Shadow Warrior

Shadow Warrior 2013 walked so DOOM 2016 could run. ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ hilarious game, worth full price tbh. Made when devs actually put soul into their games.

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I came for the swords and stayed for the Wang jokes. Shadow Warrior doesn't reinvent the wheel, but it slices it clean in half with a katana. The combat feels incredibly satisfying once it clicks. You're dicing demons while cracking jokes that would make your dad groan and your mom concerned. Story exists if you squint hard enough. The gunplay is solid, the swordplay is even better and Lo Wang is genuinely charming in a very stupid way. It won't blow your mind, but it will absolutely cut through your free time. [b][7.5/10][/b]

Даже по скриншотам мне изначально не сильно нравилась игра, но я взял по хорошей скидке и всё же игра ничем меня не затянула. Есть конкуренты, которые мне нравятся намного больше, чем это.

Don't know why I skipped it back in the day. Today it feels like a breath of "fresh" twelve-year-old air. It's a bit stale, but smells like freedom and unapologetic fun.

[h1][i]I like sword – that's a personal weapon![/i] ~Lo Wang, Shadow Warrior (1997)[/h1] Shadow Warrior never had sequels. It was a game beloved by many, sure, but it was also obvious that it was the end of the era. The Shareware model started to feel ancient, and so did its engine—the so-called [b]Build Engine[/b]. In a moment, [b]Build[/b] managed to compete with the most advanced thing for the time—[b]Quake[/b] engine. But while [b]Quake[/b] kept evolving (and even gave us [b]Half-Life[/b] in its modified version), [b]Build[/b] was a dead end. In a way, [b]Shadow Warrior[/b] was [i]the[/i] game that made it obvious. Its attempts to implement things like ladders and controllable vehicles felt clunky and unpleasant. The age of [b]2.5D[/b] came to its end, and it was time for a whole different kind of gaming. In glorious [b]3D[/b]. [b]Apogee[/b] were aware of that. They've changed their name to [b]3D Realms[/b] (the name they previously used for their publishing label) and focused on two major projects—[b]Duke Nukem Forever[/b] and [b]Prey[/b]. *SIGH*. Like I said, [b]Shadow Warrior[/b] never had sequels. Instead, in 2013 it got a reboot. And it all started with [b]Devolver Digital[/b]. What's cool about [b]Devolver[/b] is that they're crazy and know how to think outside the box. I mean, approaching [b]3D Realms[/b] (who lost their glory and pretty much closed in 2009 after failing to change and develop the major AAA games I've mentioned above) about the [b]Shadow Warrior[/b] IP and then giving the project to a young Polish developer who just released their first game—[b]Hard Reset[/b]? It was crazy. There was a huge chance for this game to fail. And in a way? In a way it did. See, the original [b]Shadow Warrior[/b] was a very specific kind of a satire—the one that is only possible in a very specific place and a very specific time. American 90s, when kids were eating Chinese food, learning kung fu basics, watching anime, and dreaming of being a ninja? That's what the original [b]Shadow Warrior[/b] was all about. It acted as a mirror that wanted us to see exactly how ridiculous people looked while trying to imitate Asian cultures without knowing a thing about those, exactly how [b]Duke Nukem 3D[/b] made fun of those muscular action movie heroes. Naturally, the times changed, the community evolved, and there was no need (place) for something like that. What did [b]Flying Wild Hog[/b] do? Well, they just tried to create something on their own, with [b]Hard Reset[/b]-like cutscenes and tone. The problem was—people remembered [b]Shadow Warrior[/b] as a funny thing. Giving them a dark and serious reboot would feel... wrong. So, [b]Flying Wild Hog[/b] tried to add humor and... It didn't work. Sure, sure, humor is a subjective thing. Can't argue with that. But “your mom” jokes? [i]Seriously?[/i] It feels like all the humor-related parts were written by a school kid. Those give the game a pretty cheap and unpleasant aftertaste. Which is a sad thing to see, since the main story is not really that bad. It involves a katana with powers and some sort of a spirit partner. It's not the best thing in the world, of course, but it works. It does. I can totally see it being seriously good with a darker tone and more polish. But like I said, the game desperately tries to be funny and fails pretty hard with that. Thankfully, the story in video games isn't everything (despite some of us disagreeing), and when it's about the gameplay? [b]Shadow Warrior[/b] reboot begins to shine. Remember [b]Lo Wang[/b]'s katana from the original 1997 game? [b]Lo[/b] said it himself—it was a [i]personal weapon[/i]. Melee weapons in FPS games are often like that, but come on. The katana. [i]The[/i] definition of a perfect sword. Also, it was one of those rare cases when a [b]Build Engine[/b] game altered the sprites to depict blood. [b]Flying Wild Hog[/b] understood all that and, well, they've built their whole game around the katana. And the result was... OK, you ever had a [b]Wii[/b]? That unique home console from [b]Nintendo[/b]? If you did, you sure remember the game called [b]Red Steel[/b], which was exactly what we have here, in the new [b]Shadow Warrior[/b]. It was a game for a motion controller, in which we used a katana and, eventually, some guns. You may say “Hey! We don't have motion controllers for [b]Steam![/b]” and you'll be right, we don't. At least, not properly. Yet somehow [b]Flying Wild Hog[/b] managed to deliver the feeling. How exactly? Well, by giving us advanced katana controls. No, seriously, there are even settings for it. We're free to choose between a basic experience that is pretty much random cuts, a normal one that allows us to take things in our hands, and the advanced one for pro players. You know what that means: [i]Dismemberment, baby![/i] That's right. We'll cut limbs, we'll cut heads, etc. And not just that—we'll learn the experience according to our performance after every battle. And yes, I said the experience. And if you played [b]BLOOD II[/b] and therefore afraid of such promises, don't be. Unlike [b]Monolith[/b] who failed to deliver the RPG element due to [b]GT Interactive[/b]'s strict framework, [b]Flying Wild Hog[/b] actually managed to implement lots of things that were promised to us in [b]BLOOD II[/b]. Aside from experience (called karma) that lets us learn new abilities and moves (yes, we've got the advanced katana moves that require certain manipulations with a gamepad's sticks), we've got... Well, magic. It's not much, but it's a thing, and again, we'll use the stick, which contributes a lot to the “[b]Wii[/b] feeling.” I just love that. I mean, I'm a huge fan of [b]Wii[/b], so... Yeah. Does that mean we've got ourselves a masterpiece? Nope~ What's funny here is that [b]Flying Wild Hog[/b] didn't just take all the good things from [b]Red Steel[/b], they somehow managed to also include all the bad ones. Remember how [b]Wii[/b] used to fail to recognize your moves properly? So you were forced to dance around your TV screaming “Come on! Come on, you piece of trash, do the right thing!”? The new [b]Shadow Warrior[/b] can be like that too. You're in the middle of a battle, enemies are all around you, you desperately need to heal, you double tap the left stick to the right and then press the left trigger to activate the healing “spell,” but... Yeah. Nothing happens. You're dead. Just because the game failed to recognize your manipulations, even despite the fact you totally did things right. That's [b]Flying Wild Hog[/b]'s [b]Shadow Warrior[/b] for you. Also, the level design is poor (the "secret" can sit right next to the main objective), while the graphics, while being solid and even aging surprisingly nicely (it's the colors, I guess), are terribly, [i]terribly[/i] optimized. No, seriously, I returned to this game years later, yet even on an [b]RTX 5080[/b] wasn't satisfied with the result. At least, not completely. In its heart, [b]Shadow Warrior[/b] reboot is still one of those Polish shooters: Clunky, unpolished, and criminally unoptimized. And it does a terrible, [i]terrible[/i] job addressing the original 1997 game. It's like one of those dads who think they're really funny. Again and again I felt like one of those “Dad, please, stop!” kids while playing it. But at the exact same time? Katana. It works. It may be just me loving this kind of stuff, so take my word with a pinch of salt here, but honestly, I did enjoy this game, a lot. If, like yours truly, you did enjoy your time with [b]Wii[/b] and look for something like [b]Red Steel[/b]? Give this game a chance. Just don't expect it to be the most polished experience ever and try to ignore all the cringey moments. Dixi.

