The first episode received high marks because it was enjoyable and the difficulty level was appropriate. Frustrating gamers with an unreasonable amount of difficulty does not make for an enjoyable gaming experience. If you are easily frustrated with high levels of difficulty in games, ShadowFlare is not for you. If however, you do appreciate high levels of difficulty in games, then you will find Episodes Two through Four to your liking. Emurasoft did well in releasing Episode One free to the public so that players can gain some sense of what the game is all about. If you can overlook these things, you will find an interesting action-rpg within the world of ShadowFlare!