I’ll admit it: I’m not the most knowledgeable person when it comes to Sega’s long-running Shining franchise of games. Yes, I’ve played a few of the games, but even so, my knowledge is quite limited compared to major fans of these titles. Thus, maybe it will come as a shock that for a long time, I thought that Shining in the Darkness was some kind of strange spin-off to the main series which, at least early on, was traditionally composed of turn-based strategy RPGs.

Some quick research set the record straight: Shining in the Darkness, released in 1991 for the Sega Genesis, is in fact the first ever game in the Shining series to be released. So, technically speaking, the series started out as a dungeon-crawler RPG, then evolved into a series of TBS RPGs as well as action-adventure titles.

Having never really played this one before, I decided to give it a shot and record my first 50 or so minutes playing around with the game. Yes, this is truly a blind run! And, so far, I’ve found it to be a very charming little experience that packs a fair bit of challenge to it. Be warned: you most certainly will need to grind if you ever want to have any hope of getting deeper into the dungeon!

If you enjoy this little video, let me know and I might think about recording a follow up to it! Meanwhile, please feel free to subscribe to my YouTube channel and stick around for more awesome, varied gaming content! 🙂