What is Shrine’s Legacy?
Shrine’s Legacy is a top-down 2D action RPG developed by Positive Concept Games. The indie scene has kept the old ways of how games were made from top to bottom for many years now. Shrine’s Legacy keeps that trend going with its SNES-era influences felt from the very moment you launch the game. From its simple and charming aesthetic to the catchy tunes and well-made characters. The only thing that’s off-putting about the game is its combat system. Clearly, it needed more love and broke the flow for an otherwise great and nostalgic experience.
Developer & Publisher // Positive Concept Games, Indie.io, Levelup Games
Platforms // PC
MSRP & Release Date // $19.99, October 7th, 2025
Reviewed On // Steam Deck
The Demon Lord and the Mythical Sword
The story for Shrine’s Legacy is simple, yet satisfying. It is centered on the Demon Lord Aklor, who returns after being vanquished a long time ago. Upon his return, he seeks to destroy the only thing that can stop him, the Sword of the Shrine family. One day, when the owner of the sword, Rio, goes for a walk, he returns to find it being stolen by a mage named Reima, who is on the run from Aklor. Together, the two team up to collect gems that will power the Sword to take down Aklor once and for all.
From the get-go all the way to the end of the game, Aklor is an actual antagonist. As someone who usually tends to see games either go for sympathetic routes for their antagonist or keep them in the background. Instead, Shrine’s Legacy uses Aklor to his full potential. Whether he is murdering innocents or constantly stalling Rio and Reima, Aklor is the best part of the game’s story. That is not to say Rio, Reima, or any other character isn’t great, though.
Rio is the light-hearted hero, Reima is the stern and informative companion. While the rest of the world is filled with awesome side characters. A trio of muscular suit-wearing luchadors, a senile old lady who brews potions, and even a couple of wolf people who serve as a tour guide for one part of the game, Shrine’s Legacy has it all in the story, world-building, and character departments. This cannot be said for the rest of the game, sadly.
The Stiff and Slow Combat of Shrine’s Legacy
Not to beat around the bush, the combat of Shrine’s Legacy is my biggest complaint about the game. Rooted in the old days in its aesthetic, the combat follows suit a little too closely. Rio and Reima have essentially the same attacks despite being different characters. Rio’s melee may hit harder than Reima’s, and Reima may do more magic damage than Rio.
However, the worst part is that if you are not playing with a coop partner, the character you are not playing as does not act on its own. It only follows you and mimics your attacks if you are using the melee button only. For example, if I were to cast an ice spell, the unused character would not follow up with an effective melee attack to make full use of it. If it weren’t for the revive mechanic, I could not see a proper use for having both characters present if you can only control one.
The problem lies in the lack of any unlockable combos or abilities to speed up attacks. Magic, such as fire waves, freezing enemies in place with ice, or launching enemies upward with an earth-based attack, sounds cool at first. But when all you can do is freeze an enemy and launch them against a wall, it becomes pretty boring after a while. The worst part is that you are limited in how much you can cast due to MP and MP only being recoverable from hitting enemies with a melee attack, which, with certain bosses and enemies, is too high a risk for so little reward in certain scenarios. Not to mention switching spells can take a few button presses, which is also very stressful.
Hit, Miss, and Frustrating Boss Fights
Some bosses in the game can be annoying trios with a lot of health. For instance, the sand serpents in the desert level, while only a few in-between have interesting mechanics. Such as the giant red jelly that requires freezing enemies to launch at him to go into a damage phase.
But later bosses like the Ice Golem, for example, have way too much health, while needing to kill moving hands and do too much damage to Rio and Reima, even on the game’s “Easy” mode. The same can be said about a mysterious hooded character that comes out of nowhere in two different levels with crazy attack patterns that also do way too much damage. In addition to this, the revive mechanic also stops working in certain areas of boss arenas, too, which is very frustrating when dealing with some of these very dangerous bosses. Resultingly, the gameplay feels unenjoyable in many parts of the game.
Sounds and Locales
The music in Shrine’s Legacy is very good. Old school synthesized music is what I grew up with, and this game delivers it in spades. While there are some funny tracks, like the one that plays when you encounter cats from the post office, a lot of the background tracks in areas are fantastic. Such as the music in the aforementioned desert level and the Kaliko forest. The forest one, especially, was making me do the little head bops while I was exploring.
The levels in Shrine’s Legacy are also wonderfully made. The Kaliko forest is the standard fantasy forest, but with slimes and thorny vines. The desert, on the other hand, has shifting sands that either work in your favor or slow you down. My least favorite area was the Molgore Woods for a few reasons.
It was annoying at times when you have to use a cat to open certain ways and enemy patterns you have to avoid, as that cat, to get to the switch. But the worst part of that level was having to light five braziers while fighting off ghosts that could blow out the flame. This part felt designed with coop in mind and was just not fun for someone who was playing solo for his whole playthrough. Every area in the game can either be a breeze and enjoyable or frustrating, depending on what mechanics are in it.
UI and Technical Issues
The UI in Shrine’s Legacy is simple and nostalgic. The usual colored boxes with easy-to-navigate tabs and menus are done very well in the game. The health bars for both Rio and Reima were easy to see, as well as the health bars for normal foes. But for some reason, I had some problems while playing the game. The game never crashed, froze, or had any game-breaking bugs. However, sadly, there were performance issues when walking around cities. Especially when in Galadine or the farm before the water temple, in the latter part of the game.
The only real problem was noticing in parts of the desert or in that farm, when walking over certain parts, the characters would step above the layer as opposed to going below it. I also noticed that when watching the scene where Rio’s friend, Mala, reads his letter, the ending of the scene felt abrupt. Aside from these, there were no other technical issues throughout my 11-hour playthrough.
Closing Thoughts on Shrine’s Legacy
Shrine’s Legacy wears its nostalgic roots on its sleeves, with charming characters, cool-looking environments, head-bopping music, and an incredible villain. But the spikes in difficulty with a lot of bosses, coupled with the stiff and slow gameplay approach, dampened my otherwise great experience. While it is an inexpensive game to purchase, if you are planning to play solo, it may not be worth picking up due to its numerous flaws. If you do have a coop partner, however, the legacy this game leaves behind will be a much sweeter memory to you than how bitter it was for me.
Final Score 7/10
Pros:
- Fantastic Villain.
- Charming Characters.
- Great Environments.
- Good Music.
- Simple Nostalgic UI.
Cons:
- Performance issues in cities.
- Solo play is frustrating.
- Stiff combat.
- Weirdly hard bosses.
- Revive mechanic is inconsistent in boss arenas.
Disclaimer – The publisher provided a key for review purposes.
