Suda 51 is one strange cat. If you’ve played Killer 7 or No More Heroes then you know what I mean. But take his surreal talents and combine them with that of some of the genius behind Resident Evil and Silent Hill and what do you get? Well kids, you get Shadows of the Damned; one of the most visually interesting and creative games in recent memory.
Shadows of the Damned stars Mexican demon hunter, Garcia Hotspur. During the opening scenes of the game you’ll witness Hotspur’s girlfriend, Paula, being kidnapped by the demon lord Fleming and carried into the underworld. Garcia follows right behind and so begins your adventure through the most insane version of Hell you’re ever likely to see in a video game. You won’t be alone though. You’ll have your flaming skull-on-a-stick friend, Johnson along for the ride. Johnson is actually rather useful as he also doubles as all of your weaponry and as your good humored tour guide. Much of the game’s charm is derived from the banter between Hotspur and Johnson.
The back and forth between Johnson and Hotspur is only a small part of the humor in the game though. While playing through the campaign I was constantly met with the feeling that this game could have been truly terrifying if only it hadn’t been so dang funny. Humor is ever present in every aspect of the game and it’s not just some clever writing and a few jokes either. The humor is completely over the top in every way imaginable from the demented storybooks you’ll find inside the buildings to the weaponry itself. The name of Hotspur’s default pistol is called “The Boner” which can later be upgraded to “The Hot Boner” and eventually, “The Big Boner”. Most of the gags seem like they could have been written by a table full of giggling junior highers and in most any other instance it would be largely eye rolling cheesiness but it somehow works in this game. Clever writing is always a plus but the gameplay in Shadows of the Damned is a solid affair too.
If you’ve played Resident Evil 4 (if you haven’t, you should) then you’ll feel right at home with the gunplay. It employs the same over-the-shoulder camera system as well as the laser targeting beam, making racking up head and limb severing shots a breeze. Your weaponry consists of three different types of guns; a pistol, a machine gun, and a shotgun which can all be upgraded three times each to add firepower and interesting enhancements. Enemies will eventually dodge more often and even employ armor to repel your attacks but ammo is never in short supply so the gunplay stays fast and frantic. You can also make use of Johnson as a melee weapon to stun your enemies and all you guns come with a secondary projectile that shoots balls of light to illuminate the environment or remove the darkness from enemies, allowing you to dispose of them a la Alan Wake. There are also environmental objects that can be used against the demons like barrels of light which explode after being shot, killing or stunning anything around it. One can’t help but wonder why demons would keep such things lying around though.
Environment and character design are another highlight of Shadows of the Damned. The denizens of the underworld are all interesting to look at and only become more so as you progress through the game. Anything from zombie type demons to gigantic goat headed creatures to a strange metal covered singing woman populate the world. There’s even an enemy type that bears a striking resemblance to Silent Hill’s Pyramid Head that will pop up occasionally too. Environmental design is just as good, too. One might think that Hell would be a barren wasteland of fire and ash but apparently these demons have quite the social structure. You’ll explore back alleys, apartment complexes, underground sewer systems and even a seedy red light district just to name a few. Of course everything has a demented sheen layered on top of it to constantly remind you that you are not quite in Kansas anymore. The detailed 3D world will occasionally get left behind in favor of brief side scrolling missions that look like they were designed in a 4th grade art class. They don’t last too long but they are beautiful as well and offer a nice gameplay diversion. You’ll even be fighting one of your boss battles in these levels.
The things that do hold Shadows of the Damned back from being near perfect are, unfortunately, the same annoying traps that hold many a great game back. The boss battles, for one, are largely exercises in patience. In a game as creative and over the top as this game is I was hoping for the same level of creativity in the boss battles. Unfortunately they all boil down to the same old thing we’ve seen before though, which is learning the rhythm of their attacks and shooting whenever they expose their bright glowy spots. None of it is broken and it all works exactly like it’s supposed to, it’s just that there’s nothing here we haven’t seen a million times over. Most bosses also have the annoying habit of breaking their battles up into phases which makes one battle seem like three; and to make matters worse, if you die during the course of battle you will typically have to start back at the beginning no matter how far along you were.
There are also a few moments in the general gameplay that I found a little annoying. A few sections have you running away from a particular demon which will kill you with one touch but some of the environments you are forced to run through are tough to navigate which resulted in me dying multiple times in the same area. Gameplay also becomes a grind near the end when you have to fight off wave after wave of enemies and, of course, starting over from the beginning if you fail. The game is also extremely linear. With such a beautiful world to play through I was hoping to explore some more but every level is laid out with only one path to take, only occasionally giving you another road which inevitably leads back to where you were going anyway.
The good definitely outweighs the bad here though. Shadows of the Damned is an extremely fun and imaginative game that I sincerely wish more people would have paid attention to and I hope it will garner the cult following it deserves. In a world where we get sequel after sequel of the same thing year after year it’s good to see developers continuing to make leftfield over-the-top games like this. As long as Suda 51’s name is on it, I will probably play it. Now, bring on Lollipop Chainsaw!