BlackShard (PC)

Geoffrey Wright | May 2, 2025 | Review | No Comments

The latest from the developer of Shattered – Tale of the Forgotten King, Blackshard goes in another direction by sending the player into a labyrinth of curiosities and wonders, and then leaves them to their own devices. Worth seeing if you can find the exit to this maze? Lets take a look.

Blackshard is a surreal adventure that sees you tasked with preventing the collapse of the labyrinth, or aiding in its demise, by exploring its many halls and activating the yellow stones dotted throughout (also act as checkpoints) There’s a past, present, and a future to this labyrinth, one that you will need to unravel as your choices shape its eventual purpose.

The labyrinth offers many secrets and souls within to seek out for those that want to explore as much as possible. Its worth seeking out the lore, and the characters you can meet, as it will further your understanding of the structures overall function. Be careful mind you, there’s several endings and they can come quick, so always be at least a little wary of the path you’re following.

Presentation is always important for a game of this type as its usually what helps to draw you into the world and offer additional incentive to explore. Black Shard doesn’t disappoint in this regard, from bleached monolithic structures of unimaginable size, to rooms of intricate structures of significance, both ends of the spectrum are handled with a cohesive style throughout. Until you head off the beaten path and stumble into voids or through psychedelic wormholes to find yourself in a more natural environment that makes great use of the engine. 2D artwork is also sublime, from character renders to loading screens, each is beautiful and styled to fit the fractured nature of the labyrinth.

The audio is also good, soundscape in general fits the grandiose nature of the labyrinth without taking over and staying somewhat subdued. Performance on the other hand is a little tougher given the UE usage, 4K/60-75fps was the norm on my system (R7 5800X3D/32GB/RTX 3090) with high settings. There aren’t really many options to tweak unfortunately, game also seems locked to a 21:9 aspect ratio, but the minimalist look of the game should at least make the lower pre-sets feasible if needed.

I guess if you boil things down to their most basic level, then yes, this could be branded a walking sim – but that would be doing it a disservice. You’re not just walking to further a story here, instead there’s a labyrinth that needs to be solved. Not only that, but there isn’t really just one route through it, and there are also what I’ll distractions – pathways that are a little labyrinth of their own that don’t further your main progress, but can offer new perspectives or lore on the labyrinth. You’ll usually end up back at the convergence zone (acts as a hub of sorts) so explore to your hearts content without worrying too much about getting lost.

There isn’t really any direction offered by the game tho, and you’ll need to keep a mental memory of sorts for the labyrinth as you explore, so the landmarks in areas become a godsend. This can lead to some frustration when exploring. One time I ended up at what looked to be a dead end (jumping off in frustration landed me near to where I’d started due to the lack of fall damage) but upon making my way back took extra time to study the surroundings. Noticed the architecture next to the stairs ran like a thin bridge to a nearby monolith, followed it round to a secret room and then into a void to meet a labyrinth dweller for an interesting development. So long as you’re aware of your surroundings and the freedom afforded, the frustration can morph into a curiosity often as you look for other secrets to find.

Blackshard is a surreal journey full of discoveries, either beautiful to behold or filling you with dread at the implications. Along the adventure it always seeks to feed your curiosity which keeps you going, with the amount of freedom afforded by the lack of a clear path and the numerous secrets & endings that can be found leaving plenty to seek. Not for everyone given the gameplay loop, but for under a tenner its certainly worth considering if you’re on the market for a surreal & rewarding journey.