Shadows: Awakening characters and gameplay revealed in 7-minute video

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Shadows: Awakening was announced last summer as an action-RPG with "real-time tactical combat" and a visual style similar to that of the brilliant Divinity: Original Sin games. It also follows on the 2014 ARPG Shadows: Heretic Kingdoms, continuing the story that had been promised (but not delivered) for "Book 2" but also expanding upon it with an all-new storyline, "making Shadows: Awakening not a sequel, but a full and completed experience."

If you're not sure what exactly that means, the new "featurette" is here to help. It talks about the setting, including the Shadow Realm and the fact that the main character is actually a shape-shifting demon, and also showcases basic mechanics: Instead of building toward powerful high-end abilities, for instance, "synergy effects" will enable even early-game skills to become very powerful when used in combination with other abilities. There will be more than 150 enemies to deal with and nearly 60 boss fights, including optional bosses that will be particularly difficult to defeat.

The new game is built on Unity rather than the Ogre Engine that powered Shadows: Heretic Kingdoms, meaning that it will also boast numerous bug fixes and performance improvements. "Thanks to this technology you will see that the game will look much better, it will be much smoother, and the overall feeling and gameplay will be much more satisfactory," programming director Jan Turan said.

Shadows: Awakening is set to come out on August 31, and is available for pre-purchase on Steam for $34/£30/€34. Owners of Shadows: Heretic Kingdoms on Steam and GOG (Awakening isn't listed on GOG yet but the previous games are, so I wouldn't be surprised to see it show up at some point prior to launch) can claim it for free.

Andy has been gaming on PCs from the very beginning, starting as a youngster with text adventures and primitive action games on a cassette-based TRS80. From there he graduated to the glory days of Sierra Online adventures and Microprose sims, ran a local BBS, learned how to build PCs, and developed a longstanding love of RPGs, immersive sims, and shooters. He began writing videogame news in 2007 for The Escapist and somehow managed to avoid getting fired until 2014, when he joined the storied ranks of PC Gamer. He covers all aspects of the industry, from new game announcements and patch notes to legal disputes, Twitch beefs, esports, and Henry Cavill. Lots of Henry Cavill.