Shadow Man Remastered

Started in the late 90s, finally finished mid 2026.

TL/DR: good game music, got lost, blah blah. The store page says Shadow Man is a 3rd-person action-adventure game, but let me clear this up. That ♥♥♥♥ isn't the full truth! Shadow Man is an action-adventure and a listening to what Vincent Van Goh hears at 3AM simulator. Originally released on Nintendo 64, it was rushed out to meet a deadline, leaving about 30% of the original game cut in order to get this bad boy to console for its MASSIVE and WAITING fanbase who were so enthusiastic they immediately forgot to buy it, leaving Shadowman to promptly fly under everyone's radar and sell (relatively) poorly. Then fast forward 22 years, and in come our saviors! Night Dive Studios, who remastered the original release, updated the fidelity and frame rate, gave the gameplay and controls a modern polish while staying true to the source material, and, you know, adding bonus areas and RESTORING THE 30% OF THE GAME THAT WENT UNRELEASED, so as you can imagine! People were pleased! So pleased in fact that it probably flew under your radar again for the same reasons! Buy it, it's good. Personally: I've played a lot of N64 games in my lifetime, some I remember and some I don't, but I can say if I had played this back on N64 when it released, it would have been in my top 5, maybe even top 3. Even with 30% missing, I do not know how they packed so much into one N64 game, but let's get to how the game feels. Feels to play: This is a remaster of an old game, and for the most part, it still feels like an old game, and that's good. The game controls and plays like an old Tomb Raider game (exactly like Tomb Raider II) with slow platforming, and jumping that's a full marriage commitment, combat that leaves you frustrated at best, and a "Piper Peri post couch" simulator at its worst. There's also backtracking, a lot of backtracking for powerups (Metroidvania style), or you can, you know, hang around to see how old areas expand. Areas expand so much that you may find yourself forgetting which neighborhood you started in, because you surely aren't on that side of Kansas anymore. Did I walk into Baltimore? Fu- But what will keep you here is: - The voice acting. Redd Pepper makes the dialogue come to life with the way he inflects some of these dark, poetic lines, and seconds after this insightfully dark dialogue, he becomes the guy in class who just learned what cursing was. The trailer doesn't do the cast and performances much justice. - The environments feel claustrophobic, dirty, insane, psychotic, berserk, and loud, and this is a GOOD thing, but I'll explain why. -The Horror, play this ♥♥♥♥ and then find a more unsettling soundtrack, I dare you. The game isn't even scary fr fr bro, I'm ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ myself to the musical embodiment of ma-dukes playing with pots, pans, and slapping her wet steaks together in the kitchen. At the same time, the dog runs around ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ the house up by tripping on anything it can muster, and scaring the kids into early carpentry careers [now with a sprinkle of piano]. I was there to hear all of it, simultaneously. Yeah, really good game. Feels good to progress. I recommend playing it on hard first, because the difficulty makes every fight feel just serious enough to actually have you on edge, and that, plus the music, is a killer recipe.

This plays as it should. If I had to guess, if you happen to be looking at this, you already know the game exists and you enjoyed it way back in the day. Maybe you like the comics, which is really sick of you. Point is that if that is the case, this is the real deal and it doesn't suck. Now for the real peeps who might have found this by random chance or through boomer game searches, or you're lost in Nightdive's roster of games: This is an action adventure game. It's got a narrative focus that doesn't suck, but to be clear it isn't built to be the best written story ever. Shadow Man is a cult classic and the game is based on an old comic book, and it's meant to be tied to a storyline that was pretty hardcore from what I remember. The comic also got the Iced Earth treatment. Where Iced Earth did Spawn, A Sound of Thunder did Shadowman (Not Shadow Man, though they're the same thing). It's not important to the game, but it's important context to why this port exists in the first place. So, back on target to avoid losing further people on the review train. Being an action-adventure game from the late 90's and being most well known for it's N64 version (there were others, but it doesn't matter) it has that unique style of the time. The strange walls and bodies, the way the terrain not only looks but is shaped, and how bodies kind of... looked weird. Did the wobbly thing. It has a solid soundtrack that honestly does well even today, and the visual style is kind of peak for the time. All in all, aesthetically it might be one of the best. I'll avoid spoiling too much of it for those who buy the game, but it is steeped in cultural significance to the culture Shadowman is tied, and they did a pretty great job chasing that vibe. Now the downsides, since I don't like making my reviews impossibly long. To avoid breaking each part down, I'll blanket a few things and point a few things out. The gameplay is antiquated, and seriously so. It's optimized best for controller, but keep in mind this is a game that is old as hell. If this game was a person, it could drink or smoke in any country that allows it, and probably has been for more than half a decade. That's to say that it won't be the prettiest game, it won't be the most responsive game, and the controls aren't remastered to be ultra intuitive with a slick new feel. That's usually the dealbreaker for a lot of people. If you can get past that, then you're golden. The rest is some difficulties with aiming, movement, the reliance on platforming, but these are probably being looked over if the main thing is handled already. So if you want to dip into a game that was cool as hell, that was riding the wave of darker Superhero/Antihero videogames, this is your jam.

