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Shattered: Tale of the Forgotten King Critic Reviews: What Critics Think

Critics praise Shattered: Tale of the Forgotten King’s atmosphere and exploration, but mixed reviews point to awkward combat, rough polish and unclear direction.
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Shattered: Tale of the Forgotten King has a mixed reception among PC critics: Metacritic shows 68/100 from 10 reviews, classed as “Mixed or Average.” Reviewers often praise its striking atmosphere and exploration, but recurring complaints about combat, polish and navigation temper that appeal.

What is Shattered: Tale of the Forgotten King?

Released on PC on February 17, 2021, Shattered: Tale of the Forgotten King is an action-adventure game developed by Redlock Studio. Nintendo’s official description presents it as a dark, reality-spanning adventure combining skill-based combat, semi-open-world exploration, 2.5D platforming and a branching narrative. Nintendo’s Switch listing uses the phrase “precision based combat” in its publisher-provided copy.

What is the Metacritic score?

Metacritic’s PC critic page displays a score of 68/100 from 10 critic reviews, accessed in 2026, and classifies it as “Mixed or Average.” Its displayed breakdown is 3 positive, 7 mixed and 0 negative reviews. This is a small PC critic sample, not a single verdict shared by every reviewer or a score for every platform. See Metacritic’s PC critic reviews.

What do critics praise?

Atmosphere and visual identity

Review excerpts repeatedly single out the game’s evocative, melancholic art direction and distinctive world. Its visual mood is among the clearest sources of positive response, even where reviewers are less persuaded by how the game plays.

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Exploration and ambition

Some critics value the secrets, shortcuts and exploratory feel of the world, as well as the attempt to combine Soulslike combat with platforming. The blend gives the adventure a sense of ambition beyond a straightforward combat-focused action game.

What are the main criticisms?

Combat can feel awkward

Several reviews describe combat as rigid or imprecise. That is a significant caveat for a game whose official positioning emphasizes skill-based fighting: players looking for consistently responsive, polished Soulslike encounters may find this a sticking point.

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Rough edges and repetition

Reviewers also mention bugs or a lack of polish, repeated enemy encounters, limited enemy variety and bosses some found bland. These are recurring observations across the excerpts, not complaints made by every critic.

Direction and story can be unclear

Some reviewers found it difficult to tell where to go or how to interpret the story’s events. The branching narrative and mysterious setting may appeal to players who enjoy piecing things together, but the available reviews indicate that this ambiguity can become a navigation or clarity problem.

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Rank #3
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How do other ratings compare?

Other storefront snapshots provide context, but they measure different things and should not be merged into Metacritic’s score.

Source and platform Displayed rating What it represents
Metacritic, PC critic reviews 68/100 from 10 reviews; 3 positive, 7 mixed, 0 negative Critic-review snapshot, accessed 2026; classified as “Mixed or Average.” Source
Epic Games Store 61 OpenCritic top critic average Epic’s separate aggregator display, accessed 2026, labels the rating weak. Its contributing reviews and methodology are not aligned here with Metacritic’s, so the figures are not directly comparable. Source
Steam 67% positive from 602 user reviews Changing Steam user-review snapshot, accessed 2026; not professional critic reception. Source

Is Shattered: Tale of the Forgotten King worth playing?

It may suit players drawn to unusual atmosphere, exploratory worlds and platforming mixed with action combat, especially if they can tolerate rough mechanics and occasional uncertainty about where to go. If precise, polished combat is your priority, the repeated criticism of combat feel and technical roughness is a reason to approach it cautiously. The PC score captures that divided response better than a simple recommendation or rejection.

Rank #4
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Does the score cover every version?

No. The 68/100 discussed above is specifically Metacritic’s PC critic score. Nintendo’s official US listing describes the Switch edition as digital and gives its release date as April 22, 2022; it names Plug In Digital as publisher and Redlock Studio as developer. Nintendo’s listing. A third-party store index reports physical-format Amazon entries for Switch, PS4 and PS5, but that does not establish current stock, seller, condition or the details of a particular listing. MobyGames’ store index.

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