Shadowbane

(27 votes, average: 3.7 out of 5)

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Shadowbane is a 3D Mmorpg originally released in early 2003 through a pay to play system, but has since become free to play in order to attract more players. Shadowbane, unlike most traditional MMORPGs, focuses more on PvP oriented game play rather than PvE, as players can manage their own cities and huge guilds in an open PvP environment.

Shadowbane Information
Game Title: Shadowbane
Genres: 3D, Fantasy, MMORPG
Publisher: Ubisoft
Developer: Wolfpack Studios
Area: Global
Official Site: Click Here
Platforms: Microsoft Windows / Mac

Pros: +Lots of classes / races to choose from, +Unique PvP oriented game play, +Active population, +Constantly updated

Cons: -Aged graphics, -Game unstable on Windows Vista, -Limited tutorial

Shadowbane Reviewed

Shadowbane was originally released in 2003 under a pay to play model. The game originally intended to compete against the two big MMORPG juggernauts at the time, Ultima Online and Everquest. Shadowbane has changed drastically since its release as the game is now free to play and boatloads of new content has been added. The change from “pay to play” to “free to play” didn’t stop the game’s developers from continuing to update the game. Shadowbane still has an active population and Ubisoft is actually in the process of adding another server to support the game’s slowly growing population.

Shadowbane plays like a mix of Ultima Online and Dark Age of Camelot. The main focus of Shadowbane is PvP. Players can basically kill each other anywhere in the game’s world. The goal of the game is to gang up with some friends and start your own town and grow strong enough to take over vast amounts of land. A single guild can theoretically control entire continents if they have the strength to do so, but guilds that become that powerful usually end up splitting and fighting each other for control.

There are 12 races and over 20 playable classes. Shadowbane is a fairly aged game, but has some innovative and fun features. Firstly, the sheer number of races and classes add to Shadowbane enjoyability, as there it adds a sense of uniqueness and varied game play. Shadowbane is definitely not for players that prefer raiding and working together with friends to run through dungeons and kill monsters, as the game is geared almost entirely towards PvP.

One major drawback to Shadowbane is the fact that game offers practically no tutorial. There are little icons that explain the basics of the game to you, but it would have been much better if they offered players a series of newbie quests that explained the game a bit. Shadowbane’s graphics are a bit dated, but are definitely tolerable and are comparable to that of Hero Online and Xiah Rebirth.

Another problem with Shadowbane is that the game is basically unplayable on Windows Vista, as the game will crash every few minutes. I had to switch over to my XP Machine to get Shadowbane to run without crashing. Another small issue is that the game’s default graphics are absolutely horrendous. I Strongly recommend that you go to the SBConfig file in the Shadowbane directory and change the game’s resolution and improve the graphics before playing, otherwise the game will look worse than the first Diablo.

Shadowbane’s character customization is one of the game’s best aspects. Unlike traditional mmorpgs, you don’t simply select a class and have the same skills that everyone else who picked that class has. Shadowbane has a skill system where players can select disciplines, which are basically subclasses, as they level up. Players can select 3 disciplines at level 20 and a fourth one at level 70. The game’s sheer number of disciplines, 47, add an incredible amount of character customization to the game. Shadowbane is definitely worth playing if you’re passionate about PvP.