GamerEscape

One of the things about marching to the beat of your own drum, especially creatively, is that not everything that you put out will hit as well as others. That’s not a dig, because there are times when new folks may not know of the creator’s other works and decide to take a chance on something new. Shadows of the Damned was made known to me through a friend of mine back in 2011, when it released on PS3 and Xbox 360. It was my first exposure to anything related to Suda 51, as I had let the No More Heroes games slip under my radar.

The game was definitely ambitious for the hardware it was released on, as the poor PS3 (and probably 360) could barely crank out performance close to anything resembling even 30 frames per second. What I played was definitely fun, but I could see how some folks could be turned off by the poor performance on original hardware. Part of me wished that it would get a port of any kind at some point in the relative future.

It might have taken the time span of two console generations for it to get here, but developer/publisher Grasshopper Manufacture has finally brought us back to unique take on Hell for all to experience. Releasing on October 31, 2024, Shadows of the Damned: Hella Remastered will find its way onto prior gen consoles (PS4/Xbox One), current gen consoles (PS5/Xbox Series S | X), Switch, and PC (Steam) for some hot demon slaying action just in time for Halloween. The PC version (played on a Windows PC and a Steam Deck) was played for this review.

Clawing Through Hell For Love

In the time between the original release of this game and now, I’ve thankfully been able to experience some of the No More Heroes games in that span of time. While the plot for those games are pretty simple in comparison to other games since that series released, they at least had something you could easily follow. Shadows fancies itself as something more akin to something of a B movie of sorts, but with the kind of plot that you may find in something from the early days of video games. There’s no Like a Dragon-esque plot progression, no crazy intricate plot details, none of that. It bills itself as a “rock and roll road trip” kind of game, and the plot (or lack thereof) reflects that.

The game opens with demon hunter Garcia Hotspur (Steve Blum) arriving to visit his girlfriend, Paula (Julianne Buescher). He quickly discovers her body hanging from the end of a rope. Yikes. Shortly after that, a whole demon emerges from her body, and Garcia does his best to fend off a small army. It’s then when the leader of Hell, Fleming (Greg Ellis), makes an appearance and chides Garcia for his demon-hunting ways. He says that he’ll let go of his newfound grip on Paula if Garcia decides to end his assault on his ranks.

Naturally, Garcia refuses and Fleming promptly drags Paula to Hell. He tells Garcia that he can be challenged in his tower (AKA The Castle of Hassle, as the demons put it), and that Paula will be killed over and over until then. Garcia gives chase, dragging himself into Hell in the process. It’s here where his sidekick/transforming weapon/torch/motorcycle Johnson (Paul Mercier) encourages him to give chase, while warning of the dangers that lay before him. They proceed to rip into the horizon after Johnson shapeshifts into a motorcycle, making their way toward’s Fleming’s tower.

Once you finally get to Hell proper, that’s basically it for when it comes to any sort of meaningful plot. The rest of the story concerns itself with the trek towards Fleming and slaying the demons that stand in Hotspur’s way. Johnson does act as your guide throughout, though he often finds himself frequently cracking a bunch of dick jokes.

Really, the lack of plot here gives the writers more room to make as many spicy jokes as they can. While I found myself chuckling at some of these jokes, the whole game is pretty unserious when it comes to the story. They know that the setup was silly, so they figured that having fun with it was a safe bet. With the overall goal of the game boiling down to “go save the princess,” it seems like they were trying to turn that concept on its head in some way. Because Fleming definitely makes good on that whole “I’m going to kill your crazy girlfriend over and over” statement he made at the beginning of the game.

Paula getting killed over and over is a running joke that starts off being somewhat funny at first, but starts to become pretty annoying throughout your playthrough. With Garcia constantly chasing after (and occasionally being chased by) Paula, the joke honestly wore thin after a while. You could say that this is Fleming being his sick and twisted self, but I’ve never been one for the same joke strewn throughout any piece of media. Paula gets eviscerated in so many different ways, it’s mind-boggling and bordering on torture porn.

