Everyone could use some more Wang in their lives. Publisher Devolver Digital believes so at least, otherwise, it wouldn’t have graced us with a 17-minute trailer for Shadow Warrior 3. Bucking the trend of triple-A marketing by actually showing us what we’ll be playing next year, there should be no doubt left in your mind about this long-awaited follow-up to developer Flying Wild Hog’s rebooted series.
Much like my initial impressions led me to believe, this looks like the successor to Bulletstorm we’ll never get. The movement looks smooth, the combat is brutal, and the weapons are zany. We don’t get a glimpse of the entire enemy roster, but then you have to save some surprises for the player.
The one thing I’ll say I’m a little worried about is the story presentation. The character models are fine, if a bit static, but I’m not sure about the humor here. It’s not that I find anything offensive, but the writing is a little hokey. That’s probably intentional as Shadow Warrior is meant to be a parody of awful Kung Fu dubs, but I would like to see some better stuff for the final game.
What is great is that this looks more in line with Flying Wild Hog’s first title instead of Shadow Warrior 2. There are fans of that co-op focused entry, but its lackluster take on the Borderlands formula didn’t do much for me. It was an okay attempt at doing something different with this IP, but I’d love to have more classic shooters instead of dime-a-dozen copies.
It’s also nice that Flying Wild Hog isn’t trying to copy what id Software is doing with Doom. There is something to be said of both titles being clones of Serious Sam, but there is a lot more environmental interactivity going on with this game. You aren’t simply running backward or killing through wave after wave of foes in a static arena.
It’s obviously too early to tell if that formula will wear thin or not, but Shadow Warrior 3 currently looks great. Maybe it’s not the most visually impressive thing lined up for 2021, but I’ll always take gameplay over graphics.
Source: Devolver Digital PR
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