I never owned a PlayStation 3 or Xbox 360, and so despite already having received a whole row of ports and remakes from that generation, there are still a few games I’ve always been wanting to play that I never got the chance to. Shadows of the Damned (2011) has been on the very top of that list for me, and the reason is simple: it’s two of the names you see as soon as you open the game. Because Shadows of the Damned (2011) is the result of a collaboration of two of the greatest creatives in the industry: Shinji Mikami, known for the Resident Evil games and other things, and Suda51, who is probably most famous for the No More Heroes series. And finally, thanks to Shadows of the Damned: Hella Remastered, developed and published by Grasshopper Manufacture, I get to experience the action-adventure with survival horror influences for myself.
Shadows of the Damned throws you right into the action as protagonist Garcia Hotspur is in the middle of fighting some pretty mean demons. The meanest of them all is Fleming, the Lord of the Underworld, who has come to take Garcia’s girlfriend Paula (or Angel, as he affectionately calls her) with him. And with no way to stop Fleming, the only option left for Garcia is to jump right after them into the portal that leads to hell. But not before grabbing his demon buddy Johnson, who can shapeshift into a number of useful things, but first and foremost guns. And so the road trip through hell begins.
I love Shadows of the Damned’s rendition of hell. A gothic dreamscape of a town with corpses hanging from powerlines, blood flowing through the canals, and the moon hanging across the sky at all times. And its inhabitants are some nasty little guys. Baby faces grafted onto gates that you need to feed to get through. Zombie-like demons that rush at you in masses in an attempt to kill you before grim reapers come to finish the job for good. Giant hands with mouths opening that spew darkness everywhere. And then there are the bosses that each come with unique characterizations of the depraved and unholy.
The art direction in Shadows of the Damned is top-notch and practically bursting at the seams with creativity. And creativity really is this game’s biggest strength. You can just tell that this was made by two of the great game directors we have, with nobody there to put any constraints on them. Shadows of the Damned frequently does wild things that feel like they were put there for no other reason except that it seems like a fun thing to do. In one chapter, there are suddenly 2D twin-stick shoot ’em up levels. One level is just a recreation of The Evil Dead (1981); another level is structured around the nine circles of hell. You never really know what to expect next. Maybe you’re swinging around a giant chandelier as you ascend a tower, or maybe your guns grow dramatically in size, in essence turning you into a stationary cannon to fend off enemies as tall as buildings. It’s this quality that puts Shadows of the Damned head and shoulders above other similar games like it.
So when Shadows of the Damned isn’t currently throwing a new creative idea at you, it plays like a classic action-adventure game of that time. Resident Evil 4 (2011) is a pretty close comparison, though this game is much more manic than that one. You have three weapons that you can use: a pistol, a machine gun, and a shotgun, that each get upgraded as you progress through the game, turning them into ridiculously powerful murder machines. And on top of that, you have the light shot that can stun enemies and, more importantly, create light. Because darkness is one of the big threats in Shadows of the Damned. It will take over the levels and hurt you as long as you stand in it, as well as empowering enemies and giving them a shield that you need to blast away with your light shot. And the only way to get rid of the darkness is by shooting goat heads that are hanging from the walls. But the darkness has its uses too. Certain switches can only be activated while you’re submerged in the dark, and while most enemies become stronger in it, some also reveal their weak points.
My only complaint with Shadows of the Damned is that some of its writing hasn’t aged too gracefully over the past decade. It’s super edgy, with basically every joke being of sexual nature, and unfortunately at times with misogynistic understones. On top of that, the female characters are severely underwritten, and their designs are pretty sexualized. For me personally, I could sort of deal with it by remembering the time that this was made in. These kinds of games that were trying to be edgy, with their macho male protagonists who curse up a storm and questionable female characters, were just kind of a thing back then, though I certainly don’t think it would fly today (and it probably shouldn’t). I honestly would not be surprised if some people just can’t make it past this, and I think that’s totally fair. Again, for me, I could live with it by remembering the context of the time it was made in, as well as the fact that every character in Shadows of the Damned is clearly an asshole of the highest order, and none of their comments are meant to be taken seriously.
If you can make it past that, then you will find an absolute gem in Shadows of the Damned. A game with a unique energy from a different time that needs to be played to be believed, and I can only hope that with this remaster it can find an audience, because it’s a game ripe for rediscovery.
Nairon played Shadows of the Damned: Hella Remastered on PC with a review code.