I didn’t expect to see Shadows of the Damned and Lollipop Chainsaw back again but then it felt like out of nowhere both were getting remasters. I bought both these games back when they first released on PS3 because why wouldn’t you buy something with Suda’s name on it after somewhat recently playing No More Heroes and Killer 7 (Shadows of the Damned had Mikami and Yamaoka involved too). While they weren’t as good as those titles I still had fun with them so I was interested in picking up the remasters but after taking a good look I only bought Shadows of the Damned Hella Remastered and decided that I’ll just revisit my PS3 copy of Lollipop Chainsaw, which I will review next. I also put on my PS3 copy of Shadows of the Damned for a bit too so I’ll be able to include some thoughts here on the differences with this remaster.

“…This is going to be an adventure. Our very own road movie. And the best part is… you never know what’s waiting around the bend.”

To kick things off when talking about Shadows of the Damned you have to bring up that this was meant to be a psychological, adventure, horror game called Kurayami but EA was the publisher so of course that didn’t happen. Shadows of the Damned went through a troubled development. I believe it was heavily revised five times due to EA’s interfering and Suda51 didn’t even end up directing it. A shirtless main character, armed with only a lantern, called G became the demon slaying, purple jacket wearing, tattoo covered, foul mouthed Garcia fucking Hotspur. The lantern would become an ex-demon, talking skull, torch called Johnson and he transforms into guns because EA wanted a gun. Paula was originally meant to be a young girl in Garcia’s weapon but then she became the girlfriend in need of rescuing. The human mind, darkness and silence were the original key ideas and only the darkness idea really stayed in different form, although Garcia’s mind is also played with on this journey too. The game still did end up being set in and around a village and castle although probably not as originally intended. There was a massive shift to the concept and type of story this was going to be and plenty of bold ideas were stamped out. EA wanted a more straight forward action game that could be quickly and easily pitched to a simple audience and that didn’t have too many things western audiences would find ‘weird.’

“Hey, fill those cracks with your explosive hot boner!”

After all the changes Shadows of the Damned became a parody of a male power fantasy and a satire of horror, damsels in distress and video games. It is too unsubtle and self aware not to be intentional but then at the same time how they got there doesn’t seem deliberate. It’s like this is just where Shadows of the Damned went after receiving ‘feedback’ multiple times and adapting to that. This wasn’t all Suda51. It is more like a group effort from other Grasshopper staff input, Suda’s rewriting and concept changes and EA’s desires (and complete lack of respect for the western audience they were hoping to sell it to) all blending together into what this game became. Shadows of the Damned became a caricature of what EA wanted mixed with what was left of Suda’s original ideas. Then Shadows of the Damned actually got finished and released. Then after all that it sold really poorly and had a pretty lukewarm critical reception. It appears like Suda51 has come around and looks on this game, its characters and that time more fondly now. I think it is worth appreciating this game for what it is and how it only could have come from these unique circumstances and you can do this at the same time as mourning what could have been.

“All right. Let’s start this road movie with some road… KILL!”

Coming into Shadows of the Damned you need to bring the right attitude. You need to be ready to just let go and have some fun. You need to be ready to have chuckle at a little demon called One Eyed Willy taking a shit every time as the save point. Just go with the banter between Garcia and Johnson. It is actually pretty good and spending time with these two is fun. Roll with the absurdity and silliness. This crude, over the top, ultra violent, love story, road trip to the underworld to save Garcia’s, typically barley clothed and repeatedly killed, girlfriend, Paula, from the clutches of the powerful Demon Lord Fleming is a good time. Along the way you might discover there are actually good ideas and some good writing in here. You might find some heart and some brains underneath this exploitation and it may surprise you a little at the end. Garcia might be dumb and a deliberately extreme stereotype but there is earnestness and likability to him. Johnson always has Garcia’s back and these two care for each other, while also being good contrasts and playing off each other. I love the way Johnson talks so ‘proper’ and doesn’t usually swear and then a couple of times he casually drops some of the most heinous lines in the game and it is ‘censored.’ I like the way Johnson and Garcia read the story books. I just enjoy the ride this game takes you on and its humour and what it is doing. Make sure you click on every poster with lights and every large book you come across.

"…What about me? Where is my freedom!!...”

What helps Shadows of the Damned stand out even more is the way it looks and sounds. A huge reason why this game and its characters and dialogue work so well is because of the great voice acting. Akira Yamaoka’s large soundtrack ties this work together and feels like the glue connecting this mix of horror, gore, comedy and video gamey-ness. It’s really good. I stopped playing multiple times to ask why a game that doesn’t take itself seriously sounds this good. The visuals have this blend that somehow works. It is set in an old European town with a castle, swamp and forest and looks how you would expect. But then as it is the underworld that setting has been taken and twisted into something much darker and more grotesque. Added to this are comedic elements, like the doors and save points, and very video gamey stuff. The health and gem pickups are huge and glowing and large button prompts appear. The linear environments are an eerie, gross, funny pleasure to move through and the boss and enemy designs are some the best in a horror game. I like the style and the use of darkness, lighting and colour. There are disgusting sounds right alongside the old videogame inspired sound effects and all this just works. It is really surprising knowing the games development troubles seeing all these elements that should clash coming together so cohesively. My only real complaints so far would be to do with the pacing, there are some technical issues and that I wish it was a little more fleshed out/well realised.

“Admit that your… endowments… will never match up to my own.”

