Shadows Over Loathing Review: Laugh out Lovecraft

Mail call! It’s a letter from your estranged strange uncle. Did you know you had an uncle? Oh, you did? Right. Well. It’s a letter from him asking you to come to his antiques shop all the way in Ocean City, which you’ll totally do because <insert one of several choices here>. Just get on the next bus t0- ah, you’re here already? That was fast — what a fascinating modern world we live in! Hmm, what’s that? Oh, right, the letter — yeah your uncle disappeared and you need to find him. How, you ask? By uncursing cursed antiques, of course! Now, no more questions, time is of the essence! Your estranged strange uncle awaits!

So begins Shadows Over Loathing, the third installment of the Loathing series (Kingdom of Loathing, West of Loathing). Developed and published by Asymmetric, the highly anticipated title dropped without much prior warning on November 11, 2022 to everyone’s delight; in fact, it’s already recevied the coveted Overwhelmingly Positive rating on Steam. Succinctly described on its Steam page as a “slapstick-figure comedy adventure-RPG full of mobsters, monsters, and mysteries,” Shadows Over Loathing encapsulates everything fans have loved about the original with some interesting and out there twists.

As previously mentioned, Shadows Over Loathing opens up on the player arriving in Ocean City to start the search for their uncle. Players will find a room ready and waiting for them in his antiques shop, as well as his shopkeeper to brief them on the situation. It seems ol’ Unky was on the hunt for cursed relics to uncurse and then sell, and one of them was so alluringly mysterious that he couldn’t resist — much to his detriment, as his whereabouts are now unknown. With the help of a pet and a pal, players will need to head off into the surrounding areas to follow a trail of cursed objects, narrowing them down until the one Uncle was chasing — and, you know, the man, myth, and legend himself — is found.

Chances are pretty high you’re coming from West of Loathing and/or Kingdom of Loathing, and if that’s the case, why are you here? You know you want to play this game already, go get it! But if you’re new to the series (or, oddly, on the fence about this one), Shadows Over Loathing is extremely similar in spirit to its predecessors with some interesting twists. First, the setting: US prohibition era (1920s – early 30s). While the game does lean into the era similarly to West of Loathing’s wild west backdrop, something about the setting wasn’t as strong as its country counterpart. Had there been more ragtime music instead of a more thriller-type soundtrack, I think the era would have come through better.

When it comes to actual gameplay, Shadows Over Loathing will be right at home to anyone familiar with the Loathing series. Players will run around 5 different maps fetching random items, earning meat, and uncovering mysteries in wacky and varied locations. Gathering all the hobos spread across the world so they can create a hobotopia, acting as a lawyer for grossly exaggerated witch trials in the past, and leading a coup against a big bad boss are just part of the package for players, all with the hilariously out there writing we know and love.

Of course, there are plenty of differences between Shadows Over Loathing and the previous iterations. For one, Muscle, Mysticality, and Moxie work differently; instead of being able to consume multiple items to raise those stats, players will only be able to have one food, drink, or potion effect active at once. This means that playing around with consumables becomes something of a puzzle, eating food to raise muscle to unlock a door, then eating a different food item to get rid of that muscle perk in an effort to raise moxie instead. Additionally, books are sometimes destroyed upon reading, but some will stick around forever, allowing players to continuously raise certain stats until they run out of XP or get tired (which ever comes first). And for those worried about silly walking being gone, don’t fret — it’s still around, but in a different form. Each pair of shoes collected will unlock a specific silly walk — vampire shoes allow the player to float, walking gloves will have players doing handstands, and so forth. Silly walking is here to stay!

I’ve had a hard time summing up my thoughts about Shadows Over Loathing, especially since I had coincidentally replayed West of Loathing a few weeks ago. What I’ve come to is that Shadows Over Loathing absolutely encapsulates the soul of the Loathing series — its silly writing, surprisingly complex storylines, and high replayability — but the heart wasn’t quite the same. I don’t think it’s a bad thing, per se, more that Shadows Over Loathing had a Lovecraftian/horror vibe to it where its immediate predecessor was just plain silly. The mechanics and gameplay are all there and similar to what came before, but there’s something deeper here — something yet to be discovered — that I think sets this apart from the others.

One thing’s for certain: when it comes to Shadows Over Loathing, we’ll be uncovering secret after secret after secret for months to come.

Shadows Over Loathing may be part of the Loathing franchise and reflect that silly yet deep gameplay we’ve come to know and love, but there’s something deeper to this world that we’ve yet to uncover. Although there’s plenty of laughs to be had here, there’s a bit more of a serious vibe to the third installment with some Lovecraftian overtones; it’s best to go into this one with a sense of curiosity instead of just waiting to be entertained. If you’re already a fan of the Loathing series, you should do yourself a favor and grab this one now. If you’ve yet to enjoy the series, do yourself a huge favor and try out Kingdom of Loathing, then play West of Loathing, then do yourself previously mentioned favor and grab Shadows Over Loathing. Do it for your uncle!

Final Verdict: 4/5

Available on: PC (Reviewed); Publisher: Asymmetric; Developer: Asymmetric; Players: 1; Released: November 11, 2022; MSRP: $22.99

Full disclosure: This review is based on a copy of Shadows Over Loathing provided by the publisher.