Shadow Hearts
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Shadow Hearts (シャドウハーツ Shadōhātsu?) is a series of role playing games for the PlayStation 2. The original Shadow Hearts was developed by Sacnoth and released by Midway in the United States on December 11, 2001. The sequel, Shadow Hearts: Covenant (or Shadow Hearts II), was also made by the same group, although Sacnoth reformed itself into a company called Nautilus for the project. It was released in October 2004 in the United States. A further sequel, Shadow Hearts: From the New World, was released in Japan on July 28, 2005 and in the United States on March 7, 2006. The Shadow Hearts series is known for its Lovecraftian horror and juxtaposition of historical facts and details with fantastic, often anachronistic characters and events, otherwise known as a "secret history" or alternative history. While not amazing sellers, the Shadow Hearts games have developed a reputation as "cult" games that have done very well in their niche.
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[edit] Koudelka
It should be noted that the PlayStation game Koudelka, Sacnoth's first effort, is technically a predecessor to Shadow Hearts, although the connection to it is not as strong as the connection between the other games.
[edit] Shadow Hearts
Shadow Hearts takes place fifteen years after Koudelka, 1913, in the same universe. On a branch of the Trans-Siberian Railroad in Manchuria, the game's protagonist, Yuri Volte Hyuga (Urmnaf "Uru" Bort Hyuga in the Japanese version), hears a voice in his head telling him to rescue the young Alice Elliot, whose priest father was recently murdered in a most brutal fashion in Rouen, France. After an English gentleman by the name of philosopher Roger Bacon attempts to abduct Alice from the Japanese army himself, Yuri saves her, and starts a quest through China (and eventually Europe) to discover Alice's importance, Bacon's intent, the identity of the mysterious voice, and his own relevance.
[edit] Shadow Hearts: Covenant
Shadow Hearts: Covenant (also called Shadow Hearts II) directly continues from the story at the end of Shadow Hearts, assuming the "bad ending" was correct. This game features 2 DVD ROM discs instead of the usual 1, which provides (according to the publisher) 40 hours of gameplay.
The town of Domremy has stubbornly refused to fall to the German advance at the beginning of World War I thanks to the aid of a "demon" which seems to defend it. Lieutenant Karin Koenig of the German army is sent along with a person who claims to be an Inquisitor from the Vatican, Nicolai Conrad, to acquire a means of exorcising this demon. However, the 'Demon of Domremy' is actually the Harmonixer Yuri from the first Shadow Hearts. Yuri, Karin, and Nicolai soon become entangled in a plot involving secret conspiracies, the Russian royal family, the Japanese foreign minister, the mystical tome from Koudelka, and more.
The game as a whole was revamped from Shadow Hearts, including the graphics, the way the Judgment Ring worked, and the cast of characters. Game critics have also smiled upon Shadow Hearts: Covenant much more than the original, and a general consensus seems to be that the game is an overall improvement on the first.
[edit] Shadow Hearts: From The New World
The latest installment in the series, Shadow Hearts: From The New World, was announced in March 2005. XSEED Games, a company made up of former Square Enix USA employees, brought Shadow Hearts: From the New World to North America.
The title begins in North America in the year 1929 and features two new main characters: a 16 year old New Yorker named Johnny Garland, and a 21 year old Native American woman named Shania. Shania has powers of fusion similar to Yuri and Kurando in the previous Shadow Hearts entries, but Shania is not a harmonixer. Instead, she makes pacts with spirits, in direct contrast to Yuri and Kurando who turned into demons. The story begins with Johnny, a private detective, being hired by a man named Gilbert to find one Marlow Brown. When Johnny finds the man, however, a mysterious 'window' opens, and from it emerges a Lovecraftian monster. The rest of the game follows Johnny, Shania, and company as they attempt to uncover the truth about Gilbert and his plans.
While some may argue that From The New World is closer to a spinoff than to a sequel, it is important to note that the game has several links with the previous game. Beside a few returning characters (Roger Bacon, Lenny Curtis, Joachim Valentine, Keith Valentine[as the Silver Bat], and Gerard, the shopkeeper) and items(Émigré Manuscript), important events that took place on Shadow Hearts 2 are mentioned, such as Nicolai (Nicholas) Conrad's release of malice.
