If you’ve been looking for a game with a thrilling story and even more thrilling gameplay, then Shades: Shadow Fight Roguelike might be the game for you.
Those who have played the iconic Shadow Fight games will know exactly what to expect from this game; action-filled gameplay and a developer team that really cares about you.
With that being said, there has been a slew of new content added to Shadow Fight Roguelike when compared to its predecessors, which makes it so both newcomers and veterans of this type of game can potentially struggle when starting off.
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To ensure that isn’t the case, we’re here with this ultimate gameplay guide. In it, we’ll be going through everything you need to know about Shades: Shadow Fight Roguelike gameplay before you hop into it and experience it for yourself.
The Story
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This might be a gameplay guide, but it’s crucial to give an introduction to the story to ensure you know what you’re getting into.
You fill the experiences shoes of Shadow, the protagonist of the previous Shadow Fight games. Although you have been living in times of peace for years now with your loved ones, everything changes when you one day get a vision in your dreams that you have to fight to escape.
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When you finally awaken, you find out that there’s a mysterious energy in the world, a black hole has opened in the sky, and your sensei has gotten sucked into the hole.
As you jump in to save your sensei, you learn that things are not what they seem and there are powers outside of your understanding that want you to go into the hole again and again until you finally reach the end.
Understanding Shadow Fight Roguelike What is a Roguelike?
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Before anything, it’s crucial that you understand the core concept of Shadow Fight Roguelike. As the name suggests, Shades: Shadow Fight Roguelike is, well, a roguelike. That means it’s similar to a game like Hades or Dash.io.
For those unfamiliar with the concept of roguelikes, it means that the main mechanic of this game involves going through missions without dying even once. If you do die, you’ll be sent back to the hub area of the game.
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If you get through a specific number of stages, however, then you’ll be allowed to proceed with the story and your progress will be saved. As you can imagine, this isn’t a game for the faint of heart or someone lacking patience.
Learning the Combat
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Now, as we mentioned before, Shadow Fight Roguelike series is most known for its excellent combat. Therefore, how could we not go through it? Naturally, both you and the enemy you’re facing have health bars at the top of the screen.
At its core, combat is simple, You’ll have three buttons on the screen every time you jump into combat. The first button is the analog stick located on the left side of the screen. You use it to move your character, Shade.
In addition to moving diagonally, it’s also possible to move the stick up to jump or down to roll. If you don’t move your character at all and an enemy attacks you then you’ll automatically block it, cutting the damage received by a significant amount.
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The other two buttons, meanwhile, are both dedicated to combat. The first one has the icon of a fist inside and it represents attacks using your hands. Naturally, this also includes any weapon you might be holding during the fight like swords, knives, and brass knuckles.
The second icon to the right has the icon of a foot. Tapping it has your character attack with his feet. This means high kicks, jump kicks, and even downward leg sweep attacks are all on the table for you to use.
The Art of Combos in Shadow Fight Roguelike
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The secret to winning exchanges against enemies is by chaining your button inputs to perform specific actions and devastating combos.
For example, if you move the virtual analog stick down and tap the kick button, your character will perform a downward sweep.
In the same sense, if you move the analog stick behind your character and press the punch button then your character will grab and throw the enemy back.
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Also, it’s worth mentioning that you can press the attack buttons multiple times too. Pressing the punch button twice, for example, can potentially lead to your character doing a chain follow-up attack after the first hit.
Progressing Through the Stages
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While we’ve gone through the core concept of the game as a roguelike already, it’s still important to tell you how you can progress in the story.
Shades: Shadow Fight Roguelike starts you off in chapter 1’s act 1, and requires you to complete ten stages back to back to progress.
Every stage features a different fight and the more you progress the more difficult the enemies become. Oh, and your health doesn’t heal at all either, which means every fight counts and you can’t let your guard down at all.
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At the very last stage of any act, you have to face a boss. Bosses are special enemies who not only pack more of a punch than regular enemies but also have multiple health bars. This means to take a boss down for good, you’ll essentially have to defeat them multiple times.
Reviving in Shadow Fight Roguelike
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Fortunately, if you do get defeated, that doesn’t mean it’s instantly game over. Instead, you also get the option to revive your player. Of course, it isn’t free and you can choose one of two options.
- You can either opt to pay using the game’s currency.
- Or you can watch a video which will revive you as soon as it ends.
Additionally, when you revive your character the stage restarts and you recover all of your health. Therefore, this mechanic is invaluable for players who do not lose any of their progress after climbing through a bunch of stages and getting unlucky.
Special Rooms
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Not every room you enter in your journey has an enemy out to get you. Some rooms also have things that can potentially help you complete the act completely.
