You can interact with each and every character you encounter, and if they have quest for you, a large exclamation point will appear over their head. Defeated enemies can be looted of their items and gold and likewise with chests.
The huge, expansive world of Aralon really grabs you when you realize that you’ll need mounts to traverse it. You get to ride your first horse early on in the game and it’s an utter joy. For some reason, riding a horse across the beautiful landscape and awesome scenery was thoroughly satisfying. They handle very nicely and the experience feels quite authentic.
The combat system works with you tapping on the attack button once an enemy is within range. You’ll then use whatever weapon you have equipped to attack your foe. Skills are lined up on the bottom bar in a row of five. An arrow on the bar will switch to a second bar of five slots. All can be customized with either skills, items, or even weapons. There is also a time-based defense button which when pressed as an enemy attacks allows you to block. The level ups and skill trees are handled well and the special skills, when executed, look and feel satisfyingly devastating.
Every element of a high-profile RPG you could want is here. The superb graphics are absolutely stunning (especially so when you remember your playing it on a phone). You can craft items and make potions. A plethora of side quests are available in addition to the story quests, all of which are organized nicely in a handy quest log. The combat is fantastic and the upgradable skills only add to the feeling of absolute immersion. An astounding amount of items are to be found in the game and the random drop aspect of the game is definitely there. You never know exactly what you’ll come across on a downed foe or in a locked chest. The world is simply huge and the game boasts over 30 diverse areas to explore. The game has a great (albeit cliche) story that flows along nicely throughout the game. You can become an outlaw, ride dragons, alchemize… In short, just about every celebrated aspect and element of the role-playing genre is present here, many of which I could happily write an entire review about!.
However, for all of the raving I could do about this game, the critic in me feels obliged to examine the other side of the coin. The biggest issue for me is the in-game highlighting. For example, when you  tap on a enemy or treasure chest to interact or attack it, the game automatically targets whichever object you are closest to. This can cause some annoyance as you attempt to choose which foe you want to attack whilst the game insists you open the chest. This does not happen every time, but it will happen eventually. Occasionally, you also don’t lose the highlight when you should and even though you’re well out of the range of interaction, the option remains. The draw distance, due to the massive size of the world, will sometimes cut off mountains and cause a few graphical glitches, but nothing that makes the game less enjoyable to look at. Occasional glitches will pop up in the game, for example, some walls will suddenly not do the job assigned to them by the laws of physics and you’ll pass right through. The biggest glitch came when I bought a new helmet and once I put it on I was bald. I was confounded until I turned around and there was a big stretched out helmet about ten feet in front of me that followed around my avatar. I eventually had to sell the helmet and buy a different one. Honestly though that was the only glitch of such magnitude I encountered that hindered gameplay at all.
To conclude: I feel as though for every point I’ve brought up, ten more could be mentioned. And covering them all might mean you would spend more time reading about Aralon when really you should be playing it.
iFanzine Verdict: Aralon: Sword and Shadow is an experience that simply must be had. No other open-world RPG on the App Store can hold a candle to it. With some minor bug fixes, this has the potential to be flawless. The game’s massive world begs to be explored and the graphics are nothing short of beautiful. Any true RPG fan should already be spamming the buy button, because this is undoubtedly one of iPhone’s biggest must-have games thus far.
[xrr rating=5/5]