izigame.me

Having just finished the game, I feel like I can write a review on it in good confidence, even with only the 6 hours that I played (I took my time and that's STILL all that was required to beat the game).
The game has extremely fun combat with nice unique weapons that are useful in their own way. You've got the classic grenade launcher, slice-y disk spewer, machine guns, fancy sword, etc. What you would expect from a Shadow Warrior game but on the most basic level. However, as someone that came from Shadow Warrior 2, words can't describe how disappointed I was with this "sequel" for MANY reasons. Let me explain.
After reading some other reviews (after already beating the game), I found that a lot of people disliked the game for a few of the same reasons as each other, like they thought Wong was annoying or that the characters were poorly fleshed out. While I can agree with the latter point, Wong is MEANT to be an idiot. That's supposed to be part of his charm. I personally found his jokes funny in a 3rd-grader-humor kind of way. You just kind of turn your brain off while killing demons and chuckle at the dumb a** remarks he makes. For me, Wong nor any of the other characters were the breaking point in this game. I actually quite enjoyed the dynamic between the characters, for what little time it existed, and that brings me to my main gripes.
The game is SEVERELY underwhelming in content.
The content it gives you? Fun! Enjoyable, but by the end of the game when the credits started rolling, I thought it was a joke given how little content there was compared to it's predecessor. What kind of content is it lacking you might ask? Well, honestly everything.
The linear level path was uninspired and felt like an ATTEMPT at providing a similar experience to that of the Doom franchise, but without the same unique flair provided by it. While each level/arena area LOOKS slightly different, it all felt very similar in the end and had the same process.
- Grapple to an area
- Do relatively easy parkour
- Kill enemies in area
- Repeat
EVEN THEN, I feel that the game was digestible and fun, to put it kindly. Although what really turned me off was the removal of all of the previous games RPG elements, rather than the continuation of building upon them and structuring around them. Things like getting mountains of new weapons, upgrading them, whole skill trees devoted to Wong's individual types of talents and gear usage, ALL gone. Instead you're given around 5 weapons ONLY, that you cannot change out at all and that you can only upgrade (each) 3 times. As far as your own character (Wongs) skills, it's about just as egregious, whereas you only get a similar small amount of rather lack-luster level up abilities too. Like, "Yay, I do 25% more elemental damage with environmental barrels!" ? Really? While the 5 or 6 weapons you get are each unique, it is NOTHING compared to the amount of cool weapons you could get in the previous game. If you're someone who liked the loot aspect from the previous games, then this one will break your heart in the absolute worst way .
Regardless of the insane lack of loot (literally no loot at all. Your inventory exists solely to upgrade your existing weapons a very small amount of times) and the insane lack of talents/talent tree perks, AS WELL as having no shop/home area hub to buy items, the game continued to disappoint me by the lack of content. I (again) played for around 6 hours, and beat the game. I wasn't rushing or grinding or speed running or anything of the sort. I was playing casually and taking my time, and still beat the game extremely quickly. When it was over and the credits started rolling, I genuinely thought it was a joke. I was thinking, "Oh haha good one. Nice prologue, maybe I get to buy more weapons and access a shop and a skill tree that matters now etc etc." but no. It wasn't a joke nor was what I played an opening prologue, The short, extremely linear. 6 hour experience was the entire game.
Now listen. In closing, I had a decent time. However, the main thing that allowed me that decent time was the thought in the back of my mind that the game had more content it was holding out on me, like the things I mentioned previously, but it didn't. If I had been wise enough to read reviews and watch game play of this game before buying it, I probably never would have. Compared to the previous game, the INSANE lack of content overall like extensive weapon choices and talent trees made me regret my purchase and feel sad that I trusted the developers to have made a game like SW2 but better.
I'll take this as a lesson going forward to do more research before buying a game, instead of getting excited that a sequel to a game I previously enjoyed just came out, and buying it immediately. If you're looking for a cheap-short arcade-esque feeling game to play and finish in an afternoon when you're bored, then sure, buy this when it's on sale. It might live up to that expectation, but if you're looking for a true Shadow Warrior 3, then I'm sorry but you wont find it here .