When the plot isn’t preoccupied with goring Paula in ways they find creative, it’s often Garcia and Johnson commenting on goings-on as they happen. They have a good banter, which does help in the moment to moment gameplay. You can tell that they’re super comfortable as partners in crime, and it is a relief that the both of them aren’t always walking (and floating) joke machines all the time. Whether they’re talking about their adventure or reading the micro-stories in the midst of all that, you can tell that experienced voice actors were having fun with their roles.

It’s an unserious game with an unserious plot, with the voice actors having as much fun as they can muster. The writing is by no means terrible, but it might lean a little too much on the B movie angle for some people’s tastes. It’s par for the course for anything related to Suda51, but the reduced focus on the plot does lend itself to the “gameplay is king” angle that you regularly saw in the 90s. So long as you don’t take it too seriously (and maybe lean into how immature it is), you won’t have much trouble wringing some fun out of this.

Johnson, Meet Dentist

Even if you don’t find something enjoyable about one aspect of a game coming out of Grasshopper, most of the time the gameplay is the anchor that keeps things enjoyable. This is further cemented by the involvement of Shinji Mikami as creative producer, as he knows a thing or two about making an entertaining third-person shooter. With the vibe this game has and what came later through Platinum Games, this shouldn’t surprise anyone familiar with his work with that studio. Because of that, relying on the gameplay to carry this game is a safe bet.

Garcia’s arsenal essentially boils down to three guns that Johnson can transform into (with associated jokes) and gets upgraded as you defeat bosses. The base pistol, initially dubbed the Boner, is about as standard of a pistol as you can get. The automatic rifle, the Teether, works as expected. The shotgun, the powerful Monocussioner, also behaves exactly what you expect said weapon would. Where it gets interesting is when you start buffing each weapon (and yourself) with upgrade gems and utilize its powered up forms as you defeat bosses and collect/buy stat specific gems. The Boner eventually becomes a sticky explosive launcher, the Teether a homing rifle, and the Monocussioner becomes a multi-shot firearm and grenade launcher in its own right.

While all of these are creative ways to take down hordes of demons, the gunplay in and of itself is incredibly satisfying once you get into the swing of things. This shouldn’t be surprising given Mikami’s prior works, but it’s still worth mentioning. It’s fluid, fun, and mechanically sound. Different foes (and puzzles) will require you to utilize every aspect of each weapon, and the game doesn’t overwhelm you too much during your short romp through Hell. This is what I found to be the most satisfying part of the playthrough, as it wasn’t extremely technical but just deep enough to be fun.

Environment-wise, it’s not all that bland. There are some awkwardly designed parts in the primary sections of the game that make combat awkward to manage, but it’s not awful. Where some folks might get tripped up in the environment would likely be due to the Darkness mechanic copiously strewn throughout the game. It’s basically a byproduct of Hell, and Garcia eventually gets damaged by it the longer he stays in it because of his status as a mortal.

There are ways to mitigate it by using the light shot you’re already heavily using anyway via shot points close by, but it’s a frequent target for puzzles and demons covered in the stuff (naturally removed by the light shot and attacking with Johnson’s torch form). There are some Darkness puzzles that did annoy me at times, but it’s largely a well-thought-out mechanic, aside from a few of the “find the key” portions.

By and large, the game does concern itself with the third person gunplay. But there are a couple occasions that it shifts gears and turns itself into a 2D shoot-’em-up. Since this isn’t the primary focus of the gameplay, I wasn’t too worried about it being poorly designed. But compared to other games that occupy the genre, it could be a little slow for fans of those sorts of games. There’s nothing really wrong with it, as the gameplay is functionally sound. But at the same time, it’s a gameplay change that not everyone will enjoy. I personally didn’t mind it, as I found the levels to be a fun palate cleanser between third-person shooter portions. But tastes vary, and some may be thrown off by its inclusion.

