Shadow Man Remastered [Xbox]
Developed and published by Nightdive Studios, Shadow Man Remastered is an upgraded version of the 1999 release. The game begins with a surprisingly long, strange cutscene taking place in 1888, with Jack the Ripper coming face to face with a bloody-mouthed man known as Legion, who is looking for his help in building an Asylum in Deadside for fellow killers; and requires the souls of five serial killers: the five Heralds of the Apocalypse. Jack then goes and stabs himself to death to help Legion on his quest. You then awaken as Michael LeRoi, the next in line to take on the role of Shadow Man, with voodoo priestess Mama Nettie telling him of the five Heralds, and the dangers they bring. This is why you must traverse between the Liveside and Deadside, to hunt down the five killers who have sold their souls to Legion.
You have a Teddy Bear that belonged to your late brother, and this connects you to the Deadside, with a fast travel mechanic through it, that allows you to access anywhere you’ve previously visited. For the most part the game takes place in Deadside, which Michael describes as ‘the asshole of the universe’, you’ll need to explore the world and find voodoo canisters containing Dark Souls in order to increase your strength, as well as Cadeaux - gifts that have been left around the world as offerings - and every 100 of these will increase your health. The killers however, are hiding out in the Liveside, so you’ll need to figure out how to track them down - as the Shadow Man powers cannot be used there.
The tank-like controls make movement quite awkward at times, although you do eventually get used to this, and running around feels decent enough - and a damn sight better than the original. The main issues with movement crop up whilst platforming and trying to shimmy along walls, as you’ll often find yourself falling into a repeated loop of missing ledges and dropping down into lava. The combat is restricted to using weapons, including your gun and various voodoo weapons you’ll gain access to (and a weapon wheel has now been added to make switching these out a little bit less clunky). The gunplay is a bit weak, as you’ll be able to just strafe round enemies and shoot without much issue due to the lock-on, despite them often being shockingly bullet-spongy, although the boss fights can be interesting and put up more of a challenge. You’ve got infinite bullets for your main weapon, but alternate weapons available, as well as Voodoo Power, which is what you’ll need to use your voodoo weapons. You can swim (as well as use your weapons underwater), although you have limited lung capacity - but when Deadside, this is removed, allowing you to swim infinitely. You can still ‘die’ through taking damage in Deadside, such as when enemies attack, but this just bumps you back to an earlier point, without any real negatives. Killing enemies will allow you to replenish health, so aside from accidentally falling into lava, etc. you’ll not really find yourself dying too much.
For being a remaster of the original title, it looks great. Retaining the blocky, polygonal appearance, it still has that classic feel, whilst being massively upgraded in terms of visual clarity as well as having some fantastic lighting - and as you’d hope, shadows. Enemies have a variety of twisted, bizarre designs, with warped, nude bodies and designs that evolve as you progress. The soundtrack and score is fantastic, with lots of creep factor with the environmental sounds and deep, droning organ music. Enemies make terrifying, blood curdling screeches that never fail to raise the hairs on the back of your neck. Getting close to the Dark Souls will cause a beating heart to be heard, letting you know that one is somewhere nearby. Shadow Man’s voice is perfectly suited, with a powerful voice that sounded somewhat familiar (turns out the voice actor also did the Blade PlayStation game!) - yet Jaunty, the Irish serpent down in Deadside, sounds almost hilariously out of place - but it somehow still works.
New content has been included for the Remaster, including new areas, as well as enemies and bosses for you to take on. Having a map would have been a brilliant inclusion, as even with the routes being streamlined and pathways being less obscured, it is still very easy to lose track of where you’re going - especially if you respawn miles back from where you were and have to figure out how to get back. There are items you’ll gain on your journey that give interesting backstory to things, and go into surprising depth with each of the Five serial killers’ histories. You’ll get to read short profiles of the killers, as well as details about their MOs and their victims, and you’ll also get to read information about the future powers you’ll gain and the prophecies that have been foretold.
Available for £16.74 on the Xbox Store, Shadow Man Remastered is a fantastically well done remaster, but the game itself is a tad outdated. The lore - whilst intensely dark, with multiple mentions of rape, especially considering its N64 origins - is interesting and unique, and the overall atmosphere is well done, but there is only so much that you can do with a remaster, as opposed to totally overhauling the game. It’s a game more suited to old fans of the title, rather than as an introduction for newbies, as the awkward combat and variety of jank you’ll come across may be offputting to those who haven’t experienced the original.
In the end, we decided to give Shadow Man Remastered the Collecting Asylum rating of 7.5/10.
Are you interested in Shadow Man Remastered? What do you think of it?
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- V x
Thank you to Nightdive Studios for the Shadow Man Remastered Xbox review code!
