9th Dawn III: Shadow of Erthil

There’s much to love in 9th Dawn III: Shadow of Erthil but it requires such an investment and patience from the player in order to pay off that many won’t push through to see the game’s best moments. The plot could have been tightened up, the presentation will be divisive and the combat lacks meaningful depth but the game world and activities it contains will have you busy for many, many hours if 9th Dawn III gets its hooks into you.

All in all, 9th Dawn III is a solid RPG adventure, with all the side activities and exploration you could ask for. While the combat difficulty is sometimes poorly balanced, the grind to improve has an almost addictive quality that kept me coming back for more. The visual style, a throwback to a bygone era of open world games, was used well to keep the visuals both simple and exciting. By putting together some of the best parts of hit games, 9th Dawn III succeeds in breaking new ground while tapping into nostalgia for classics.