Enemy variety-one of the few criticisms of the first game-is also addressed here, with everything from mutated wildlife and Yakuza thugs up to serpentine nagas and towering hellish minibosses appearing in the new game. These maps are huge, with dynamic objectives and enemy encounters that appear out of nowhere instead of the scripted battles from the first game, bad guys will just spawn in and jump you if you dawdle too long. I’ve seen other shooters try to pull this off but none have done it quite as well as Shadow Warrior 2. A far cry from the detailed-yet-linear levels from the first game, Shadow Warrior 2 introduces maps that act as sprawling hubs in and of themselves, often with objectives peppered throughout. The maps themselves are quite a departure as well. They can involve anything from shutting down a drug ring to raiding a lab for company secrets, but they almost always have more going on than just the basic mission objective. These all begin with fully voiced cutscenes and introductions too. There are primary missions that progress the story arc but the sidequests are often just as involved-and difficult-as the main quests. That’s the main difference here: while there is a main plotline, you can generally choose which order to take missions in. A number of small shops and artisans have set up business around the new Wang Cave, establishing a handy little hub to re-arm and select new missions from. After the original Wang Cave got torched in the 2013 game he built a new one in a secluded ninja enclave, and his new cave is even more ostentatious and gloriously immature than the first one. After the introductory stages, the game shifts to a hub world that serves as Lo Wang’s home base. Shadow Warrior 2, conversely, breaks out of the level-based structure into something more modern. 2013’s Shadow Warrior felt like a new Build engine game the levels and narrative were fairly linear but packed with secrets, classic references and traps. Shadow Warrior may have made drastic updates to the weapons, story and humor of the classic 90s shooter but at its heart, its structure was remarkably similar. I’ve spent the last week experiencing more Wang (as the game’s tagline smarmily puts it) and it’s been enlightening to say the least. Now Flying Wild Hog is back, three years later, with a sequel far more layered and ambitious than the original. 90s joke character Lo Wang became an irreverent yet self-aware anti-hero, and his unlikely partnership with the exiled demon Hoji was the source of some great sarcastic exchanges.Īmid confusion, hurt and a whole lot of seriousness, the wicked humor and hard-hitting action of Shadow Warrior was exactly what I needed in September 2013. More than that, however, it had a razor-sharp wit and an uncharacteristically spiritual story. But Shadow Warrior was something else entirely it evolved the Hard Reset formula by adding more weapon types and in particular a highly complex sword fighting mechanic. I had already played Flying Wild Hog’s freshman effort, the cyberpunk retro-FPS Hard Reset, and I loved it. When it arrived in September of 2013, I was adjusting to a new job and had just gone through a decidedly unpleasant breakup. Flying Wild Hog’s remake of Shadow Warrior is a pretty special game to me.
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