Following the events of hack ’n’ slash RPG Kult: Heretic Kingdoms, a dark shadow has once again fallen over the world. The core element of Shadows: Heretic Kingdoms is its internally conflicted main character and the associated unique party system. Players must assume the role of the Devourer, a mighty demon who can travel back and forth between the human and shadow world, devouring the souls of his enemies. Seamlessly switching between the Devourer and up to three party members, each with their own special abilities, provides strategic depth in battle, while switching between worlds also allows players to outwit their opponents in battle, avoiding traps and solving puzzles along the way.

A shadow lies across the world, and the Devourer is the only one who can defeat this rising threat. It is now up to players to decide whether they save the world from this dark threat or leave it to its fate.

Based on feedback from Shadows: Heretic Kingdoms's Early Access version German publisher, bitComposer, and the developers at Games Farm have agreed to invest additional development time. However, to prevent fans and supporters from having to wait for the extended edition with its new, increased scope, the game will be released in two books:

• Book I: Devourer of Souls (November 2014)
• Book II: Age of Demons (February 2015)

The two books will be sold together for the reduced price of €29.99, so all Early Access supporters and buyers of the first book will receive Book II in Spring 2015 for free. Further books to expand the Heretic Kingdoms universe are planned.

“It was clear to us from the start that Shadows had the potential to be a great game. But at the beginning of development, we realized that Shadows was going to surpass even our expectations and would be the biggest and most ambitious project we’ve ever worked on to date. The hugely positive feedback from the players and the great previews of the Early Access build did the rest.

However, the increased scope of the game has also increased development requirements. We had to ask ourselves a difficult question and make a decision: How can we meet the fans expectations without taking away the features and the content that make the game so unique?

So we made the following decision: to leave Shadows as it is and at the same time meet the high expectations of our fans. We’ll split Shadows into two large segments/stories and call them ‘Books’. To show our gratitude to the players who have supported us during the Early Access phase and who continue to support us, we have also decided to give them free access to the predecessor of Shadows: Heretic Kingdoms - Kult: Heretic Kingdoms as soon as the Steam port is ready,” said Games Farm's head of development Peter Nagy.

The recent decision to split Shadows: Heretic Kingdoms into two Books and the afforded additional development time allow for increased scope and significantly increased playing time. Overall, the gameplay time with only single one of the three main characters exceeds estimated 20 hours. Each main character offers an own personal story which brings great replay value.