Bloody Good Time | Shadow Warrior Review

I can’t remember the last game in which I spilled as much blood as I did in the first person shooter Shadow Warrior. As hero Lo Wang – yes, that’s his name – I carved through countless demons with my sword, and unloaded thousands of bullets into bloody, disintegrating bodies, and I felt like I needed windshield wipers just to see. This bloody adventure began with the original Shadow Warrior that was released back in 1997, and it was rebooted and released on PC in 2013. Now, the rebooted Shadow Warrior makes its way to Xbox One and PlayStation 4.  While nothing has really changed from its PC release., it largely remains the same bloody good time as it was on PC, though it also retains many of the same technical and design issues that plagued it in its original release.

Lo Wang’s sword immediately takes center stage in combat as your go-to weapon, and for good reason – it’s brutal and badass. Sure, you can simply mash the triggers and chop your way to victory, but if you learn the inputs for the surprisingly vast move set, you’ll dismember your enemies in fantastic style. The right trigger is your basic slash, and your left trigger can be held down for a more powerful slash. You can then mix in directional inputs to achieve different swings and move that have devastating effects. One of my favorites is a circle slash that decapitates everyone within arms reach. These inputs can be hard to input on the fly when in the heat of combat, so on the Dualshock 4, there’s an option to use the touchpad to expedite the process. Instead of pressing two different directions on the thumbstick and then slashing, you can instead swipe one way on the touchpad and slash. It’s a little bit easier to perform in combat, but having to take your thumb off of a thumbstick can leave you open for attack, and it’s a little awkward to use effectively.

When not using the sword, you’ll have options like a crossbow, a pistol, and an SMG. These are good options for spacing yourself away from enemies and taking a more passive offensive attack. Unfortunately, the firearms just don’t have the same satisfaction that the sword brings. Not only is aiming floaty, but firearms just don’t have any punch to them. Landing headshots and mowing down enemies lacks the same style and complexity that the sword has. As soon as I’d switch from my sword to my guns to try and back off and regain health, I’d immediately re-equip my sword and go right back to the superior combat that the swordplay brings. Being unable to match the fun of using a sword with the firearms makes combat immediately one dimensional, and it unfortunately makes using the sword dull faster than I would have liked.

There’s a fairly in-depth upgrade system where you can upgrade Lo Wang and make him more formidable. Not only can you improve his swordplay, but you can also upgrade weapons, unlock and power up new magic attacks, and increase base stats to give you the edge in combat. These various upgrades are purchased by the collectibles found throughout gameplay. Money, Ki Crystals, and Karma can be found in each level, so exploration is encouraged so you can make Lo Wang as powerful as possible.

Story is little more than a context to allow your bloody rampage to take place. Lo Wang is sent to retrieve a sword from a gang, and of course, it goes south. Long story short, Wang gets infused with a ghost and is sent out to retrieve the sword and bring it back to his employers. What first sees Wang face off against rival gang members is quickly replaced by an army of demons. There’s an explanation for why they’re there, but it seems like mostly nonsense. Laced throughout the story is a bunch of cheeky humor, and I actually found myself laughing quite a bit. Most of the jokes are purposeful cheesy one-liners of grade-school toilet humor, but the over the top context helps sell it better than I thought it could. Of course, some of the humor falls flat on its face, but humor often finds a chuckle more than when it finds crickets. There was even a moment during my play time where I witnessed two rabbits having sex. Being the monster that I am, I decided to interrupt their intimate time with my sword. While one of them perished, the other rabbit turned black, gained electricity powers and began to attack me. Heavy metal guitar quickly joined in, and I found myself in an epic fight with a deadly rabbit. Developer Flying Wild Dog certainly knows how to keep things interesting.

One major gripe I have with Shadow Warrior is that environments rarely differentiate from each other. There’s tons of bamboo, lots of dojos, and ancient Asian ruins. After a while, it started to feel like one long level, and I was almost surprised to find out I had progressed to another chapter since each chapter features many of the same assets. Graphically, Shadow Warrior is serviceable, but it certainly won’t blow anyone away. Some character models look a little dated,  and some effects look like they came from a last generation title.

I admit I enjoyed a lot of my time with Shadow Warrior, but technical and design issues limited that fun by interrupting the great with the awful. The swordplay is some of the best I’ve seen in a first person title, but the gunplay can’t stack up to some of the most basic in the genre. Playing in bursts is an absolute must, because the combat can become stale fairly quickly, and the few enemy types and monotonous environments convey a sense of deja vu rather than progression. If you’re able to overlook these shortcomings, Shadow Warrior can be an absolute blast, and its personality can be a refreshing break from what most first person shooters offer.

This review is based on a review copy of the PlayStation 4 version of the game Shadow Warrior by Flying Wild Hog, distributed by Devolver Digital.