Shadows of the Damned is a game where protagonist Garcia Hotspur’s gun is called the Boner, and he refers to vine-like blockades in the hell as “demon pubes.” It’s a game that confidently wears its video-game-y-ness on its purple leather studded sleeve, right next to Joy Division’s lyrics “Love Will Tear Us Apart” painted in thick white paint. From demonic enemies whom burst with collectible diamonds after shooting their heads off, to bosses covered in big, obvious “please-shoot-here” weak points, Shadows of the Damned: Hella Remastered isn’t just a reminder of its brash conviction in knowing its a video game or how un-seriously it takes itself, but a window into how far and how little video games have come since its original release in 2011.
Speaking with GameSpot at Gamescom 2024, producer and Resident Evil creator Shinji Mikami said, “[Shadows of the Damned] is aware that it’s a video game, and it’s not trying to be something else. There’s a lot of games these days that tend to take themselves a bit too seriously.”
When considering the state of action-horror games of recent, like last year’s Resident Evil 4 remake or Alan Wake 2, there’s an attention to detail and believability that both games feature in their combat and graphics. Both games have lifelike movement that add a sense of weight to your actions, offering realistic feedback regardless of if you’re getting a hatchet to the face or shooting a hole through an enemy’s head. The graphical fidelity of both games creates believable worlds that closely mirror our own. Shadows of the Damned: Hella Remastered has similar traits to both Resident Evil 4 remake and Alan Wake 2–the over-the-shoulder perspective, fending off enemy monstrosities, and even some puzzle elements–but it accomplishes it with a brighter color palette, cartoonish animations, and a don’t-give-a-shit attitude that evokes its own flavor of confidence.