Fun and dumb games aren't plenty these days, most games are trying hard to capture the emotional weight and themes of the story and settings. This game is stuck somewhere in 2009-2015, because oh boy, it doesn't do a good job of luring in anybody. It looks and feels backdated, the animation runs a little stiff, there's jankyness in gameplay, what's there to look forward to?
Well, the devs from Shadow Warriors don't seem to care, because they don't do what others devs do with their games. So, I decided to look closer, and I started to tolerate everything campy about it. And it's not as cringe as it would come out to be. But I still stand by what I've said about earlier. Mind you, this is also their third game released this year.
If there's a game to play for a skill check, should give this one a go. Lots of vampire and minions to stomp, silly as it may be, is one of the few fun arena action games out there made in third person. That, and not a bad homage to older 2010 games. Plus, some points for originality, here and there.
The game begins like it was adapting a comic book, a pair of agents from some vampire hunting bureau decides to blow up a train, just so they could talk to their informant on the inside of the vampire coven. Somewhere in the 19th century, technology has started to evolve, and is now catching up to the vampire. This isn't any ordinary western, no, Abraham Lincoln probably still kills vampires here.
Train go boom, the agents start raiding, and from the tutorial, I've grasped a few things. There's no open-world design, all the levels are made small, and areas large enough for battles with a lot of visual background. Enemies can be fought with a combination of boxing with gauntlets, and using an array of guns.
The beginning mission was simply just my gauntlet, and revolver. Later, I unlock a rifle I can use to shoot at a time they're weak before they attack me, my gauntlets get electric bolts imbued, and now I can zap enemies to me or over to them. The game becomes progressively challenging, as whatever I've learned in the early levels, I have to use them better with so many different types surrounding me to kill me off.
The level design doesn't provide much intrigue, with largely linear levels only to have different pathways to find currency and unlock items, the game did not build the open world expectations, so I wasn't too bothered by it. As I kept playing, I was fine with it because they were quick and easy to get over. Even if sometimes there are puzzles solving involved.
I kind of find it crazy that Flying Wild Hog was making two other games as well, like Shadow Warrior 3 came out, before Trek To Yomi did. Yet, retain their own art style and level design within this game, even with their large staff no.
I also like how visually appealing it is, it does look like a highly detailed comic book. There's this depth to it, yet silliness unfound elsewhere. And crazy enough, it actually has Ray-Tracing too, it really looks good when everything is set to max.
It also has a pretty bonkers story, and the writing does a good job of immersing me into the world-building, even if visually there wasn't much to look and tell me. It has this job of textually telling me what is going, and then the cutscenes that play just comes off a little cringy. Opposite to the world expositions, which stands out more.
For a dumb, fun game, this one has its ways of taking off the carpet under. Sometimes it's difficult to deal with the enemy variety, spewing stuff at range, while also hordes of mob coming at me. Throughout the game, I do unlock new weapons to use, like a shotgun or this cross that zaps surrounding enemies for crowd control. But there are different enemies that could counter my way of dealing with them if am not being too careful.
Continuing this ballad of death isn't easy without some upgrades and perks. Unlocking stuff like being able to zap enemies down when they get punched up. Guns can replenish ammo faster if shot at weak spots. The setting gives the game a lot of leeway to put all kinds of crazy unlocks to use during combat.
 |  |
|---|
Of course, unlocking perks need me to play the game well, while for upgrades, I have to find gold traversing here and there. Even in hidden areas. But that's the thing, they're just ares to explore, there's no good distraction to pull away from the main game itself.
Like I did mention before, there's a bit of jankyness here and there. The movement doesn't always work, and I have to run and dodge together to prompt some combat moves together. The aim assist kind of doesn't work the way I want, which is distracting considering I have to target bomb barrels but can't while the camera focuses on the enemy besides.
And yeah, even if it's a good-looking game, most of the areas looks like old 360 era games. The visual presentation only seemingly exists to be walked on, and that's mostly about it. I started to ignore those problems as I found ways around them, and the game getting more excited as I was constantly battling crazy vampire/human hybrids, mutants, etc.
I think to some lengths, I am glad I got to play this, despite some problems. I do also believe that if they are making a sequel for this, if it sells well and considering how much they've invested in the lore, there should be big changes to make it feasible for current-gen systems. Like, really, they need to work up on that if they want their next game to succeed further.
