15.1 hours played
Written 19 days ago
This game is best described as a mix between Doom and Borderlands. The fusion of insanely fast, over-the-top FPS gameplay with RPG mechanics makes Shadow Warrior 2 a huge departure from previous installments in the series.
While the story is pretty weak and the humor is often cringe-worthy, the game was honestly a blast to play through. It features a large array of incredibly detailed and highly destructible environments to explore—most of which are procedurally generated, with the exception of story mission levels, which are hand-crafted.
There’s a decent amount of side quests and story missions to complete, along with free DLC that adds bonus challenges and even more weapon customization options.
As for the enemy variety—it’s impressive. The game features a colorful and diverse cast of enemies, each with dismemberable limbs, which is a satisfying and fun touch. Unlike Borderlands, which relies on randomly generated weapons, Shadow Warrior 2 offers around 80 pre-set weapons. Each one can be customized with a seemingly infinite number of stat modifiers.
Your character can also be deeply customized. There’s a wide range of stat modifiers, and you can allocate skill points to level up specific abilities found throughout the game. Honestly, I spent just as much time figuring out my build as I did playing the game—and it was genuinely enjoyable.
The game is on the shorter side, even if you complete all the optional content. However, there are multiple difficulty levels to choose from, plus a New Game Plus mode that adds replay value.
There’s also a co-op feature, which I played for most of my time with the game. Unfortunately, it doesn’t work very well. The multiplayer loading screens are painfully long, and completed quests only register for the host. This meant we had to replay every mission multiple times so everyone in the group could stay on the same progression path. As a result, we were often hilariously over-leveled.
Other frustrating elements include the fact that only the host can trigger key events—like picking up quest items, opening doors, or spawning enemies.
Despite these fairly significant flaws, I never once regretted buying Shadow Warrior 2. Its over-the-top gameplay and deceptively deep RPG systems delivered a surprisingly engaging and fun experience.