Shadow Warrior 2 therefore continues in the momentum of previous episodes by offering very nervous FPS typed gameplay, omnipresent humor and above all more ketchup than in a Heinz factory. First observation, Shadow Warrior is beautiful! Seriously, the outdoor environments offer a splendid graphic rendering, a polished artistic direction and a technical level that we clearly did not expect from a game published by Devolver Digital (better known for its promotion of indies). Tested on PC, the game offers a good display distance, lots of particles when you cut the demon and a very successful lighting management. We even find ourselves admiring the famous godrays that pierce the canopy of a bamboo forest. If we judge on the physical, Lo Wang has downright class and in recent years, he has aged rather better than yours truly. Moreover, the demons have also gained in finesse with an ever more demonic design, even if some heads are known. Same thing for weapons that have benefited from a new surface treatment, the reflections on the blades being really cool. We even wonder why the studio revealed such ugly trailers to us. After Ubisoft's graphics downgrade, welcome to Devolver's graphics upgrade. We want more!
LE FAST RPG
There, you are going to tell me that we are not here to judge on the physical and that they piss off these PC players who always subdue the slightest polygon. It's true. But hey, admit that the physical counts all the same! First novelty: if Shadow Warrior 2 is still played as an FPS, it is in fact an RPG. Exit the linear scenario where everything takes place, and welcome to a system with several play areas, a hub and even side quests. Dragon Mountain will therefore be the central area in which we can spend our money in the various shops available. Another novelty that will keep you busy for a while: the arrival of gems. These relics that are collected all over the levels and that are dropped by the demons that you have cut are an essential part of the game. Each weapon has three slots to put gems in it that will radically modify the properties of your weapons. . We can add elemental damage (fire, ice, acid, electric) that will continue to damage your enemies over time, but also modify the statistics of your weapon. The most important stat is obviously the DPS, and we will do everything to maximize this score by looking for the best gems. To achieve this, a crafting system is present in order to recycle your seedy relics and combine them with each other. At Master Smith's forge, we will be able to combine three gems (against payment!) to create better ones and thus improve weapons even more. Given the impact of these bonuses on the stats of your weapons, this is an element that should absolutely not be overlooked. On some swords, we more than doubled the damage by choosing the right relics.
Exit the linear scenario where everything takes place, and welcome to a system with several play areas, a hub and even side quests.
Other RPG elements: the skills system present in the first opus, which is now renewed and extended. At each level, we earn skill points that we can reinvest in cards with several slots that will give us new abilities. Health points, new attacks, attack power and even the possibility of regenerating your life bar. Moreover, we can even buy new cards if you have already completed yours. Skills are life, especially if you're playing on the higher difficulty settings. The interest of playing in hardcore obviously being that the loot will be much better, with better gems and greater potential for crafting. To optimize your harvest of skill points, each mission will be replayable in order to cut more enemies. A little finesse, however: to avoid repetition, each mission (except those with events specific to the main quest) will be procedurally generated, with modified topography, different enemies and variable weather conditions. Enough to farm the 70 weapons and thousands of gems, avoiding getting bored in places you have already visited many times. Farewell to transport times, since Lo Wang will now be able to teleport thanks to the new sidekick who squats his brain like Hoji in the first episode.
LO WANG MOTHERFUCKERS !
Called Kamiko, this young lady will be the pivot of the scenario since from the start of the game, we have to extract her from Zilla's laboratories. Unfortunately, his body is corrupted by a serum injected by the company. To save her, Master Smith extracts her soul and places it in your noggin. Most of the narrative will therefore revolve around the recovery of the body of the young lady. But obviously, nothing is simple and family stories will resurface, especially with the arrival of Ameonna. We'll stop there so as not to spoil anything about an engaging scenario served by ultra-nervous gameplay. Big news have arrived on this side to boost the action. Lo Wang can now take advantage of double jumps and some surfaces on which we will be able to climb. The other high point is an ultra efficient dash with a super reduced cooldown. We will therefore spend most of the game dashing in all directions like crazy. Suffice to say that the "double jump + dash" combination will allow you to cross entire levels in no time. To the point that Windows often asks us if we want to activate the sticky keys, proof that we spam the dash key a little too often. Result of all this speed: hyper dynamic fights where we take a monster foot to slalom between the armies of demons and to bugger like crazy. Lovers of subtlety run away! Lo Wang is a nag, and the more time passes, the more his ability to chop enemies is growing. With Shadow Warrior 2, we went from crushing monsters with pieces to a very velvety smoothie, all sprinkled with the sarcastic remarks of Lo Wang who comments on the most beautiful actions.
Lovers of subtlety run away! Lo Wang is a nag, and the more time passes, the more his ability to chop enemies is growing. With Shadow Warrior 2, we went from crushing monsters with pieces to a very velvety smoothie...
Joy and happiness, you will be able to play Magimix (or Vorwerk – the war of mixers is worse than that of consoles) with friends! Shadow Warrior 2 offers a very nice multiplayer mode, in which up to four players will be able to join forces to annihilate the demonic scum and the henchmen of Zilla. If the mode is nice, we regret a lack of glaring finish. No way to communicate between players, not even a written chat! It will therefore be necessary to go through Steam Speak or third-party software to discuss and optimize the attacks. Similarly, only the party host will be able to activate triggers and other objectives during the mission. When you join a server populated by strangers, it is not uncommon to have to wait a while for the host to arrive to activate a switch. Another problem, given the small scale of the developer and the publisher, there is no dedicated server, some of the players having a seedy connection it will sometimes be necessary to wait a very long time before joining the game. Don't think of escaping the problem by trying to return to the menu since there is no option present to abandon the connection. You will have to leave the game like a nag (via the task manager) to try a new server. Hopefully these issues will be fixed with a patch. Finally, a last word on the life of the game which was about ten hours to play the campaign in solo, without rushing like crazy. Nevertheless, the quest for a better loot to go and try the hardcore mode (entitled "No Pain No Gain") extends the lifespan. If ever the challenge remains too hard, you can revisit each area after completing the solo once. Last detail, when we leave for a new game, all the money, skills and loot recovered are kept so that Lo Wang becomes more powerful than a Super Saiyan.
