When You See 17 Minutes of Shadow Warrior 3, You Too Will Believe It’s Awesome

A good chunk of gameplay can do a lot to convince me about an upcoming game. Devolver has released 17 minutes of Shadow Warrior 3 gameplay. It has done exactly as expected: Now I can’t wait to get my hands on the game.

The demo opens up with a bit of exposition, showing a rather goofy cutscene with Lo Wang and Orochi Zilla bantering at each other. For those who don’t remember, Zilla was the main villain of the first Shadow Warriors reboot until Lo Wang cut his arm off. Sure enough, he’s now sporting a metal prosthetic. Eventually, Zilla vanishes and the mission begins. Right away we get a chance to see both how pretty the game looks, and a quick look at platforming. Then, combat.

Glorious combat. Playing more like the original game than the looter shooter sequel, we get to see Wang use some amazingly fantastic weapons in his pursuit of violence. From a quadruple barrel shotgun, to a railgun, every weapon is a joy to behold. Even better, at several points he pulls weapons out of the body of enemies. At one point he snaps a guy’s arm off to turn it into a hammer, while another sees him convert an enemy’s organs into a firework launching chain gun.

The big new feature of Shadow Warrior 3 is the grappling hook, and to the surprise of no one it’s also just amazing. It works for extended platforming segments, with Lo Wang using it to move around while also combining wall running for an experience that reminded me quite a bit of Titanlfall 2. However, it was also used to pull enemies around, toss explosive barrels, and activate traps. All of it led to an experience that looked absolutely fantastic to play.

If you haven’t seen the video yet, go see it. Then add Shadow Warrior 3 to your wishlist on Steam.