Shadows of the Damned Hella Remastered Review – Out of the Shadows Once More

Shadows of the Damned Hella Remaster Review

2011 feels like a long time ago, especially in video game time. That’s two hands and three toes, for the math-challenged. Some games from that year included the original Warhammer 40k Space Marine, Portal 2, Skyrim and FromSoftware’s Dark Souls. Somewhere hidden in all that gaming goodness was Shadows of the Damned, from developer Grasshopper Manufacture. Thirteen fingers and toes later, we have Shadows of the Damned: Hella Remastered for consoles and PC. 

Directed by Massimo Guarini and written by Killer7’s creator Suda51, Shadows of the Damned had a convoluted history. The game began life in 2008 as a Kafkaesque horror title called Kurayami. Unable to find a publisher, the team reworked the concept as Shadow of the Damned and EA picked it up for distribution. But EA had some notes, and Suda had to make some significant changes to the story and characters. The final version of Shadows of the Damned was finally pushed out the door in 2011. It was received pretty well by critics, but not so much gamers and sold abysmally. However, over the years the game developed a very appreciative cult following and even mainstream recognition. Personally, I had fond memories of it as one of my favorite third person action games from that period.

Man and Gun in Hell

Shadows of the Damned centers its story on protagonist Garcia Hotspur, whose girlfriend Paula has been abducted by Fleming, the Lord of Demons. Orpheus and Eurydice-style, Garcia travels to the underworld to rescue her. His chief ally is Johnson, Garcia’s spirit-inhabited gun. Johnson can transform into a variety of weapons and a torch, and provides an endless stream of juvenile humor about being a “big Johnson.”

At the time, Shadows of the Damned’s humor seemed a bit shocking, puerile and edgy. It had a sex, drugs and punk rock-and-roll approach to dialogue and characters, with more f-bombs per minute than premium cable TV. Now in 2024, so many well-written games later, Shadows of the Damn’s scattershot humor feels a bit tiresome and not nearly as shocking. Some of the jokes and puns are still smart and clever for sure. But the edge is gone.

In terms of action game play, Shadows of the Damned didn’t really push the genre forward but at the time it was fun.  Aside from the transforming gun Johnson, the primary hook of the setting was the evil darkness in the demon realm that needed to be dispelled. This set up some lite, light-related puzzles and exploration. Shadows of the Damned had some interesting side characters and an overall feeling of surreal weirdness. It was also visually striking in that Suda51 way, with distorted colors and deeply unsettling, tension-inducing metal music. Given the years of growing affection for Shadows of the Damned it seems amazing that the game hasn’t already been remastered or remade, but here we are. 

What’s Old is New

The Shadows of the Damned: Hella Remastered edition brings the game to current gen consoles and their immediate predecessors. Aside from that the feature set is pretty small. There are a handful of new costumes for Garcia, support for 4k resolution and overall the visuals are sharper. There’s also a New Game+ feature. But the shooting and aiming are still squirrely. Movement is still choppy and there are very few new options for graphics or gameplay. While Shadows of the Damned’s art style and story are timelessly stylized, the action feels frustratingly antiquated. Small additions like a standard action game lock-on or even aiming reticle would have been welcome, for example. But then, this is a remaster and not a remake or reboot. There was no DLC for the original to fold in. However, the voice acting remains appreciation-worthy, even if some of the humor doesn’t hold up.

Although it’s pretty bare bones, Shadows of the Damned: Hella Remastered definitely does gamers a service by bringing a cult classic to current consoles. Some of the 2011 original’s action and humor doesn’t quite live up to our fond memories of it. On the whole, Grasshopper Manufacture’s surreal action game remains weird and entertaining.

***PC code provided by the publisher for review***