Shadows of the Damned Hella Remastered Review: Out of the Shadows Once More

Shades of Damn Hella Remaster Review

2011 seems like a long time ago, especially in the age of video games. It's two hands and three toes, for those who have math problems. Some games that year included the original Warhammer 40k Space Marine, Portal 2, Skyrim, and FromSoftware's Dark Souls. Somewhere hidden among all that gaming goodness was Shadows of the Damned, from developer Grasshopper Manufacture. Thirteen fingers and toes later, we have Shadows of the Damned: Hella Remastered for consoles and PC.

Directed by Massimo Guarini and written by Killer7 creator Suda51, Shadows of the Damned had a complicated story. The game began in 2008 as a Kafkaesque horror title called Kurayami. Unable to find a publisher, the team reworked the concept when Shadow of the Damned and EA picked it up for distribution. But EA had some notes and Suda had to make some significant changes to the story and characters. The final version of Shadows of the Damned finally came out in 2011. It was received quite well by critics, but not so well by players, and sold abysmally. However, over the years, the game developed a very appreciative cult following and even widespread recognition. Personally, I have fond memories of it as one of my favorite third-person action games from that era.

Man and gun in hell

Shadows of the Damned centers its story on the protagonist García Hotspur, whose girlfriend Paula has been kidnapped by Fleming, the Lord of Demons. In Orpheus and Eurydice style, García travels to the underworld to rescue her. His main ally is Johnson, the weapon inhabited by García's spirit. Johnson can transform into a variety of weapons and a torch, and offers an endless stream of juvenile humor about being a “big Johnson.”

At the time, Shadows of the Damned's humor seemed a bit shocking, childish and edgy. It had a sex, drugs, and punk rock-and-roll approach to dialogue and characters, with more insults per minute than premium cable television. Now, in 2024, after so many well-written games, Shadows of the Damn's scattered humor seems a little boring and not all that impactful. To be sure, some of the jokes and puns are still clever and witty. But the advantage disappeared.

In terms of an action game, Shadows of the Damned didn't really push the genre forward, but at the time it was fun. Aside from the Johnson transforming weapon, the main hook of the scenario was the evil darkness in the demon realm that needed to be dispelled. This created some light light-related puzzles and exploration. Shadows of the Damned had some interesting supporting characters and an overall sense of surreal weirdness. It was also visually striking in a Suda51 way, with distorted colors and deeply disturbing, tension-inducing metal music. Given the years of growing affection for Shadows of the Damned, it seems surprising that the game hasn't been remastered or remade, but here we are.

old is new

The Shadows of the Damned: Hella Remastered edition brings the game to current-generation consoles and their immediate predecessors. Other than that, the feature set is quite small. There are a handful of new costumes for Garcia, support for 4k resolution, and overall the visuals are sharper. There is also a New Game+ feature. But shooting and aiming are still uncertain. Movement is still choppy and there are very few new options for graphics or gameplay. While Shadows of the Damned's art style and story have a timeless feel, the action feels frustratingly dated. Small additions like a standard action game lock or even an aiming reticle would have been welcome, for example. But of course, this is a remaster and not a remake or reboot. There was no DLC for the original. However, the voice acting is still worth appreciating, even if some of the humor doesn't hold up.

Although fairly basic, Shadows of the Damned: Hella Remastered definitely does gamers a service by bringing a cult classic to today's consoles. Some of the action and humor of the 2011 original don't live up to our fond memories. Overall, Grasshopper Manufacture's surreal action game remains strange and entertaining.