The original PS3 release doesn’t run perfectly, it has some screen tearing, texture pop in, it is lower resolution and load times can linger. What about this remaster, well I’m happy enough but it could have been better. When it comes to remasters I don’t want much to be messed with because it is far too likely that things will be ruined. I want better performance, higher resolution, all dlc/and extra content included, any bugs missed the first time sorted out, some new extras and make it a bit of a celebration of the game. So this remaster is the right type of remaster for me but it just comes up short. It looks great, runs well and loads way faster compared to the PS3 release but some of this may have been thanks to a needed update and it is still lower resolution looking in some places and has a little texture pop in. During my time playing I encountered a minor brief audio bug, the game froze after skipping a cut scene once and one time the game loaded up to a completely black screen. So this game still isn’t in perfect shape. The new costumes are fine but this package feels small. The main thing that Suda51 wanted the most, and the biggest addition, was new game plus and apparently this was more difficult to implement than expected. Being able to skip cut scenes is my favourite addition as it helps with replays but there is still quite a bit that isn’t skippable. They did also swap the button use for L1, L2 and R1, R2. I would have appreciated to see more love in this release, like how about developer interviews, concept art or a music player for that fantastic soundtrack. I am not feeling too harshly about this remaster though because I am just glad a new audience can give it a go easily, I still enjoyed it and looking at that Lollipop Chainsaw remaster has me feeling grateful.

”All right, Johnson. Let’s take this pole for a stroll.”

Shadows of the Damned has Shinji Mikami written on the cover and you can feel his influence but don’t go into this expecting Resident Evil 4 or a gameplay experience on the level of Vanquish or God hand. Most of the combat has you dealing with mobs of demons. You have three weapons, that change with upgrades, a light shot and a melee attack that can be charged. The light shot stuns enemies and you can follow up with a brutal melee kill. You can take swings at enemies when they are close or charge it up as they approach for a bigger more damaging hit. Bullets interrupt enemies and you can de-limb enemies, putting them crawling on the ground or making them less of a threat with no arms. Enemies on the floor can be stomped too and you can always line up some satisfying, blood spurting headshots as well. There is a generous dodge with some invincibility and you get the same on brutal kills and when using a health item. There are explosive light barrels and you get a sticky explosive charged shot. So you can see that this game is about managing and grouping mobs of enemies aggressively. If you look at some games media reviews of this title you’ll see some gameplay footage that is not flattering to this game or the people playing it. They are on the back foot and not combining all the tools given. You can absolutely get up in these demon mugs, play at a faster pace and use your abilities to keep in control of them while relying on the dodge to save your arse. There is a quick turn too and if an enemy is attacking from behind the O button prompt will flash for a counter melee. These things actually make the game too easy even on the hardest difficulty but then that’s probably fitting as you are the demon slaying Garcia fucking Hotspur. I should also mention how much I love that Garcia controls like a video game character instead of prioritising realistic animation and movement.

“What can I say, Johnson? You are the right tool for every job.”

They do throw trickier enemies into the mix and include the darkness as well. There are enemies with big red weak spots on their back, enemies that roll forward on the floor and armoured enemies. The darkness in this game starts draining health after a meter expires and it adds a layer of defence to enemies that needs to be shot with the light shot. So you need to clear the darkness while fighting. There is an enemy type that brings the darkness back and in some places darkness can only be temporarily cleared. These inclusions add extra layers to managing the enemy mobs and Shadows of the Damned’s visuals, location, sound and themes are tied with the gameplay. On top of all this you find hidden red gems along the way and white gems that are both found and dropped by enemies. Red gems are for upgrades to your weapons and health and you’ll need to decide where to spend them. White gems are currency to spend on ammo, health items and red gems. Just save them for red gems. This game gives so much health and ammo even on the hardest difficulty that I never bought any. It’s simple good fun, and tense enough for a play through or two but I wish it was better and more challenging. There are some other little annoyances too. Actions don’t always work smoothly or register properly and Garcia might occasionally get stuck on the environment. The camera does not like tight spaces or super close enemies and it messes up aiming. The enemy AI isn’t the best and you’ll spot them stuck walking into stuff and often not putting enough pressure on. It might be somewhat along the same lines as Resident Evil 4, there’s even a merchant character, but it is nowhere near as good. There are much bigger problems though.

“Well. That killed my stiffy.”

Shadows of the Damned has simple puzzles, that sometimes need to be done during combat, and I don’t mind them. But there are other sections that I’m not so fond of playing through. It is one of those games where you are like ‘hell yeah I want to replay that’ but then you start to remember all these parts you’ll have to do and you quickly change to ‘nah, maybe not.’ There are chase sequences that while fitting aren’t very enjoyable. I love what Shadows of the Damned does with the typical third person shooter turret section but I don’t want to replay it. A few other gimmicky moments hold things up, even if they are a little charming, and the connecting sections are just running forward through darkness. There are three horizontal shooter sections that have a completely different art style but they just aren’t great to play. One of the bosses takes place in the last of those sections as well and it is dull and really underwhelming for that character. The boss fights overall aren’t the best. I enjoyed them enough the first time but coming back again is just going through the motions. It is these sections along with some unskippable bits that causes the game to get bogged down and it seriously harms pacing and replayability. It is all mostly loaded to the back half of the game as well with only the chandelier ride early on. Shadows of the Damned feels like it wasn’t finished properly or they knew they only had a five hour game and were trying to stretch it to almost seven or more, maybe a bit of both.

“Demon keeps on dreaming of a demon town. Mother fucker, bitch, fuck, shit went down...”

This bloody, grindhouse inspired, punk horror, romantic comedy, road movie with two buds, video game-y, video game is a fun time that consistently puts a smile on your face. I just wish Shadows of the Damned was a bit better to play and even more importantly was more re-playable and revisit-able. I also wish the remaster was more robust and had a little more polish. I would still really recommend Shadows of the Damned Hella Remastered. The uniqueness and highs are worth putting up with any issues and it is at a nice price point. Supporting this surely means we’re also going to get that Killer 7 Complete Edition, right?