Shadow Hearts: Covenant
Main game
4.35 average rating based on 169 ratings
- Developers
- Nautilus
- Publishers
- Aruze, Midway
- Series
- Shadow Hearts
- Platforms
- PlayStation 2
- Genres
- Role-playing (RPG), Turn-based strategy (TBS)
- Themes
- Fantasy, Historical, Science fiction
Release Dates
User Stats
How Long Is Shadow Hearts: Covenant?
Related Content
BITE MEEEE
I am in the minority of people who have played all three Shadow Hearts games (which in itself is a number smaller than the occurrence rate of an exotic genetic disorder) who actually prefers From the New World over Covenant. But let me explain: while this game and FTNW have roughly the same ratio of silliness to seriousness, Covenant being a direct sequel to the original Shadow Hearts (and being based off of the bad ending, at that) makes the silliness come off as out of place and foolishly bizarre. The localization is a little iffy in places and that doesn't help matters.
And you know, I was still pretty OK with that and all but with the game suddenly turning into an even dumber Final Fantasy 8 at the tail end of the game I was all bleauuuuuuugghhhhhhh (although the cutscene that leads up to the final dungeon is fantastic and probably the best one in the game).
Honestly though? It's still a good game in spite of all that. The graphics are a huge upgrade from the first, the soundtrack is just as fantastic, and there's definitely lots of fun things to do. And like I said, I'm …
I am in the minority of people who have played all three Shadow Hearts games (which in itself is a number smaller than the occurrence rate of an exotic genetic disorder) who actually prefers From the New World over Covenant. But let me explain: while this game and FTNW have roughly the same ratio of silliness to seriousness, Covenant being a direct sequel to the original Shadow Hearts (and being based off of the bad ending, at that) makes the silliness come off as out of place and foolishly bizarre. The localization is a little iffy in places and that doesn't help matters.
And you know, I was still pretty OK with that and all but with the game suddenly turning into an even dumber Final Fantasy 8 at the tail end of the game I was all bleauuuuuuugghhhhhhh (although the cutscene that leads up to the final dungeon is fantastic and probably the best one in the game).
Honestly though? It's still a good game in spite of all that. The graphics are a huge upgrade from the first, the soundtrack is just as fantastic, and there's definitely lots of fun things to do. And like I said, I'm in the minority on this opinion. But sometimes you just gotta be true to yourself. Real life.
This sequel, unfortunately, was a miss for me. The characterisation was lacking for even the character on the cover art. Yuri, Blanca, and to a lesser degree Ring Spirit were the only characters I cared remotely about. Although, I did think Gepetto showed promise in the beginning. The dungeons felt like a slog. The soundtrack was repetitive as well, but I will say that the sleepy town theme that frequently played was quite cozy and I enjoyed it a lot.
All that to say, the elements that made Shadow Hearts 1 stand out for me were largely lost in this title. I adore that so many people coveted this game and that it brought much needed attention to the franchise when it came out. There's a lot of humour in it that may have landed with other players better than it did with me. It's just if you really fancied the macabre atmosphere from the earlier entries (Koudelka/SH1), you might want to go into this game with tempered expectations.
Gosh darn it I love getting games in the mail. My wife, understandably, likes it less. At least, she dislikes the spending money part. Getting those sweet sweet manila packages in the mail, well, everyone likes that :)
Today I got Shadow Hearts: Covenant, CIB. Also purchased Klonoa 2: Lunatea's Veil, Suikoden V, Shadow Hearts (the first one) and others over the last few months...
Man, the PS2 has some great games.
The amazing sequel to Shadow Hearts. It lost just a bit of the darkness that enveloped the first game, but it still maintained the strong connection to it. The story is just fantastic, honestly. This a wonderful game... just as good as any big name RPG. Better than some, in my opinion.
Played through twice in 2005
One - blind play through
Two - Second playthrough with 100%
All endings unlocked.
PS2