Moreover, Rise of Chaos' specific additions don't really seem to do much for the actual game. The new character race, the demonic, bat-winged nephilim, can fly--but so can the birdlike aracoix race that was included in the original game. The two new classes, the doomsayer and the sentinel, seem interesting enough. The former class focuses on magic spells that can weaken enemies, while the latter is a holy warrior who has the ability to dispel magic and can damage demonic enemies. The expansion also offers two new skills, which include darksworn, a school of magic that weakens enemies, and conjurer, a school of magic that lets you summon "pet" monsters to fight at your side.
Rise of Chaos really doesn't add much to Shadowbane, otherwise.
None of these additions really add anything significant to the game, nor are they anything that online RPG veterans haven't seen elsewhere in other games. The expansion's new, high-level areas offer powerful new enemies to fight, and they also let characters increase in level to 65 (though the game also has a "soft-level cap" that allows characters to go higher than that). These new monsters don't seem to exhibit any kind of exceptional cunning or challenge, but, instead, seem more like excuses to let player characters gain their highest levels rather than anything else. Otherwise, time hasn't been kind to Shadowbane. The game's graphics were dated last year, and its simple textures and blocky character models and architecture don't look any better. With the exception of some music that plays on certain menu screens, Shadowbane continues to be a mostly silent game whose sparse audio effects mainly consist of character and enemy grunts and groans that can be heard during battle or spellcasting.
The core game itself does still offer a few features that made the original Shadowbane so attractive to some. Namely, there are diverse advanced character classes, and there is almost completely cutthroat player-versus-player combat. However, you can get these features without the expansion, which is modestly priced at $20. Aside from the extended level cap and a chance to start a new type of character, though, it doesn't seem to offer Shadowbane veterans much. Essentially, Rise of Chaos' new additions don't seem to have a significant impact on the core game, so if you're a Shadowbane fan, you may want to think twice about ponying up for the expansion. And if you didn't like or weren't interested in Shadowbane to begin with, Rise of Chaos won't do a thing to change your mind.