Believe me or not this is my all-time favorite game. For the first time I've played it more than 25 years ago 😂. I was stunned by the intro the graphics and overall atmosphere. This isn't a fast paced adventure. This is a very long and lonely journey.

incredible atmosphere/ world. Only other game I've played like it is ocarina of time - was also originally on the n64 - and its a brilliant remaster from what I can tell. Had to search for a few guides sometimes during my ~24hrs playthrough when I was lost (there's no actual maps but a vague drawing in the back of a book you get/ some npc cutscenes will remind you) but I was still super enthralled. luckily i have a decent sense of direction. really recommend this

Tl;dr: Game is worth it, remaster is awesome with new content cut from the original game. DON'T PLAY THE HORROR. I don't remember exactly why I bought this game. But I'm glad I did. A 3D Third Person Metroidvania is a cool concept and I really enjoy it here as well as the story setting. Idk if I should read the comics. I think the gameplay is good and fun though there are a few complaints. First of all no map for levels. Which like, isn't a huge problem but it makes getting around tedious and I struggled to remember the layout of some levels since they tend to look the same. 2nd, getting around is tedious, especially if you go in blind. Enemies respawn after a warp and it can feel like a chore killing them to get around especially since Shadow Man feels slow at points. This is especially bad on The Horror where you'll die and have to trudge your ass back to where you were. SPEAKING OF the horror. What a tedious and unfun difficulty mode. Genuinely think it brings the game down with how unfair it can be. Enemies make mince meat out of you and there's tons more of them. Health is super limited since you start at 5 hp out of 10 and Enemies don't drop more. Which is compounded by the fact health drops despawn unlike MP drops. So you open up the barrels looking for collectibles to raise your health and run out of health use in encounters. Sometimes Enemies can be literally seen poking through the doors. Sometimes they can open it, sometimes not. It's inconsistent. And you end up walking in and dying in a second because they're gonna gang you. If you have the calabash (mine grenade) put it by the closed door. It helps a lot. Despite the horror being a massive chore and frustrating experience. I think this game is great and the remaster itself is awesome. The game looks good and the team went out of their way to add new content as well as scrapped content from the original. That's awesome and I wish more remasters and remakes did that. I would say the game is great. Just... don't play the horror. Do not embrace it.

amazing game

Shadow Man Remastered é prova de que jogos antigos tinham muito mais personalidade. Atmosfera sombria incrível, exploração raiz sem ficar segurando sua mão e um remaster feito com muito respeito ao original. A Nightdive fez um trabalho excelente trazendo o jogo para PCs modernos. Não é um jogo casual — você vai se perder, vai explorar e vai pensar. E isso é exatamente o que torna ele especial. Se gosta de terror old school e jogos diferentes do padrão atual, pode comprar sem medo. 👍 Altamente recomendado.

World is cool atmosphere is good graphics with special k hdr is kinda bonkers and clear at 4k combat isn't bad i don't think i could recommend it to many people the lack of knowing what to do and where to go is kinda tedious and easy to get lost. You have the teddy bear that helps you see level's and "quest" but said things needing done in the level seems up to you to find out. Unlocking tons of short cuts and opening a level up almost fully didn't help me know how to get back to the boss i just tried to fight. Lost the patience of running in circles , skill issue w/e Was cool to see this game though i remember it on N64 and wasn't allowed to play it as a kid, i probably would have beat it if i played it then.

Si la historia consiste en aventurarse al Más Allá para derrotar a un Mal Ancestral tiene sentido que la base del juego sea explorar ese mundo en busca de habilidades y objetos que ayuden en dicho avance. Eso sí el diseño es muy de su época: un (bien llevado) ir y venir entre zonas mientras se descubre cuál es el camino a seguir, una total ausencia de tutoriales o dirección y zonas tan intricadas como laberínticas. El trabajo de remasterización cumple acentuando lo mejor del título con texturas a mayor resolución junto a nueva iluminación, estabilidad en los fotogramas por segundo o un control más cómodo y fino.