Steam has a new free game available, and it looks like a good mix of The Legend of Zelda and God of War.
The best thing about searching through the front page of Steam is that you can often come across hidden gem games that you otherwise wouldn’t have discovered.
Shadow’s Grove from developer Fenris Games feels like it has the potential to be one of these types of games, blending aspects of The Legend of Zelda and God of War into a short action-adventure format.
It’s a game where you explore a range of hand-crafted, otherworldly environments as a spirit guide who can shift between human and wolf forms. Using these mechanics, you must solve environmental puzzles and vanquish corrupt spirits in order to complete your journey.
“Shadowโs Grove is an emotionally-driven action adventure game following the journey of Astrid, a young spirit guide struggling to accept the loss of her lifelong companion, Eri,” reads Shadow’s Grove‘s official description on Steam.
“As she navigates the Valley of Souls, Eriโs fading presence becomes invaluable to her as the two rely on one another to uncover new paths and confront powerful spirits. But, the longer Astrid remains in the afterlife, the clearer the truth becomes to her and Eri: that moving forward may mean letting go.
“In this journey, youโll guide Astrid through a world brimming with heart and mystery, uncovering the true nature of the afterlife while forging an unbreakable bond with Eri.”
The themes of loss, connection, and discovery are embedded into every aspect of Shadow’s Grove, and that includes the soundtrack that Fenris Games describes as “rich” and “emotional”.
The game was developed at the DigiPen Institute of Technology as a student project, and is apparently for educational purposes only. It’s also not the first free game developed at the college, and has released many other of its projects for free on Steam alongside Shadow’s Grove.
To download Shadow’s Grove, you simply need to head over to its Steam store page and hit “Play Game” where it says so.
Since it’s a free game, there’s no loss if you’re unable to run it on your PC. However, do be sure to check before you try if your PC is a little old.
The game has a minimum requirement of a GTX 1060, which should be fine if you’ve got a gaming PC that was built in the last decade.
