Shadow Warriors 2
Shadow Warrior 2 is the sequel to the 2013 game Shadow Warrior, which is a
reboot of the 1997 title Shadow Warrior. Consistent across all games in the
series Lo Wang is the protagonist, once a corporate shogun and now a mercenary
available for hire. As usual he constantly comments on the encounters,
dropping oneliners and lending the game a humorous tone combined with over-
the-top violence. The core 1st-person gameplay is similar to the previous
game, offering both close combat melee combat, as with the katana in the
previous game, combined with ranged gunplay. The biggest differences are in
the amount of weapons and customization options, the open level design and the
introduction of online multiplayer for up to four players working
cooperatively.
The game’s campaign is set five years after the events of the previous game.
Lo Wang now lives in the wildlands as a hired sword. Demons, and humans under
the command of nemesis Orochi Zilla now live side by side and both are out for
his blood. During a mission for the Yakuza something goes wrong. In the
previous game the demon Hoji was Lo Wang’s companion and this time he ends up
with the girl Kamiko, working for Zilla, in his head. Early on her body
becomes corrupted and Master Smith transfers Kamiko’s soul to Lo Wang’s body.
She often appears during missions as they banter. Enemies consist of Zilla’s
minions combined with the demons from the shadow realm.
There is once again a linear campaign but with a different approach. There are
now hub areas (include a Wang Cave) with shops and characters where primary or
optional missions can be started combined with fast travel to start right
away. Levels are now larger, more open areas that can often be explored in
many directions. There is more focus on verticality as Lo Wang always has
access to a double jump combined with infinite sprint, climbing, no fall
damage and a quick dash in four directions. Levels are also always randomized
for each session, with variations for terrain, buildings, props, items,
weather, enemy types, enemy placement and so on. There are different
combinations, but not based on procedural generation. The main quests and
environment types such as sci-fi neon buildings, temples or countryside
landscapes as settings follow the story and are not randomized.
The randomization element for loot also provides the game’s new RPG elements,
which introduce a large amount of customization to the game. There are now
over 70 weapons such as katanas, short swords, claws, crescent blades, bows,
chainsaws, grenade and rocket launchers, pistols, assault rifles, mines,
shotguns and so on with primary and secondary attacks. Only eight can be
carried at all times, but redundant ones can be sold. Melee weapon have
different types of attack and can be timed to parry about any incoming attack.
It is possible to cut off specific limbs, preventing the use of a weapon.
Weapons are often found in the environment and they each have different
statistics that can be compared directly. On top of that there is a large
amount of options to customize weapons or apply magic to them, making the
gameplay more similar to the Borderlands series for instance. Levels also have
shrines to refill health, ammo and Chi (magic) combined with checkpoints.
Damage numbers are visible on enemies along with health bars. Often there are
powerful bosses to defeat as well.
Chi acts as mana for the magic systems and allows for actions such as Chi-
Blast, Grip of Darkness, Healing Flame, Shadow Fury, Teleport and Vanish.
These are often used in combat to deal with multiple enemies at once. Loot
consists of weapons, money and gems. Gems are used to improve armour, powers
and weapons. Each weapon has three slots for customization found during
levels. These include a larger clip size, reload time, accuracy or more
damage, but also attacks based on electricity, fire, ice, poison, targeting
certain enemy resistance. Weapons and mods can be changed on the fly. Enemy
weaknesses and resistances are shown during fights, encouraging the player to
adapt and customize the weapons. Later in the game the unused ones can be
converted to craft new mods. Experience (karma) provides skill points that can
be spent on cards for four categories (Life, Powers, Resource and Warrior),
which influence the play style. Each card can be upgraded multiple times and
new ones are found often. There is also room for amulet slots, armour slots,
multiplayer slots and power slots. Many upgrades are provided by completing
missions.
The campaign can be played cooperatively with up to four players online, using
drop in drop out with scaling difficulty and no friendly fire. This campaign
is otherwise identical to the one played alone. Cut-scenes often further the
story between missions.
Minimum System Requirements | ||
VRAM | 1 GB | |
RAM | 8 GB | |
OS | Windows 7 |