If you’ve ever wanted a more cynical and sarcastic take on the standard hack & slash genre, then you’re likely familiar with the gots and gore that the Shadow Warrior series offers, with intense battles, copious upgrades, and witty one-liners that would put Gex out of business.
Mainly because the one-liners make sense, but we’re not here to insult the pugnacious gecko.
We’ve known Shadow Warrior 3 was about to break into the press, as the studio recently hinted at an upcoming trailer that betrayed the inevitable arrival of the next step in the smart-mouthed protagonist Lo Wang, as he gibs and shreds various demons to bits in a series that somehow deftly straddles the line between mocking other titles while offering crisp gameplay itself.
Shadow Warrior 2 brought out a bit more of a grind for players to work through, visiting various locales repeatedly while goring massive monsters and demons to knock out quests and bolster their strength in gems.
Today, Flying Wild Hog and Devolver Digital have once again teamed up to bring the next adventure of Wang as they finally offer the full trailer. Spoiler-alert: it’s a banger.
Bizarre new enemies that saddle the realm of horrifying and hilarious, tons of new moves that will allow Lo Wang to move with a bit more ease; good news, as some of the levels from prior iterations offer a lot of walking.
With wall-running making a prominent performance in the trailer, a new grappling hook similarly appears to be a new tool; Wang flops about with agility, swinging around like the bionic commando while making quips such as ‘I think I just peed myself’.
It’s all tongue in cheek, showing off Wang using the grappling hook to activate various traps that seem to make mincing demon-spawn a far easier task; an aspect that could alter gameplay a bit more than Flying Wild Hog may suspect.
Enemies within Shadow Warrior could be considered by some to be bullet sponges; enemies that simply seem to soak up tons of damage as an artificial difficulty level. If traps gib enemies at a far faster rate, it could be presumed that the best way to kill in the upcoming title would be with traps, turning maps into a parade typically seen in Call of Duty’s Zombie mode.
A minor caveat that FWH has likely already considered well in advance.
With new creatures to slay, some new movement skills, and Wang adding a bit more to his toolset, Shadow Warrior 3’s trailer has done its job well: people are starting to want a bit more of the smart-mouthed mercenary, and Flying Wild Hog looks more than ready to deliver.
