Return to the tried and tested and yet a novelty
Shadow Warrior 3 from the Polish developer studio Flying Wild Hog is to be released this year for Windows, PS4 and Xbox One and thus addresses both PC gamers and console fans. It is the third part of the popular Shadow Warrior series. What started in 1997 with the classic Shadow Warrior and enjoyed several add-ons was given a remake in 2013 by Flying Wild Hog. In the first-person shooter with light RPG elements you slip into the role of the well-known protagonist Lo Wang. The goal of the game is to defeat an ancient dragon that was accidentally awakened from sleep. But to see this, you first have to clear away hordes of opponents in the old Doom tradition.
The current state of Shadow Warrior 3 already makes the hearts of fans of this game series beat faster, because it looks promising and offers some new features. In this way it sets new priorities on the tried and tested. You will slip into the role of Lo Wang and mainly plunge into the Far Eastern mountain ranges of a neo-feudal Japan. To achieve your goal, you have to fight through countless hordes of opponents reminiscent of classics like Doom or Serious Sam. A clear focus in the third part is the tactical switching between a wide range of ranged weapons and the spectacular close combat, which you still perform with your katana.
What's new here is that you no longer have to switch between ranged weapons and katanas cumbersomely, because with the help of a button you can strike with your sword at any time in ranged weapon mode. Just as new is the possibility to finish off opponents in melee with a finishing move, as old-school gamers already know it from Mortal Kombat. After this bloody execution, which makes melee fights more brutal and exciting at the same time, you can, for example, use the eye of an opponent as a weapon.
The looting and upgrade system of the predecessor Shadow Warrior 2 was deliberately automated here, so that the focus is clearly on the return to the old shooter tradition. Gamers can concentrate fully on the action. Also the higher interaction with the landscape, as gamers know it from action adventures, is focused here. This way, Lo Wang can hang along the mountain in a tomb raider-like manner, run along walls, perform a double jump or move quickly through the air. The levels of the campaign are more linear, this also serves the action focus.
Here are the most important innovations at a glance:
- Katana always available
- martial finishing moves
- severed body parts as a weapon
- interaction with the landscape
- new moves like double jump
- focus on linear levels and fast-paced action in classic tradition of genre pioneers like Doom
- accentuation of the feeling of being a freely movable ninja like in anime
Shadow Warrior 3 is aimed at singleplayer who love classic egoshooters and welcome extras. If you've already had a lot of fun in the Doom or Serious Sam series, which was continued last with Doom Eternal and Serious Sam 4, you'll love this game! There will be no multiplayer mode in contrast to the predecessor Shadow Warrior 2. Linear action with scripted events like in Half Life and environment interaction will definitely come into their own here.
In addition to the Shadow Warrior series, the futuristic egoshooter Hard Reset is also a popular game from the pen of the Polish developer studio. Stay up to date on www.keyfuchs
