Shadowstaff

Shadowstaff is an action-adventure game where you play as a wizard tasked with defeating an ancient wizard order, along with his trusty shadowstaff.

Story
Rathmen is a lesser wizard at the College of Magicka, with his magical shadowstaff in hand. The Order of Tal'Vos, a magical wizard sect, attack the college and kill hundreds of wizards. Rathmen escapes in the battle, and hides in the town of Gothek.

After an attack from the Gothek Militia, Rathmen helps protect the town. After discovering several Tal'Vos agents in the militia, Rathmen joins Sergeant Kell and the Gothek Army to help destroy the militia. After tracking the leader of the militia to the village of Valtheim, Rathmen defeats him and realizes he is actually Halth Moonrunner, a powerful wizard from the college. Halth attempted to hide out as leader of the militia so the Tal'Vos would not kill him too. The war between the Army and Militia continues to rage on.

Halth tells Rathmen to go to Icewind Peaks and find the ancient leader of the Order of Tal'Vos. Rathmen goes to Icepeak Citadel where he races Vanis Hawkeye, leader of the Icewind Raiders, to the top of the citadel. Vanis beats him and tries to take a crystal which he believes will be worth a lot of money. He picks it up and the soul of the leader of the Tal'Vos goes into him, giving Vanis ice powers. Vanis escapes and teaches other bandits how to use Cryomancy. Rathmen lures Vanis to the ruins of Aethori, where the magical traps weaken them both. Rathmen manages to defeat Vanis and releases the soul of the Tal'Vos leader.

The Tal'Vos leader tells Rathmen that the new leader is corrupt and searches for the Necromancer's Ring, the artifact of the first necromancer, becuase he is actually a necromancer.

Factions
There are many factions around the world, with different powers. These are the factions you will face.

Order of Tal'vos
They are a cult of wizards who use all sorts of spells against you. They wear black robes and have long hoods. They are in all areas.

Gothek Militia
The Gothek Militia is a group of former soldiers and criminals who are trying to take over Gothek. They wear armour and use swords, axes and crossbow against you. They are mainly found in Gothek Plains.

Icewind Raiders
The Icewind Raiders were a normal bandit group until their leaders, Vanis Hawkeye, got powers of Cryomancy. He shared his powers among the bandits, creating powerful ice warriors. The bandits use a mix of ice magic and swords against you. They are mainly found in Icewind Peaks.

Spells
There are many spells that can be learnt throughout the game out of spellbooks. There are primary spells (R1), secondary spells (R2) and teritary spells (L2). They are seperated into 3 branches: Pyromancy, Cryomancy and Aeromancy. Primary, secondary and some teritary spells require you to hold aim (L1) when using them.