A very enjoyable shooter, which, paradoxically, requires a lot of sword-fight in the higher difficult levels, because its much more useful than guns. A worthy successor of the original 90's Shadow Warrior. Well done, guys! Well done! ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Un shooter muy divertido, que, paradójicamente, requiere de un uso desmedido de la katana en las dificultades más altas, porque resulta ser mucha más efectiva que las armas. Un digno sucesor del Shadow Warrior original de los 90s. ¡Muy bien hecho muchachos!

Compared to today's gaming standards, Shadow Warrior may feel a little lackluster. But if you can see past that you'll be in for one of the most badass experiences in gaming. You're a sarcastic and immature samurai (Lo Wang) with a cool sword, magic powers, and powerful guns who befriends a mischievous demon (Hoji) as they try to find the fragments of a powerful sword. The hilarious relationship between those two -as well as the humorous tone of the game overall- are definitely the highlights for me. I think the controls need a little work, especially when using special abilities (I recommend playing with a controller). I also think the boss fights are a bit lame, they're all pretty much the same fight. However most of the game is just hacking and slashing away at demons, and the gameplay in those areas flow really well with a good mix of upgradeable weapons, powers, and environmental elements. Oh, and for some reason the fall damage is REALLY bad. Do not dash down a staircase. Fortunately they remove fall damage in future games.