Thank you Anshar Publishing for providing us with a review code!

In 2022 one of our reviewers, Remington, had the pleasure of previewing Zoria: Age of Shattering. Shortly after the game’s release, I streamed it and then got busy with life and shelved It for a few months. Sadly, my game save was no longer compatible and I had to restart the game from scratch.

Upon launching Zoria: Age of Shattering, you’ll be tasked with naming your character and assigning them their class. Each class has a unique ability, but also is limited on what kind of weapons and armor they can equip. For example, thieves can disarm traps, lancers can remove debris, while kingsmen can repair broken gate mechanisms. Engineering kits and trap disarming kits can bypass the requirement of having a kingsman or thief in your party.

Aside from your character, you can have three additional party members. I recommend having a melee, ranged, and a healer if possible. Throughout your five-chapter journey, you’ll be able to recruit dozens to fight alongside of you. They’ll really come in handy once you make it to the outpost.

At the beginning of your journey you barely make it alive to a fortress that won’t be able to stand much longer. The enemy attack was sudden and more powerful than ever imagined possible. You have to rally and warn the other strongholds. With a single soldier with you, you’ll need to scour the area for survivors and pick off whatever enemies you find nearby.

The battles are turn based and whichever characters have the higher initiative go first. There are attack bonuses for back and side assaults but the enemy may get an opportunity attack while you’re trying to position yourself there, so be careful! During battle your party may be poisoned, bleeding, cursed, or have their armor damaged. Be sure to address these issues as they are stackable and significantly weaken those impacted if left untreated.

If there’s an open space that’s clear of enemies you can setup camp to heal injuries and reduce fatigue in your party. Alchemy potions can remove many aliments, but party members can assist as well while resting. For examples, priests can dispel curses, rangers can remove bleeding, and thieves can cure poisoned party members. It’s a good idea to have multiple classes in your party to reap these benefits!

When you win battles, the enemies will often drop loot and your party will split the experience earned. Upon leveling up, you’ll get to assign five attribute points to their agility, intellect, stamina and strength. Skill points are also earned; they can be applied to each character's skill tree, unlocking class-specific abilities.

Along with the main story, you’ll also be able to embark on many side quests. Some quests will require specific party members or classes to successfully complete them. There are designated places where you can change out your party members, but you’ll have the most control of your recruits in the outpost.

Given that you’ll recruit dozens of fighters, you may be wondering what to do with all of them, or how to have them not fall behind in levels. The solution is simple: send them on missions! By sending them out on missions they’ll earn experience and bring back loot. The more dangerous the mission, the better the loot. If a recruit gets injured in a mission they’ll need to rest up at the Burrow after you’ve leveled it up. To level up outpost facilities you’ll need to research the upgrades and assign up to three recruits of the specified class to speed up the process.

Not surprisingly, there are Steam achievements for fully upgrading all the facilities in the outpost. In total, there are sixty-four Steam achievements available. I’m happy to report that Steam cloud support works flawlessly. Zoria: Age of Shattering is playable on the Steam deck, but I preferred using keyboard and mouse so I played on my laptop and desktop systems.

Zoria: Age of Shattering is generous in regards to autosaves which generally occur before battles and when you enter into new areas. I have experienced numerous glitches where the party gets stuck and I had to reload my save. Thankfully, I only lost a few minutes of gameplay. Party members sometimes got stuck behind an object and would eventually warp back into the party after a short while. However if they get stuck during a battle, you’ll have to skip their turns and do without their services until the fight is over.

Visually, Zoria: Age of Shattering’s worlds look great. Unfortunately, it's not easy to traverse, as it can be difficult to discern which areas can be safely navigated. The characters, especially their party profile pictures are not nearly as detailed. There’s a good amount of enemy variety.

The sound isn’t nearly as impressive. When there’s voice acting, it’s good. The background music is fitting, but forgettable. I enjoyed the sound effects and thought it was funny that they used a cardinal bird song by the outpost. I hear those often in Illinois.

Like many RPGs, Zoria: Age of Shattering has some moral issues worth noting. There is blood and violence. Some rooms you walk into will have blood on the floor. In battle you’ll see your party attacking or being attacked with magic. Necromancers are present in this game and they have the ability to summon skeletons in battle. Some of the female characters wear outfits that accentuate their femininity. Lastly, there is some language with uses of d*mn and b*stard.

According to Steam, I have played Zoria: Age of Shattering for twenty-seven hours. I had fun and may load up my last save to unlock Steam achievements for alternate endings. While not perfect, Zoria: Age of Shattering is still fun and I recommend it if you enjoy dungeon crawler RPGs. The developers are active in the Steam Discussions and are taking player feedback seriously. I have seen this game as low as 14.99 on sale and recommend checking it out if you’re comfortable with the moral concerns. DLC for adding more character classes is available and I look forward to future titles by Tiny Trinket Games.