Shadows of the Damned: Hella Remastered Review

The story of Shadows of the Damned’s development is an interesting one. The second-ever collaboration between Goichi “Suda51” Suda, creator of the No More Heroes series, and Shinji Mikami, the man behind Resident Evil, Dino Crisis, and many other successful CAPCOM games, the game was originally conceptualized to be a survival horror game called Kurayami very different from the wacky, edgy, over-the-top third-person shooter that eventually released in 2013. Despite Suda51 not being too pleased by the many changes made to his original concept, Shadows of the Damned turned out to be an extremely fun game with some standout features, such as the story and characters, the dark humor, and the relentless pacing that makes the entire experience feel like a true rollercoaster from beginning to end. The soundtrack by Silent Hill series composer Akira Yamaoka was the cherry on top of an extremely tasty cake.

After being stuck in PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 hell and being unplayable on more modern gaming hardware, the cult classic by Grasshopper Manufacture has been given a second chance with Shadows of the Damned: Hella Remastered, a remaster that leaves the original experience almost untouched while slightly updating visuals and adding a small selection of additional content.

If we were to just evaluate the remastering job, there’s no doubt that Grasshopper Manufacture and Engine Software really did the bare minimum. On PC, and presumably PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X, and Xbox Series S, the visuals now render at 4K resolution, but most of the assets don’t seem to have been updated in any way, resulting in uneven visual quality. And that’s it, basically. The PC port supports rebindable mouse and keyboard controls, which work great for a third-person shooter in the vein of Shadows of the Damned, but that is the only setting that can be changed in this version of the game, as there are no graphics options whatsoever. It’s not even possible to change resolution: the game just runs in fullscreen mode using the monitor’s resolution. While this could be fine, given the type of game and how undemanding it is, it’s really difficult to accept a PC port with no options to tweak whatsoever in 2024. At the very least, the remaster is priced reasonably at $24,99 and, ultimately, does what it set out to do: give players the chance to experience the madness Suda51 and Mikami created over ten years ago on modern gaming hardware.

Even though Shadows of the Damned: Hella Remastered leaves a lot to be desired as a remaster, it is still a worthwhile release as the game is still as fun as it was in 2013. Controlling demon hunter Garcia Hotspur, players travel to the Underworld to save his girlfriend Paula from the Lord of Demons, Fleming, who wants to get back at the demon hunter by repeatedly killing the woman in the most gruesome of fashions. Aiding the foul-mouthed demon hunter is the equally foul-mouthed demon Johnson, who can transform into a bike, a torch, and multiple weapons with some ludicrous names, such as Hot Boner, and even more ludicrous capabilities, such as using demon teeth as ammo. With the demon acting as a guide, Garcia makes his way to Fleming’s Castle of Hassle, fighting hordes of demons, opening up doors using the weirdest of keys, including the strawberries that demons love so much, and learning how unhinged the Underworld and its denizens truly are.

From this quick overview, it should be clear how the Shadows of the Damned: Hella Remastered characters and setting are standouts in the experience. While Garcia’s journey is relatively straightforward, the eight or so hours required to complete the game are quite memorable thanks to its dark humor and the banter between Garcia and Johnson, which is so entertaining that by itself, it could be worth the price of admission alone. In many ways, the Shadows of the Damned experience is reminiscent of Madworld from PlatinumGames, where straightforward gameplay was elevated by irreverent humor and wacky setting. Outstanding performances from Steve Blum as Garcia and Greg Ellis as Johnson further enhance the experience, delivering all the game’s hilarious dialogue and stories with convincing charm.

While the story and characters have aged extremely well, also considering how we don’t see this type of humor too often nowadays, the gameplay hasn’t aged as well, although it is still quite fun. Shadows of the Damned: Hella Remastered hasn’t touched the original mechanics and features in any way, so the game still plays like a straightforward, high-speed third-person shooter sharing some remote similarities with Resident Evil 4, mostly due to Mikami-san’s involvement. The game, however, couldn’t be any different from the glorious entry in the CAPCOM series in regards to the complexity of the level design. In Shadows of the Damned, the locations aren’t particularly big or articulate, and the vast majority of puzzles players find are closed doors that require some of the aforementioned keys to open, which are often obtained by exploring the immediate vicinities of the closed doors or by killing demons. The entire experience is undoubtedly built around combat, and it is geared toward moving players from one intense combat encounter to the next, which could be disappointing for those looking for a more involving experience, but it’s this no-nonsense, breakneck pace that makes Shadows of the Damned the engaging game it still is in 2024.

The quality of the combat mechanics and the scenarios created around them also help quite a lot. The basics are incredibly simple. Garcia’s arsenal includes three long-range weapons – a handgun, a shotgun, and a sub-machine gun – a torch that can be used as a short-range weapon, and a Light Shot, which is used to dispel barriers made of darkness, stun enemies temporarily, light up certain locations and more. Stunned enemies can also be killed with a gloriously gory special attack that is extremely effective, sometimes maybe a little too much. Outside of upgrades to weapons, which unlock new combat options, Garcia’s moveset doesn’t change during the course of the game, but the combat scenarios and the enemies do, and quite a bit.

At the beginning of the journey, for example, the player is told that staying in the darkness is extremely bad and that Garcia can only resist inside for a set amount of time before his health starts dropping. However, as the adventure proceeds, darkness becomes an invaluable ally to the demon hunter, as standing in it will allow him to shoot switches to unlock doors, uncover weak points of specific demons, and even take down some of them without having to get into an intense fight. The way the game twists its simple mechanics to provide variety is remarkable, and very few games managed to achieve this so competently. With the addition of some simple mini-games, genre-bending sequences like the classic sidescrolling shoot’em up sequences in Chapter 4, and some amazing boss battles, with the exception of a couple of endgame fights, the experience never gets stale for its entire duration. The lack of any side venture or collectibles, ultimately, damages the experience’s replay value a bit, but also makes it so that it can keep this engaging pace without faltering. Shadows of the Damned: Hella Remastered adds a much-requested New Game Plus mode, which is a great way to experience Garcia’s journey again without having to worry about upgrades. A couple of new costumes round up the additions included in the remaster, which are not game-changing in any capacity but are still nice to have.

As a remaster, Shadows of the Damned: Hella Remastered is not in any way close to the best remasters released in recent years, featuring a middling visual upgrade and an extremely limited amount of new content. As a way to give Suda51 and Mikami’s collaboration a second chance, however, it definitely delivers. Over a decade after its release, the Shadows of the Damned experience continues to be one of a kind and one that’s worth experiencing for all fans of the two legendary Japanese developers.

PC version tested. Review code provided by the publisher.

Shadows of the Damned: Hella Remastered

Shadows of the Damned: Hella Remastered

As a remaster, Shadows of the Damned: Hella Remastered leaves something to be desired, offering minimal visual improvements, no graphics options on PC, and no gameplay enhancements. However, it’s still a worthwhile purchase for fans of Suda51, Shinji Mikami, and third-person shooters., as the quality of the original experience still shines through, with its relentless pace, engaging story, memorable characters, and a dark humor that’s hard to find in games today. Garcia Hotspur’s war against Fleming to save Paula remains just as captivating now as it was in 2013.