the Shadow of Swallow (2025)

Developer: Raine Studio
Platforms: Windows
Genres: Action, Adventure, Indie
Rating: 4.0 of 5, 35 player ratings
Typical playtime: about 2.2 hours
Where to get it: Steam

The 3D catalog: game boxes on wooden shelves, with the cat sitting at the counter next to its greeting.

The catalog in 3D

The same catalog has a room you can walk around in. The cat behind the counter is the AI Catbot, and they pick real games from it when you tell them what you feel like playing. Nothing is for sale, here or in there. Go in from here and this game is already out on the counter, with more like it waiting on the shelf next to it.

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How it feels

a beautifully hand-drawn ancient world with fast-paced sword and archery combat, stealth, and occasional bullet-time moments.

atmospherichand-drawnside-scrollingfast-pacedactionstealthbullet timeswordplay

What players say

Players praise the hand-painted Chinese ink art and appreciate the lack of respawning enemies to help with combat, but the core gameplay is a point of disagreement. Many call the controls clunky, specifically the wall jumps and block timing, while others find the combat simple and satisfying. The game has no achievements, no manual saving within a chapter, and performance is poor on some hardware.

Screenshots

More games like this

This page is from Underplayed Gems, a catalog of older and overlooked games. Not quite it? You can browse by platform and genre, or take this one into the 3D catalog and ask the Catbot for something closer.