Swarog’s blessing will light up the darkness – review of the game “Thea 2: The Shattering”

Uncharted lands

Although Thea 2: The Shattering   is the second installment in the series, it still presents itself as one of a kind. The game is a mixture of genres, which means that everyone who plays it will be able to find something for themselves. Turn-based gameplay and a hexagram map, strategic resource management, Slavic gods, a strong survival accent, the development of characters controlled by us, a card style of fights and random events – how can such an explosive mixture not make a big bang?

Nieprzebyte mroki

The plot, unfortunately, is the weakest part of this production. The world is plunged into darkness and the gods have lost most of their powers, but they have enough to bless our team. The player’s primary task is to survive in a hostile and brutal world. To do this, you need to expand the village as well as develop and acquire new characters for our team. The main plot is a truncated and poorer carbon copy from Thea: The Aweakening , which was already negligible there. 

Total domination

In the first part, it was enough to follow the main storyline to win the game. In two, the story goes to the background, giving way to concrete achievements. The creators give the opportunity to win through domination. To do this, you need to complete one task from three categories (each with two variations). You need to: conquer at least half of the settlements of other factions or make friends with five of them. Have twenty settlers or have representatives of seven races join our team. Build six skill level buildings or upgrade six characters to level twenty. The victory conditions through domination may seem easy to achieve, but it took me over 1,500 rounds in a single game. These, in turn, last differently and depending on the actions we take,   

Your place in the world

In the previous part, when starting a new game, we got a village set in a random place with equally random resources. This led to a situation in which subsequent batches started only for the RNG to be generous this time and to give us a favorable location on the map and the desired raw materials. In Thea 2: The Shattering , we choose the place to set up a settlement ourselves, and this is definitely a positive element of the game.

Forge a sword yourself and point its blade to your enemies

The series from MuHa studio put a strong emphasis on economics from the beginning. We do not have classic money here, but we collect resources all over the map, which can later be used in the process of constructing new buildings or creating utility items. Previously, we could completely skip the crafting system, because even the best items were obtained after fighting a strong opponent. Now, most higher-tier materials can only be crafted from other resources and cannot be mined, and the chances of looting them after a skirmish with an enemy are slim. The crafting system is very rewarding. Each mineral has different properties, so the game encourages you to experiment when combining individual raw materials.

The hours of the voyage were lazy again

The creators also approached the map differently. In Thea 2: The Shattering we will not experience a single, unified continent, as before. Instead, we can drift by ship between several islands, and each of them has a different climate, assigned resources, enemies and factions inhabiting them. Sea journeys also made it possible to introduce further random events, although I must admit that they can be a bit monotonous. The land has a system of seasons, and each of them introduces additional factors. For example, in winter we get more experience points for fighting, but the opponents are stronger and more aggressive.

Step by step

I have already written a lot about the pros and cons of the game, but what does it really look like? Before we reach the map, we have to choose a god, although initially we don’t have many options, because most of them have to be unlocked, and each has unique bonuses. Then we choose the composition of our company and the liaison with God from among them and jump into the dark world of Thea. There, we are greeted by the gnome Theodor, who introduces players to the game with a short tutorial. From now on, we are on our own and we have to establish a village in a favorable place and take care of basic resources. And what next? We will visit new continents at our own pace and create better and better equipment. One should be careful with the then chosen God’s anointed, because his death ends the game with a failure. Fortunately, there is a way to bring him back to life.

Immersive events, but …

…not in Polish. The authors of the second part completely resigned from supporting our native language. Long descriptions of random events are extremely colorful, but the words used in them can be unusual, so they may be incomprehensible even to people who know English very well. It can deprive the game of all the immersion and climate that the creators have put so much on. I must praise the sound, because the music is pleasant to the ear and subtly changes with the current events. Even after several hours of non-stop gameplay, you can still listen to it with pleasure. The graphic design also has nothing to complain about, although I do not see any particular improvements compared to the previous part. Visually, the game looks better than decent and creates a unique, fantastic atmosphere. 

Scattered gloom or devouring darkness?

The creators implemented some new mechanics, such as the changing seasons, a different combat system, sea travel, and choosing a place for the village by the player. And that would be it. Most of the solutions are no different from those in the first part. And good. Don’t change something that works and pleases fans of the game. However, the lack of Polish language is a strong slap against Polish players and it hurts the more that the title was created by a studio from our country. The problem with Thea 2: The Shattering is that I wouldn’t call it the second installment in the series, and I suspect a lot of people would agree with me. The game is not a continuation of the story, nor does it introduce a revolution to the series. The changes you made may have been made to the first part through a patch or extension. Instead, it was createdThea 2: The Shattering.

We would like to thank the MuHa studio for making the game available for review.