be
Ereban.

It’s
a
shame
because
I
actually
believe
the
game’s
backstory
and
premise
to
be
pretty
cool.
As
the
game
gradually
built
up
its
lore
I
couldn’t
help
but
feel
that
a
game
set
during
all
of
the
lead-up
to
Ereban:
Shadow
Legacy
would
be
even
more
intriguing
than
what
we
got
where
it
seems
like
all
the
good
stuff
already
happened.

I
want
to
be
clear,
though:
I
don’t
think
it’s
a
bad
story.
It’s
just
a
very
bland
one
that
I’m
honestly
struggling
to
remember
anything
about.
A
few
tweaks
could
have
really
improved
it,
like
letting
Ayana’s
relationship
with
the
first
resistance
member
she
encounters
get
built
up
naturally
instead
of
trying
to
imply
through
snippets
of
dialogue
that
they’ve
somehow
become
friends,
even
though
we,
the
players,
were
there
for
the
entire
journey
and
know
they
didn’t.

The
main
enemy
you
face
are
Syms,
big
chunky
robots
that
patrol
locations
using
simple
movement
patterns.
Aside
from
uttering
some
genuinely
quite
funny
lines
of
dialogue,
these
robots
are
there
for
you
to
evade
or
destroy
as
you
see
fit.
A
few
varieties
pop
up
across
the
fairly
short
5-8
hour
campaign,
including
long-range
snipers
and
a
special
model
that
can
revive
fallen
comrades.
While
you
are
armed
with
a
retractable
blade
capable
of
taking
out
a
Sym
in
a
single
stroke,
combat
is
not
something
you
engage
in.
To
Ereban:
Shadow
Legacy’s
credit,
it
goes
down
the
purer
stealth
route
by
letting
the
Syms
one-shot
you
as
well.
It’s
possible
to
run
away
and
hide,
but
generally
speaking,
being
spotted
will
mean
game
over
instead
of
an
excuse
to
bust
out
the
rocket
launcher.

Being
spotted
is
a
rarity,
however.
The
game’s
enemies
aren’t
going
to
be
taking
home
any
trophies
for
brains.
Their
cones
of
vision
are
narrow
and
short,
so
you
can
get
away
with
some
blatant
bollox.
Even
if
they
find
one
of
their
pals
in
a
crumpled
head
their
method
of
“searching”
is
laughable
and
then
they’ll
quickly
go
back
to
their
usual
routine.
They
aren’t
hard
to
sneak
past,
either.
Enemy
layouts
and
the
level
designs
are
basic
by
the
standards
of
the
genre,
offering
very
little
challenge.
Patrols
are
basic
and
easy
to
navigate
around,
making
it
feel
like
stealth
game
101,
although
that’s
great
for
newcomers
to
the
genre.
But
the
game
never
builds
on
those
layouts,
never
increases
the
level
of
challenge,
and
so
even
later
on
you’ll
still
sneak
past
one
or
two
enemies
and
have
ample
time
to
stop,
check
out
the
next
bit,
sneak
past
those
enemies
and
repeat.
There
are
never,
for
example,
tricky
sections
where
you
have
to
pre-plan
every
move
or
where
you
have
to
rely
on
snap
decisions
and
barely
manage
to
squeeze
through
narrow
gaps
in
patrols.

Ayana’s
party
trick
comes
directly
from
her
Ereban
heritage,
letting
her
“merge”
into
the
shadows
by
becoming
a
strange
dark
ball
that
can
swim
through
unlit
areas.
Not
only
does
it
let
her
pass
underneath
an
enemy,
it
also
lets
her
go
straight
up
and
along
walls.
However,
touching
any
source
of
light
will
almost
immediately
burn
Ayana
out
of
her
merged
state
and
force
her
back
into
the
regular
world.
It’s
an
interesting
concept
because
mechanically
it’s
really
no
different
to
the
standard
stealth
fare
of
being
undetectable
provided
you
walk
in
the
shadowy
areas
or
to
clambering
around.
And
yet,
becoming
a
little
shadow
ball
is
such
a
cool
way
of
dressing
it
up
that
it
ultimately

feels
different,
even
though
barrelling
around
as
a
shadow
and
creeping
around
in
the
darkness
are
essentially
the
same
thing
from
a
gameplay
perspective.

