Back in 2011, Shinji Mikami and Grasshopper Manufacture released Shadows of the Damned before Mikami moved on to begin work on the critically acclaimed The Evil Within. From there Shadows of the Dammed fell into obscurity, before now! Mikami and director Suda51 (Goichi Suda) are back with the remastered version of Shadows of the Dammed that’s more than just remastered, it’s Hella Remastered!
Shadows of the Dammed: Hella Remastered follows demon hunter Garcia Hotspur as he goes to hell to save his girlfriend Paula, who was taken by the demon lord Fleming. With the help of his demon companion Johnson, Garcia will traverse Hell and fight its demons.
Now, onto the game itself! Allow yourself time to get used to the controls, as they are laid out a bit differently than you would be used to. Other than that, they’re fine, in my opinion.
The Art of Shadows of the Dammed: Hella Remastered looks amazing in the updated 4K resolution and the works of Mangaka Q Hayashida, who designed the enemies of the game, look awesome since they remind me heavily of one of my favorite Manga/Anime by her, Dorohedoro.
The voice acting is top-notch, with funny dialogue between Garcia and Johnson. The game world is full of sophomoric wordplay. Normally, I don’t like that in my games, but for some reason, it really works with Shadows of the Dammed: Hella Remastered‘s punk-rock edginess.
The gameplay is a third-person shooter in which you explore the hellish world and solve puzzles that allow you to go further into hell using elements of light and dark. Some enemies will be defeated more easily than others with certain weapons, but all this can be found in Jonsonpedia at the pause screen!
Overall, Shadows of the Dammed: Hella Remastered is fun as hell to play. True, it may not be earthshattering gameplay and story BUT it’s an awesome game to play to pass the time, with the added editions that the previous incarnation of the game lacked, mainly a New Game + will make playing the game more interesting, along with the choosing from 4 costumes for Garcia to wear.
With great character art, a rock and roll feel, fun combat mechanics, cheeky dialogue, great voice talent, and a soundtrack by Akia Yamaoka, there’s plenty for old and new fans of Shadows of the Dammed to find in this remastered work! On my scale of 1-10, I give Shadows of the Dammed: Hella Remastered a 9/10 as I felt the game should have had more of an open-world mechanic to it.
Shadows of the Dammed: Hella Remastered comes out blazing on Halloween for PlayStation 4 and 5, Xbox One and Series X/S, Nintendo Switch, and STEAM.
