Last year Devolver Digital remade the classic Shadow Warrior on PC and released it to much critical acclaim. Now they’re hoping they can make the magic happen again by bringing the game to consoles.
On the one hand, Shadow Warrior is a port of a B-list PC game from last year with little in the way of updates for the consoles. On the other hand, it’s Shadow Warrior, and that alone makes this announcement a wonderful thing.
That’s right: Devolver Digital and Flying Wild Hog Games are bringing last year’s Shadow Warrior reimagining to the home consoles, PS4 and Xbox One to be exact. Recent announcements definitely hint at the PS4 version seeing bit more love from the developers though; like with many cross-platform releases since the inception of the current generation the PS4 version will run natively at 1080p and 60 frames per second, while the Xbox One version will be limited to 900p. The developers are also adding extra support for the PS4’s touchpad, letting it be used for katana slashes to improve control accuracy.
When Shadow Warrior was released last year on PC many gamers and critics had little in the way of hope for the title. After all, it was being released as a semi-budget title and was based on a game from 1997 that was built in the Build engine (AKA the engine created for the original Duke Nukem 3D.) Everyone was still sore from the poor treatment The Duke had recently received in Duke Nukem Forever, and it was hard to get excited about another wise-cracking ‘tude-filled FPS.
Luckily, Shadow Warrior did what Duke Nukem Forever failed at, and became what many considered one of if not the best single-player FPS of last year. The ‘tude was there, big and bold, but so was the game play, and the game’s reimagined levels and great graphics helped to assure it would stand out from the crowd of dull grey and brown shooters around it.
The consoles could be getting a lot worse.
While a specific date has yet to be announced, Shadow Warrior is planned to be out this fall for the consoles as both a digital download and a retail release, and is expected to stick to its original 40 dollar price point. If the console port keeps the speed and fun of the PC original intact, this will be a day-one purchase for every PS4 owner with a taste for a little humor, a lot of gore, and great gameplay.