Shadow Warrior Demo

Due to the high demand for realism in today’s video games, classic shooters are quite rare and not very praised by the crowds. While a decade ago everyone cheered when a title like Serious Sam was released, nowadays people seem to expect mature dialogs and intricate storylines in order to enjoy decapitating werewolves, which is a bit silly, in retrospect.

Shadow Warrior disregards any modern trends and opted to revive the old method of doing things in the first-person shooter genre. As such, the game is filled with monsters, magic, katanas, firearms and silly one-liners to spice up the action, of which there is always plenty. Even more so, all of these elements seem to blend perfectly with each other, which translates into an incredibly fun and captivating experience.

The story is far from mature and comprehensive, but it is certainly a lot of fun. Hence, the game is obviously a remake of the old 3D Realms classic, with some of the same characters and locations. In essence, everything revolves around Lo Wang and his exploits in a war against criminals and monsters from the deepest pits of hell. Don’t expect it to make sense or create memories, because that’s not its purpose.

Just like in the original, the main character is an expert with the katana, and you can use the sword when you are in the mood for a more personal approach to combat. A fun and challenging system has been put in place, which allows you to perform precise strikes and dismember enemies. Not only that, but combos and various other goodies are included too. Obviously, guns have their use as well, since some enemies are not the kind you want to get very close to.

From a technical point of view, the graphics engine looks majestic, but it’s no small part thanks to the level designers. While one can certainly pinpoint the subpar aspects of the engine, the beautiful and detail environments always make it easy to just go with the flow and admire the view instead. The voice acting is brilliant as well, coupled with the nice soundtrack to keep you on edge at all times.

All things being equal, Shadow Warrior hardly has any comparable match nowadays, especially since everything is designed to be as gritty and as realistic as possible. However, the pure excitement and fun you experience while enjoying the game at hand is unparalleled, which makes it one of the most enjoyable FPS games to have come out in the last few years.