I
can’t
help
but
feel
that
Baby
Robot
don’t
take
the
idea
very
far,
though.
Mostly,
you
merge
into
the
shadows
and
move
through
a
few
enemies,
check
out
the
next
section,
wait
for
a
gap
in
the
patrols
and
move
again.
It’s
the
most
basic
stealth-game
loop,
and
no
different
to
crouch-walking
past
enemies
and
then
hiding
behind
a
wall.
There
are
a
few
creative
uses
of
the
ability
like
making
your
way
across
a
large
wall
by
using
the
moving
shadow
of
a
giant
fan,
but
even
those
aren’t
terribly
exciting.
I
always
wanted
more
from
it.
Perhaps
being
able
to
destroy
lights
to
create
new
darkened
routes,
or
trickier
sections
involving
a
lot
more
moving
shadows.
A
few
platforming
sequences
try
to
blend
the
shadow
merging
and
regular
jumping
together,
but
again
aren’t
very
interesting
and
worse
are
hampered
by
a
slightly
awkward
mix
of
camera
and
controls
that
send
you
veering
off
course
when
transitioning
from
floor
to
wall.

Far
less
common
than
the
robots
are
humans
working
for
Helios,
ambling
around
and
getting
on
with
their
day-to-day
lives.
This
is
where
Shadow
Legacy’s
simple
morality
system
comes
into
play:
leave
the
squishy
humans
alone
and
you’ll
unlock
pure
stealth
skills
designed
to
let
you
sneak
by
without
anyone
being
any
the
wiser.
Opt
eliminate
the
humans
and
the
skills
will
lean
toward
the
lethal
approach.

As
a
basic
concept,
the
morality
system
is
fine,
but
in
execution,
it’s
lacking.
Again,
the
problem
is
that
you’re
never
put
into
a
position
where
killing
people
makes
sense
because
there’s
no
challenge.
Sneaking
through
without
alerting
anyone
is
easy,
and
so
you
have
to
actively
go
out
of
your
way
to
kill
the
humans.
Ideally
with
a
system
like
this,
the
human
foes
should
be
placed
in
challenging
areas
so
that
the
decision
is
a
hard
one:
do
I
kill
the
humans
to
make
things
easier,
or
do
I
go
the
hard
route
by
staying
in
the
shadows?
Since
it’s
so
easy
to
sneak
past,
though,
there’s
never
a
decision
to
be
made.
The
only
reason
to
murder
everyone
is
to
unlock
the
lethal
skills,
and
those
aren’t
interesting
enough
to
make
it
worthwhile.

Ayana
has
a
few
unlockable
gadgets
that
can
be
crafted
and
then
used
to
aid
in
her
stealthy
shenanigans,
although
you
do
need
to
locate
hidden
tech
cards
before
they
can
unlocked.
There
are
things
like
a
mine
that
will
temporarily
stun
passing
enemies
or
a
set
of
binoculars
for
scouting
large
areas.
She
also
has
her
growing
Ereban
powers
to
mess
around
with,
and
unlocking
those
means
scouting
reasonably
large
areas
for
special
collectables.
She
can
blind
enemies,
for
example,
or
send
out
a
special
decoy
to
draw
attention.

Unfortunately,
I
rarely
felt
the
need
to
explore
and
use
Ayana’s
skills
and
gadgets
to
advance.
Once
again,
it
comes
back
to
the
difficulty.
The
game’s
simple
stealth
systems
combined
with
how
easy
it
is
to
get
through
areas
meant
I
never
felt
challenged,
and
that
lack
of
challenge
meant
I
had
no
reason
to
employ
extra
tricks.
The
obvious
answer
would
be
to
use
them
for
the
fun
of
it,
but
they
aren’t
interesting
enough
to
warrant
doing
that.
Only
one
skill
felt
like
it
was
“fun”
to
use,
and
that’s
being
able
to
briefly
possess
robotic
foes,
but
even
then,
it’s
limited
to
moving
them
a
short
distance
and
nothing
else.
The
only
other
thing
I
used
was
the
mines
to
take
out
multiple
enemies
at
once,
but
even
then
I
was
forcing
myself
to
use
them
for
variety
because
it
was
just
as
easy
to
amble
past
the
guards
without
employing
any
extra
abilities.

This
review
will
likely
read
like
I’m
very
negative
toward
Ereban:
Shadow
Legacy,
so
let
me
clarify:
I
think
it’s
fine.
The
trouble
is
that
games
that
are
just
“fine”
can
be
hard
to
talk
about
without
coming
across
as
being
very
negative.
As
a
debut
title
from
a
new
studio,
Shadow
Legacy
is
very
competent
in
its
design,
and
seems
to
derive
a
lot
of
inspiration
from
Aragami,
even
including
a
nice
easter
egg.
But
I
also
struggle
to
find
anything
exciting
to
talk
about
with
it,
and
that
may
simply
be
because
I’m
not
the
best
audience
for
it.
Someone
who
hasn’t
played
many
stealth
games
will
probably
enjoy
it
far
more,
as
might
an
experienced
sneaky
bastard
find
its
simplicity
and
easiness
a
nice
change
of
pace.