Shadows of the Damned: Hella Remastered Reviews
A trip to the bowels of hell was insane a decade ago and has lost none of its charm. However, it is a game for nostalgic players and will not appeal much to younger players.
Review in Slovak | Read full review
Shadows of the Damned Hella Remastered is a gleefully stupid action game full of dick jokes, which you'll either find refreshing or horrendous.
A remaster that only goes a little beyond doing very basic rework, and yet still turns out to be enjoyable, aimed above all at those who appreciated it in 2011 or at those who are particularly curious to discover one of Goichi Suda's old craziness.
Review in Italian | Read full review
Shadows of the Damned is the definition of a cult classic. The game is just fun, and I adore the wackiness I expect from Suda51 mixed with the core game design from MIkami. Toss in the excellent voice acting and score, and you have a game that should be a household name. Do not skip this title for a second time.
Shadows of the Damned: Hella Remastered is outrageously fun, with Garcia’s romp through hell as good now as it was back in 2011. Don’t get me wrong, it can show its age in places and I have no doubt that the crude and outdated humour won’t be for everyone, but for me? It was an absolute blast to play, with the game looking and feeling better than ever with the remaster’s improvements.
Ultimately, it’s a stupid fun action game driven by gore, a well-acted story, and a thick amount of creativity that looks better and acts better than it did back in 2011.
Shadows of the Damned: Hella Remastered is still as offbeat and endearing as it was when it was originally released 13 years ago. The story works precisely because it is not afraid to be funny, disgusting, and mischievous (perhaps too much so) which might bother some. The gameplay is still quite good and varied today. The 4K resolution and 60 fps, is the only real difference from the original, which would not justify buying this version. However, considering the price, €24.99, if you want an over-the-top and unusual experience in the underworld, give it a chance, you won't regret it!
Review in Italian | Read full review
To be fair, what is actually disappointing about Shadows of the Damned: Hella Remastered is that, as a remaster, it’s not the most impressive piece of work out there. The colors are drab, the particle effects are still dated, and the gameplay, whilst pretty good, should have received an extra layer of polish. With that being said, I had a bit of fun with it. Everything that had to do with Shinji Mikami’s side of the project, namely the gameplay, worked wonders for me. The Suda51 side of things was a mixed bag at best.
Shadows of the Damned is still a fun romp dense with stimulating set-pieces and gimmicks. The battles are rowdy shootouts with aggressive naked monsters and dodge-rolling into them and smacking them around with Johnson is as tense as ever. Garcia’s controls are fluid and have exaggerated animations that reinforce the silliness inherent in the premise.
Shadows of the Damned: Hella Remastered is a great excuse to experience the simple, crude, and bombastic joys of a proper cult classic, even if its writing and humour feel thoroughly out of place in today's day and age.
Shadows of the Damned: Hella Remastered isn’t without its problems. But again, they’re not new problems – pretty much everything that was bad about the game 13 years ago still stands. But everything good about the game is still just as good in 2024 as it was in 2011, which means that, as remasters go, this one has probably achieved exactly what it set out to do.
Nothing was done in this Hella Remastered to help Shadows of the Damned in the aspects in which the game underperformed at launch, thirteen years ago. Hence, the game has today the same qualities and the same problems of yesterday, but the latter weigh down the experience much more than before.
Review in Italian | Read full review
Shadows of the Damned: Hella Remastered keeps its original appeal, but the dated mechanics may struggle to resonate with a newer generation of players.
Shadows of the Damned: Hella Remastered brings Suda51’s cult classic to new life with enhanced visuals, a darkly humorous narrative, and intense demon-slaying action. The remaster preserves the original’s unique style while adding some welcome refinements. Although the combat can be repetitive, the game’s atmospheric puzzles, challenging boss encounters, and compelling underworld setting make for an unforgettable journey through hell. Garcia Hotspur’s quest to rescue his girlfriend, Paula, pushes both him and players to their limits, and the result is a devilishly entertaining experience that fans of the genre will appreciate.
Shadows of the Damned: Hella Remastered is just as offbeat and captivating as it was when it originally came out 13 years ago. The story works partially because of how it isn't afraid to be funny and gross, and the lack of malice sells the game, even if the humor doesn't strike a chord for some people. The gameplay is fine enough that the rough edges can be ignored at times. It sounds just as good as before and looks much better, but one can't help wishing that more care had been taken to create something more than a barebones port of the original.
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Review in German | Read full review
Shadows of the Damned: Hella Remastered may be one of the wildest trips into the depths of hell you’ll ever take. It’s grotesque, it’s filthy, and it’s unapologetically crass—a fever-dream vision of the Underworld brought to life by some of gaming’s most creative minds. Just don’t forget to keep the light close, or the darkness might consume you whole.
Shadows of the Damned was a fairly mediocre release back in 2011 and a proper remaster or even a remake to change a few design choices that were forced upon the creators, could have really made this something special or at least improved elements of the game that needed it. Instead, this “Hella Remastered” release is nothing more than an up-res’d port with a few costumes and a newgame+ mode. The Adaptive Triggers and Gyro Aiming on the PS5/Switch might be able to entice some players to jump in, as well as the cheaper buy-in price of $24.99, but this is still nothing more than a straight port of a 13-year-old game that wasn’t that great to begin with.
Shadows of the Damned: Hella Remastered is a great version of the original that offers limited but welcome updates such as resolution increases, faster load times and a much requested New Game+ mode. The unique grindhouse aesthetic and over the top humour remains as distinctive as they always were and it is here that the appeal of Shadows of the Damned lives or dies. If the absurd humour and over the top ideas are your cup of blood then this is an easy recommend even if you don't have nostalgic memories of the original. Get ready to grab your Johnson and kill some demons.
Though it has its own charm, Shadows of the Damned has always been a flawed product, damaged by the neglect of all the people involved in the original project back in the day. Shadows of the Damned: Hella Remastered is a way to apologize for some of the responsible people, who came to care about what they had in their hands, but not enough to rethink all its historical issues in order to improve the whole experience. It's a very interesting title, as a whole, but it'll continue to be limited by a clear room for improvement that it has always had and has never been really explored. On the good side, even if clearly old, we can say time has done it good, as it can properly stand out in a market that's populated by other game styles, be it on a gameplay sense or a thematic one, as it works even better as a horror and gore exponent.
Review in Portuguese | Read full review