Zoria: Age of Shattering Review Summary

Despite deep crafting and praised turn-based combat offering an enjoyable experience, the game is buggy with excessive loot and repetitive combat.

Turn-based combat praised: Multiple reviews highlight the turn-based tactical combat as enjoyable, rewarding, and well-designed, with specific mentions of flanking and backstab bonuses. This is a core strength of the game.

Enjoyable overall experience: General enjoyment of the game is expressed, with players finding it great, fun, and fantastic. This broad satisfaction underpins many specific praises.

Crafting system is deep: Players consistently note the crafting system as vast, meaningful, and substantial, allowing for the creation of good equipment and items. It is a major, well-received feature.

Retro CRPG style appreciated: Players appreciate the old-school style that evokes classic RPGs like Neverwinter Nights, Baldur's Gate, and Icewind Dale. The retro aesthetic is a deliberate draw for fans of the genre.

Worldbuilding and lore excellent: The game's worldbuilding and lore are frequently praised as great, excellent, and rich, contributing to an immersive experience. This is a standout element for many players.

Buggy game experience: Players report various bugs, some minor and some annoying, that impact gameplay. Issues range from general glitches to game-breaking problems that force restarts.

Excessive loot overload: There is too much loot, which makes finding items feel meaningless and devalues the reward system. The sheer volume of items leads to constant inventory management.

Repetitive combat system: Combat quickly becomes boring and repetitive due to its simplicity. The lack of variety makes exploration and fighting feel like a chore.

Limited skill trees: Skill trees are very small and offer few choices, making character progression feel restricted. Some skills have bad designs that force unwanted abilities.

Vague quest directions: Quests lack clear pointers and the journal is vague, making it hard to figure out objectives. Quest triggering can also be random and inconsistent.

Crafting system complexity: Players discuss a substantial crafting system that includes potions, food, equipment, and blueprints. Many feel it produces superior gear compared to loot, but some describe it as pointless.

Turn-based tactical combat: The game features turn-based tactical combat similar to Divinity, with action points, skill cooldowns, and positional bonuses. Initiative determines turn order, and action points per turn are limited.

Base and castle management: Players highlight castle and base building with upgradeable areas and management mechanics. This includes upgrading the ruined castle and managing settlement upgrades.

Character progression system: Character development uses attribute points and skill points for leveling, with each class having its own skill tree. Players appreciate the customization and respec options.

Character class diversity: The game offers many character classes including battle cleric, sorcerer, ranger, and lancer, each with adventuring and resting skills. Players note a large roster of recruitable characters.

Stable performance: Multiple reports note the game is very stable and runs without issues on various setups. This is a positive indicator for overall reliability.

Crashes after combat: Crashes occur randomly, often after combat, and sometimes the game locks up requiring a close and restart. This interrupts gameplay progress.

Fast loading times: Loading times are generally good, especially on subsequent launches after the initial load. This improves user experience.

Runs well on low-end hardware: The game performs well on low-end hardware, showing good optimization for weaker systems. This broadens the potential player base.

High FPS: The game achieves high frame rates, indicating good graphical performance. This is a key positive for smooth gameplay.

Recommended for CRPG fans: Multiple clusters recommend this game to fans of classic CRPGs like Baldur's Gate 3, Neverwinter Nights, and Rogue Trader. The game appeals strongly to those who enjoy old-school D&D-style crawlers and turn-based tactical RPGs.

Good value and worth buying: Several clusters praise the game as worth the money, a definite buy, or great value overall. Some reviewers strongly recommend purchasing, even stating they would have paid more.

Not recommended for all players: Some clusters advise against buying or express strong dissatisfaction, calling the game mediocre, lacking polish, or not worth the time compared to other CRPGs like Divinity Original Sin 2 or Baldur's Gate 3.

High praise and highest recommendation: Several clusters give very strong praise, calling the game a must-play, a hidden gem, or highly recommended without reservation. These reviewers are enthusiastic about the game's quality.

Appeals to turn-based tactical fans: The game is frequently recommended specifically for fans of turn-based tactical combat and strategy/RPG hybrids. Reviewers highlight complex itemization, freedom of action, and thoughtful combat systems.

Community fair range: $15.00 - $25.00.

Game completion: 50.0h.

The game starts engaging with a strong first few hours, but experiences a notable drop in quality in the mid-to-late game due to filler content, a flattened progression curve, and a narrative decline, making enjoyment fade after early progress.

Friction: Manual rest management for NPCs is tedious without upgraded Burrow; Money pressure into midgame due to ability substitutions; Required party composition (healer, tank) feels restrictive.

Unlock drivers: Upgrading the Burrow to automate rest; Acquiring enough currency to bypass ability gaps; Adding a healer to reduce combat tedium.

Old-School cRPG Fan: Methodical, explores mechanics, enjoys party building and tactical decision-making; may use hard difficulty. Motivation: Nostalgia for classic cRPGs and appreciation for tactical turn-based combat and character systems. Stance: buy.

Casual Loot Grinder: Plays on easy or normal, enjoys farming gear, sending secondary characters on missions, and breezing through combat. Motivation: Relaxing progression through looting, leveling, and grinding without requiring deep engagement. Stance: buy.

Disappointed Quality Seeker: Analytical, identifies flaws in mechanics and balance; may attempt to optimize but finds restrictions frustrating. Motivation: They seek a polished, high-quality indie experience and are frustrated by bugs, balance issues, and design oversights. Stance: no buy.

Steam Deck: The game faces a critical Steam Deck compatibility issue as one user cannot play on the device, though controller support on PC is praised. Control and pathfinding are noted as finicky but manageable, and the game is otherwise well-received.