But the overall gameplay experience here is just as good as it was when the original game released. It concerns itself with being a solid third-person shooter experience, and it absolutely succeeds in that aspect. It’s not necessarily a heavy hitter when it comes to more popular shooters in the genre, but it’s a mechanically sound and fun time throughout. While I wish there were some quality of life upgrades to further modernize the gameplay in some way, what’s already here has aged surprisingly well. This shouldn’t surprise any fan of either of these creators, but newbies to the game will find what’s here is a fun time regardless. Dare I say it, hella fun.

Playing in the Darkness to Highlight the Light

When it comes to remasters, the goals of those players approaching them will vary. Some will be happy just to have the game on modern platforms. Doubly so when it’s a beloved cult classic like this game. Others will want to see some modern sensibilites thrown in to make their playthrough a bit more berable in some way. Visually speaking, Hella Remastered dips its toes in both aspects of this, and it largely succeeds. The resolution has naturally been increased, and the (largely) dark and dingy environments of Hell do look better than they did when this originally released.

I should stress that dark and dingy part a bit, as this game gleefully revels in being just dimly lit enough to not get in the way of gameplay. The bulk of the exterior environments rely on this design choice the most, as certain environments resemble something like a red light district or a streetlamp-lit cobblestone street. It’s not the first thing you think of when you think of Hell, but it is a design choice that does help move it away from more traditional/stereotypical depictions of the location. Some might find the dim environment annoying, but others will likely enjoy the strategically placed lighting and the way it also enjoys the environment it’s in.

The environment may enjoy being dark and occasionally brooding, but that doesn’t stop the game from also reveling in its own brand of goofy and juvenile weirdness. If there is a spicy visual joke to make, it goes there with glee. The gore is deliberately over the top and cartoonish, really enjoying the fact that it’s not taking itself seriously at all. Some character designs are appropriate for the environment, but others (especially with select bosses) definitely lean into being just plain odd. It’s a nice commitment to the bit, but its unique brand of Suda 51-laced weirdness may not be for everyone.

Those who cracked into the original release will be happy to know that the performance issues that were present in the original aren’t really present here. Save for the Switch (capped at 30 FPS), other platforms will have little trouble running this game at 60 frames a second at their target resolutions. Those who own the PC version on Steam might be a bit annoyed to see that visual options (resolution, framerate cap, etc.) that are present in other modern games simply aren’t present here. This is balanced out with the fact that the game is pretty well-optimized from the jump for more modern builds, but it still would have been nice to see some more in-depth tweaking for those who want or need it.

Nothing has been really changed when it comes to the audio side of things. The music and voice acting from the original release remains untouched. The latter, as mentioned previously, gives off an air of fun and goofiness at the weirdest times. Many of the lines in the script often leans into lewd and crude boner and sex jokes, and I found myself chuckling and groaning in equal parts. Mostly because they do lay it on pretty thick at times. Most of the music here didn’t really explicitly stand out to me, save for how it too leaned into the weird vibe this game proudly leans into.

But the overall presentation toes the line of what you would expect from a remastered game. It still looks like a game from the era, just optimized and performing better than it originally was. This is nice for those who enjoy it for what it is, though any technical improvements to the performance are always a welcome thing to see. With a game like this getting to see the light of day at all, there’s really nowhere to go but up.

No Bones About It

Shadows of the Damned: Hella Remastered, like its original release, is just a straight up weird freakin’ game. It’s the kind of game that’s not afraid to be proud of how weird it is, despite its over the top boner jokes and juvenile sense of humor littered throughout. If you can get past that veneer, there’s a fun game to play here. It now stands as the best way to play this game, even with the hobbled performance of the aging Switch bringing up the rear.

Really, Hella Remastered is probably the best example of a video game that knows that it’s a video game and runs with it to the point where it almost falls off a cliff. The involvement and expertise of Mikami and Suda prevents it from careening towards the ground, but it’s still a solid game at the end of the day. The gameplay has aged surprisingly well, and the visuals have finally outgrown the limitations of its seventh generation console bretheren. Just be sure to leave any high brow notions at the door and enjoy the ride.

~ Final Score: 7/10 ~

Review code provided by Grasshopper Manufacture for Steam (PC). Screenshots taken by reviewer. Featured image courtesy of Grasshopper Manufacture.