The first room in Shadow Fight Roguelike is a different spiritual plain. In it, your character is able to meditate for a while and recover some health.
Keep in mind that this room doesn’t heal you completely and only recovers some of your health, though it’s still better than nothing.
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The second room, meanwhile, is the vortex of a secret room. Here, you have the option to roll for a random buff or treasure by watching a video. Of course, if you don’t want to roll then you can also simply tap the x button on the screen.
There are, however, two things to keep in mind. Firstly, you don’t choose when either of these areas pops up as it’s all RNG-based. Secondly, these areas do not count as stages and do not get you closer to completing the act.
Leveling up in Shadow Fight Roguelike
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As you complete stages in Shadow Fight Roguelike, regardless of whether you win or lose, you also get a bunch of experience. Getting enough experience will level your profile up, which will also unlock some extra features.
Additionally, you’ll also completely restore all of your energy and get some goodies in the process.
Mastering Shades
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One of the most important gameplay mechanics to master in Shadow Fight Roguelike is the shade.
After every stage you complete, you get the option to select one of three shades. Every shade in the game gives you a different buff that lasts for the entirety of your run.
Some of the shades offered to you can drastically help you defeat enemies, may it be thanks to them giving you a shield or increasing your damage by a set percentage.
Of course, you can stack as many shades as you want with no repercussions.
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Additionally, every shade is of a specific rarity in Shadow Fight Roguelike. The more rare a shade, the better the effect will be. For example, an uncommon blue shade is likely to be worse than an epic rarity purple shade.
You can see all of your shades by tapping the icon at the bottom left of the shade selection screen. Also, if you don’t like any of the shade offered then you can roll by using one dice.
Unlocking Hidden Talents
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Another thing that can really help you complete these stages more easily is the talent feature. When you hit level 4, this mechanic unlocks. To use it, you first have to go to the hub and tap the yin/yang icon at the left of the screen.
Here, you have the option to use gold and unlock one random mechanic. Keep in mind that while you don’t have control over which mechanic gets unlocked, all of them have the potential to make your life much easier.
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To ensure players don’t instantly unlock all the mechanics, you can also unlock a set number of talents before you’re forced to level up if you want to unlock anymore.
Taking Up Arms
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Of course, you can’t take out so many enemies bare-handed, can you? There are a bunch of different weapons in Shades: Shadow Fight Roguelike and all of them are different from one another.
Whether you like getting up close and personal with a dagger or brass knuckle, or if you would rather keep your distance with a longsword, there’s so much to choose from in this game that you might struggle for all the right reasons.
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To equip a weapon in Shadow Fight Roguelike, you just have to go to the hub area and then tap the inventory icon at the left of the screen.
Here, you’ll see your character and everything that has been currently equipped. Simply select the weapon you want to equip from the right and then tap on the ‘equip’ option.
In this same way, you can also equip armor to ensure you’re able to take more hits from the enemies.
Upgrading Your Weapons and Armor
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When in the weapon or armor selection screen for anything you own, you’ll also get the option to either upgrade that weapon or ‘max upgrade’ it alongside the amount of currency you’ll have to sacrifice.
An upgraded weapon is most definitely stronger than a weapon that isn’t upgraded. However, that doesn’t mean you should simply upgrade the first weapon you get.
Just like shades, every weapon and armor also has a set rarity. The higher the rarity, the better the chances are of it having better stats. Therefore, we recommend you save your finite resources until you find a weapon or piece of armor you really like.
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If you find the same armor or weapon twice or more times, then it’s also possible to increase the rarity of it to the next level by going to the forge area. Here, by merging two of the same items, you can increase its rarity and overall stats.
Getting New Items
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Now, there are multiple ways you can get new items in Shadow Fight Roguelike. You can either progress through the story to level up and unlock new items or you can open chests.
To open a chest, you have to go to the hub area and then tap the store icon on the left side of the screen. Here, you have three options to choose from. Either you can go through the offers that are running in the game at the time, you can open chests, or you can use actual money to buy in-game currency.
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Speaking of chests, there are two legitimate ways you can open a chest too in Shadow Fight Roguelike.
Either you can use a key if you have it, or you can use a set amount of gems to purchase a chest. Alternatively, it’s also possible to watch a video to open a chest and receive a free item.
Conclusion
This was everything you needed to know about Shades: Shadow Fight Roguelike before jumping into it.
Remember that Shadow Fight Roguelike is meant to be more difficult when compared to your average mobile game, so don’t get too disheartened if you lose a couple of items.
If you want to check out some similar action-filled games such as Shadow Fight Roguelike, take a look at Gods of Rome and Marvel: Future Fight. Who knows, they might be right up your alley.
