I often wish I could be a fly on the wall when developers are thrashing out ideas for a new game. Once you have an established IP this must become even more difficult; trying to keep fans happy while adding new features and ideas. From the early trailers, it was clear this new Shadow Warrior game had stepped up the gore and over the top combat; if that is at all possible from prior games. Now that I have run through the story three times I can also say that once again Lo Wang's style of game has changed.

Cock Fight

On the face of it, combat is a simple and straightforward affair, but that doesn’t mean it isn't fun. You press left click to fire your ranged weapon and right-click to swish your katana around. You also have a few other tricks but I will come onto those. As you dispatch enemies left and right (no pun intended) you will also build up a gore meter which has two stages. The first stage lets you perform a devastating finishing move on a basic enemy type. However, if you fill both gore counters up you can eviscerate one of the bigger enemies in spectacular fashion.

I will say the first two death moves I came across in the game didn't wow me as I think they were intended to. The low detail faces, awkward animation and the fact it all took a little too long didn't enamour me at all. I also noted that in more polished games such as Doom; you will see at least two variations on the same enemy type, often depending on the angle of attack. Here it is unfortunately the same animation each time. However, as I progressed further into the game the newer enemies seemed to come with far better death sequences as well as localised damage degradation. As you pump hot lead into your enemies; weaker ones will be carved up like a baseball bat to jelly babies. Larger foes will also break apart like overripe grapes with visible damage where your efforts have been focused.

Another nice feature of these gore finishers is that you can often rip pieces away and use them as a temporary weapon. Once you know what these do they add a second layer of strategy to the goings-on and can often turn the tides in a fight. With one enemy, the flying Shogun heads, you can literally reach inside their mechanical brains and utilise an explosive laser array. 

Carrot and Stick

In the previous game, weapons were plentiful and reminded me of the system in Borderlands. You could also feed lower quality weapons into improving the better boomsticks in your arsenal. Now that system is gone, each weapon you pick up is the only version available in that category. These are mostly your standard offerings such as pistol, shotty and so on; right up to grenade launchers and rail guns. 

As you gad around you will come across upgrade orbs that allow you to unlock new abilities for both your weapons and skills. These do have some very interesting effects such as adding fireballs to the Katana or electricity to your duel machine guns. There are also respawning health and ammo pickups in each arena so as long as you keep moving you will never be too short on what you need. If you do run dry you can always fall back on that devastating pig sticker.

One element about the combat I love is how some of the fighting locations come with traps and deadly mechanisms that can be triggered by you. Luring a mob of big juicy demon guys into what looks like a building-sized blender and then setting it off never gets old. My only criticism is that I wish some of these areas you fight in were a little bigger. Many times I’d be receiving damage from every direction, simply because there was nowhere to run to that wasn't swamped in enemies baying for my blood.

Short Round

Like with all the Shadow Warrior games you should not come in expecting long exposition and hours of dialogue. The story is usually simple, over the top and hilariously stupid: so Shadow Warrior 3 does not disappoint. What might surprise some players is how quickly they will reach the end of the game. Due to a progression bug, I ended up playing through the game three times for this review, each run clocked it at around six to seven hours. Despite this short playtime I was still having fun on my last run and could even appreciate the chaos a bit more with the benefit of hindsight.

One of the largest changes that fans of the series will notice is how the game is structured compared to the last outing. Gone are those procedural levels and the larger open areas, replaced by a more linear formula. When hurtling through these on rails traversal sequences I can’t help wonder if someone at Flying Wild Hog has been playing a bit too much Ghostrunner. I say this because the face-paced wall running and double jumping feels very similar to the aforementioned ninja-thon we saw last year. This isn't a criticism though, far from it as these sections are certainly fun and break up the action nicely. I will say they are nowhere near as challenging as the gymnastics in Ghostrunner but that is probably a good thing. As well as a double jump you must also utilise a dash and grapple to Tarzan your way around. Despite the fact it’s almost impossible to fall, these wall running assault courses are pretty fun.

Is it PC?

So overall the graphics in Shadow Warrior 3 look great with an emphasis on style over details. That is to say if you stop for a few minutes to look a little closer at things there are plenty of ugly spots. However, if you are playing the game at the pace the developers intended, these whizz past at breakneck speed and you are instead captivated by the beautiful backdrops. These can range from impossibly gargantuan waterfalls and heartwarming sunsets, all delivered with a sumptuously rich colour pallet. 

The game's story sections seem to be delivered with in-engine assets. It is unfortunate that the jump from in-game to these sequences causes a degree of stuttering which can be heard as well as seen. The scenes have also been recorded in low resolution so this can really jar when the transition happens. It is a shame because the content of these sections is decent and adds some humorous context for the ensuing bloodbath.

I found the UI and controls to be adequate with no issues. Mouse movement is spot on and keys can be rebound to your heart's content. All of my mouse thumb buttons were also usable which helped for casting my Chi blast etc. I’m not sure why anyone would play a fast-paced FPS with a controller but for you sadists out there full controller support is offered. 

Conclusion 

The retail price of Shadow Warrior 3 immediately caught my attention when preorders went up on Steam. If this third game was comparable in size to the prior games, then this lower would have seemed like a strangely low price point. While we can only speculate, this made me suspect that Shadow Warrior 3 would either be offering less content or suffer a dip in quality. While this game certainly does feel leaner and more streamlined, that isn’t necessarily a bad thing. Just be aware that this game is considerably smaller than prior games and with a very linear progression, there isn't much incentive for replays. Maybe they had a smaller budget this time and felt a more on the rails experience would serve the game's pacing better? I personally love the dick jokes, insane action and over the top world design. I just wish it had lasted a little longer.. yes I know; ‘that's what she said’.

This year and especially the month of February; there has been a deluge of high-quality games. Some like Elden Ring and Forbidden West demand at least a hundred hours each. There are only so many massive open worlds you can run across before you yearn for something more immediate and intense. For me, Shadow Warrior 3 was that game; a pallet cleanser that smacked me around the fizzog with its big cock (no it really did) and demanded my full attention. If you love fast-paced shooters like Doom and Serious Sam, this title will be just the ticket.