It’s been a long time since Shadows of the Damned dropped — 13 years, in fact. The game industry has changed substantially in that time, but a good game is still a good game. And that’s what we’re lucky enough to encounter here with Shadows of the Damned Hella Remastered.
Narratively, this gonzo world from the mind of Suda51 doesn’t hold your hand, throwing you into the thick of things, only later providing the means of catching up. You can even hop into the freshly added new game+ mode.
Mechanically, this title about a demon hunter who ventures into great darkness to rescue his kidnapped girlfriend is an unhinged blast. It’s a third-person shooter with fun and unique guns; you also get access to an array of upgrades and a melee system that feels more complex than it looks at first blush. Our only major gripe with the gameplay is the camera. It’s far too zoomed in, making for claustrophobic environments where having the breathing room to see the numerous directions that enemies approach from would have been preferable.
The game features wild European-influenced locales, mixing cabaret with traces of expressionism in a way that makes the illogic of the world logical. Plus, thanks largely to the rise of 4K TVs — and especially HDR — the game looks better than it ever has. The staccato outbursts of colour when you illuminate the dark or enter select regions help to sell the oppressive nature of the environment. The title was from an era where drab colour schemes and chromatic aberration were the all rage, so there’s not as much use of colour to see with fresh eyes as we would have hoped.
Throw in the crisp texture work — blended with less impressive ones — and rock-solid performance with modern resolutions and frame rate, and you’ve got a winner.