Today's hack and slash role-playing games like Silverfall need to contend with hits like Titan Quest and its recently released Immortal Throne expansion in order to gain any recognition. The gameplay proves easy and straightforward, but a great deal goes on in the background.

At the start of the game, the player escapes as a rampaging horde pillages the city of Silverfall. The great master of the city uses his magical abilities, combined with a good bit of awkward dialogue, to confront and defeat the horde's villainous leader. However, victory comes at a high cost, because the master disappears and Silverfall lies in ruins as refugees flee to nearby marshes. As an up-and-coming adventurer, the player must not only track down the missing master, but help rebuild the city, and figure out the mystery behind its invasion.

One of Silverfall's major drawbacks comes from a general lack of detail. Not in a graphical sense, since its pleasing cell-shaded graphics and its use of physics more than does the job. Some monsters fly backward, flip over and slide down slopes when hit with the final blow.

While information about the four different races available to players as create their characters seems missing, differences turn out to be mainly superficial, except each race has access to specialized abilities that tend to gear them more toward one fighting style than another. For example, Elves have an easier time casting spells and using bows, Trolls excel at melee combat and Goblins can gain a distinct advantage when using firearms. People will need to check the manual for in-depth details, but even that falls short. We still don't know what the little icons above the character names represent, and it took a fair bit of deductive reasoning before we realized that the cryptic red and blue dots on the toolbar represented health and power potions, since there were no tooltips. Incidentally, unlike most similar games, there do not appear to be any hotkeys for drinking potions.

At the same time, the game has a great deal going for it. The world of Silverfall divides itself between the followers of Nature and Technology. Players go on quests in order to gain loyalty points toward one faction or the other, each with their own benefits. Pursuing Technology unlocks the ability to call upon mechanical servants and use steam power to cause damage. Becoming a defender of Nature opens up Lyconthropy, the ability to change into a werewolf for faster and stronger attacks. Additionally, different loyalties impact the types of items a player has access to. A follower of technology could use firearms, while Nature lovers cannot equip it. Characters will respond to the player differently according to their alignment, and those loyalties even affect the price of goods from some vendors. Furthermore, the new Silverfall city will be built according to the choices the player makes.