Retro-Inspired Action RPG Shrine’s Legacy Gets Official Release Date

Developer Positive Concept Games and game management platform indie.io announced at gamescom Wednesday that 16-bit action RPG Shrine’s Legacy will release October 7 on Steam.

If you’re not already familiar with Shrine’s Legacy, it’s inspired by classic RPGs of the SNES era and blends that retro look with more modern real-time combat and puzzle solving. The story takes place in a land called Ardemia, a magical world threatened by a returning evil. It can only be saved by uniting the Sword of the Shrine and the eight elements of magic scattered across the world.

You play as two young heroes, Rio and Reima. Rio is heir to the Sword and a descendant of the last hero to banish the ancient evil, while Reima is a mage who’s been desperately seeking the Sword. The two are brought together by the rise of this evil and will go on a journey to find the eight elements before it’s too late.

That journey will take you across an expansive world full of dungeons to explore, puzzles to solve, and secrets to discover. Investigate its nooks and crannies to find crafting materials and magical jewels, and face down treasure-guarding bosses to earn stat-increasing items and learn powerful spells.

This is a character-focused tale, one that will force its two heroes to deal with pain, tragedy, and loss. Vanquishing an ancient evil isn’t possible without sacrifice, and we won’t go into spoilers here, but you’ll find out just how much Rio and Reima are willing to lose to successfully complete their quest.

You can play all of Shrine’s Legacy either solo or in two-player co-op. As you could probably guess from their descriptions, Rio is a melee fighter and Reima is a ranged magic user. If you play solo, you can swap between them at any time, with AI controlling whichever character you’re not actively playing. For co-op, you can go the old-fashioned way and play with a friend on the couch or pair up online via Steam Remote Play Together or Parsec. Either way, there’s full controller support and customizable keyboard controls.

If you want to try Shrine’s Legacy for yourself, there’s a free demo available on Steam now. It contains about two hours of the game’s story, including two dungeons, two towns, and multiple bosses. Just like the full game, the demo can also be played solo or in co-op. If you want to stay up to date with the latest news and previews, you can also follow the game and developer on Twitter, Facebook, or Instagram.