At long last, players can get their hands on Shadow Man: Remastered, an update to the 1999 cult classic video game. Nightdive Studios remastered the title, adding improved visuals and additional content missing from the game's original versions. Though aesthetically it's chained to the past, Shadow Man: Remastered delivers a solid old-school action-adventure experience.
Originally developed by Acclaim Studios Teesside and published by Acclaim Entertainment, Shadow Man saw release on the PlayStation, Nintendo 64, Dreamcast and PC. The title received generally favorable reviews from critics but was overshadowed by titles like Legacy of Kain: Soul Reaver and Resident Evil 3: Nemesis. Nightdive studios would re-release the title in 2013, so they were the perfect choice to bring Shadow Man up to modern standards.
Shadow Man is based on the comic book series of the same name from Valiant Comics about a voodoo warrior protecting humanity from the dark forces in this realm and beyond. Dropping players into a world of voodoo, prophecy and damnation, players will travel between the Liveside and Deadside to prevent an evil immortal army from marching on Liveside and wreaking havoc. The bulk of the game revolves around exploring the Deadside, collecting the Dark Souls (immortal souls of damned warriors) and pushing deeper into a hell-forged asylum housing deranged serial killers.
Deadside and the citadel-esque asylum that resides within are teeming with barriers, traps and obstacles Shadow Man will have to traverse to accomplish his task. Magically sealed gates and locked areas will commonly impede Shadow Man, pushing him to recover Dark Souls and new items to progress deeper into Deadside. Along the way, the residents of Deadside, from zombies to gun-wielding pig-men, will do all they can to stop players in their tracks. Luckily, Shadow Man has an arsenal of tricks at his disposal to deal with any threat that arises.
The core of Shadow Man: Remastered is exploration and platforming. Players will shimmy across pools of hellfire, roll through crushing traps and leap across chasms to get to their destination. Controlling Shadow Man feels good in the remaster, with a third-person lock-strafe perspective serving wonderfully both in and out of action. That said, camera control can be lacking in some tight platforming scenarios. When in a corner or shimmying, it's difficult to determine whether you are about to make a safe maneuver or fall to your death.
Additionally, there is very little explanation of how the controls work in Shadow Man: Remastered. This is a minor issue considering they are all very intuitive once discovered, but it can lead to frustration. For example, it's not immediately evident that Shadow Man can duel-wield. You can do so by left-clicking an item to go into the character's left hand and then doing the same for the right hand with a right-click. It's never brought up, but imperative information to understand. You don't learn much about some of the finer controls when shimmying across a ledge, either. This is a bit more understandable as it's a new feature, but tooltips or a context-specific controls layout would have helped. There is a "Configure Bindings" section in the menu, but it doesn't cover everything.
None of the puzzles and platforming segments are particularly devious, but the sheer expanse of the title, on top of the non-linear progression path, leads to a challenging but fair game. There are plenty of secrets and collectibles for those who want to search every nook and cranny they come across, and the level design, particularly in the asylum, is impressive. Players will spend most of their time going back and forth between the massive asylum, a foreboding, maze-like superstructure that will be home to just as many platforming successes as it will failures. As time goes on, it begins to feel like a character itself.
The combat is plentiful but relatively straightforward, never throwing anything too unexpected at players. There's an assortment of ranged and melee foes; both only take a fight or two to figure out and then pose little challenge individually. The number of enemies and their placement in unsuspecting locations is what'll catch players by surprise. A simple encounter can turn deadly when the one expected monster turns out to be three after clearing a hazard and entering a room. Weapons are acquired by finding them scattered throughout levels, and it is possible to skip or miss some. The lock-strafe controls do a great job of auto-aiming at the closest enemy the Shadow Man is facing, which is needed considering the first-person aiming mode is somewhat unwieldy. Shadow Man: Remastered's combat is several simple pieces on its surface but orchestrates them in a way that ensures players are always on their toes looking out for an ambush or a new tool of destruction.
Graphically, Shadow Man: Remastered looks as good as is possible without completely remaking the game. Everything has been smoothed out, adding some slick finish to the dated models and environments. The title still bears the appearance of a pre-2000's action-adventure game, but it looks much more alive than its predecessor. There can even be moments where the game looks better than it has any right to; abrupt and janky enemy movements make this less the case during combat.
Shadow Man: Remastered is a sizable and fun gem from the end of a console generation. Though it's still beholden to the visuals and design of action-adventure titles of the time, the game offers an enjoyable experience to any looking to sink their teeth into some diabolical exploits in Deadside. Shadow Man: Remastered provides a dark and thrilling adventure in an impressively open world; it looks better than it ever has, and it has extra content that didn't make its way into the previous versions. Players interested in a classic (and underrated) adventure game or fans of the comics will have a blast adventuring through Deadside.