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Nine years on from Flying Wild Hog Studios' first reboot of the Shadow Warrior franchise, it's all change with the third series entry. Protagonist Lo Wang's voice is different, the gameplay itself has evolved and crucially - from a Digital Foundry perspective, at least - the engine technology powering the experience has moved on.

The impressive Road Hog engine takes a backseat this time to Unreal Engine 4 - a controversial decision that doesn't quite pay off. Meanwhile, the lack of native current-gen versions of the game is a genuine disappointment - owners of new consoles essentially get accelerated versions of the last-gen game, missing key visual features.

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Shadow Warrior 3 is an adrenaline-fueled romp through a violently chaotic world. Full of demons, wise-cracking gods, and a protagonist seemingly ripped from a bad grindhouse film, this juvenile but mostly entertaining shooter doesn’t pull its punches. Essentially, Shadow Warrior 3 offers a wild ride with a few challenging twists and turns.

Most of your time in Shadow Warrior 3 will be spent shooting and dodging projectiles in various arena like environments. As Lo Wang, you’ll need to know how to properly use an assortment of weapons while engaging in fast-paced combat akin to id Software's Doom. What makes this task difficult at times is the number and variety of enemies that spawn during a given encounter. Thankfully, Shadow Warrior 3 offers a range of tools built around new game mechanics that not only help in staving off death but also to brutally dispatch foes. Here are some of the ways you can utilize these tools early on.

Use your katana to reload

Shadow Warrior 3 features a revamped combat system. Gory kills, environmental hazards, highly kinetic firefights--it’s more akin to Doom Eternal than it is to previous Shadow Warrior games. That said, the devs over at Flying Wild Hog made sure to keep certain elements, like melee weapons, at the forefront. This includes Lo Wang’s trusty katana. This weapon can disembowel enemies in quick fashion. It even receives an elemental upgrade that allows it to do electric, fire, and ice damage. What makes the katana such a valuable tool though is its ability to reload your guns.

Shadow Warrior 3 allows players to quickly swap between the katana and whatever gun you’re currently holding by pressing a corresponding attack button. Hitting the Left Mouse Button/Right Trigger will fire weapons while pressing the Right Mouse Button/Right Bumper will swing your katana (on PC and consoles respectively). During that quick switch, from gun to katana and back, the game reloads your weapon.

Quick reloading with the katana are especially helpful during boss fights.

This little mechanic is a superb way of managing ammo during a fight as it negates the sometimes lengthy reloading animation; instead of waiting for Lo Want to slowly reload the Crimson Bull (grenade launcher), you can swap between it and the katana to instantly load the weapon while running about.

Prioritize your finishers

The new finisher system adds an interesting wrinkle. At first glance, they’re similar to the gory executions found in the recent Doom games. Fill up a finishing charge by collecting orbs (found in the environment or dropped by enemies) to eventually execute foes for health and ammo. In Shadow Warrior 3, however, this mechanic is taken a step further with the introduction of Gore items.

Whenever you execute an enemy in this game, you’ll be rewarded with either a Gore Tool, Weapon or some sort of buff. Each one has a wildly different effect. For instance, executing an ice-based enemy will allow you use their brain as a freeze bomb. It’s a cool effect that can give you a bit of breathing room during a fight, but was it the best choice given the situation? Well, it depends.

The Swarm Launcher shoots a barrage of fireworks at unlucky enemies.

Some enemies can be executed using one charge. Others might take two or more, meaning you’ll have to collect more orbs before you can finish them. But just because they took more power to topple doesn’t mean that you’ll be rewarded with the best tool. Executing a Hattori demon will provide you with the Blade of Hattori--a powerful sword that can quickly take out a room full of enemies--for a few seconds. On the other hand, you’ll get a Brain Tonic for taking down a Shogai grunt. This item not only gives you 200 HP but also makes you immune to damage for five seconds.

You can use your finishers to take out hard to defeat enemies, use them to briefly wield powerful weapons, or to keep yourself alive. Just make sure you choose the correct Gore tool for each encounter.

Claim your Challenge Rewards

Shadow Warrior 3’s leveling system is orb-based. Killing enemies won’t grant experience points. Instead, you’ll need to find silver and purple orbs to improve your weapons and Lo Wang respectively. Some can be found in the environment, either seen on your way through a level or just off the beaten path. Others are rewarded by completing challenges.

Claim those challenge rewards to level up.

The challenges themselves are rather self-explanatory. Get several headshots with a weapon, use environmental traps to kill a certain number of enemies, and so on. Given the explosive nature of Shadow Warrior 3 however, it's easy to miss the prompts alerting you of their completion--there were times when my screen was so filled with blood and guts that I didn’t notice the small alert boxes that occasionally popped up. Make sure to check the challenge menu from time to time to make sure you aren’t missing out on a few upgrades.

Start with the right upgrades

Speaking of upgrades, there aren’t any wrong choices when it comes to leveling in Shadow Warrior 3. There are some that we’d recommend picking up sooner than later though. This is especially true if you’re looking to prepare for the game’s more harrowing encounters.

The Spawn Ammo and Spawn Health upgrades are a must. These two will bestow more health and ammo whenever you attack an enemy. I’d also grab all of the weapon ammo upgrades early on. Considering that whenever you pick up ammo in this game, it goes to every weapon in your inventory, these upgrades will keep you in the fight longer.

A powered up Lo Wang is a healthy...Wang?

The elemental upgrades are great too. In Shadow Warrior 3, you aren’t hurt by your explosions, including the ones caused by shooting the barrels scattered about a level. They will hurt your enemies though. Upgrade the elemental damage or explosion radius to take down a group of demons with little effort. Lastly, grab the Health Boost upgrade (you’ll have to unlock the Last Stand Shockwave one first). This will boost your base health to 125.

Of course, there are other upgrades that are worth your time. But these are the ones I’d shoot for first.

Use the environment

Thi s tip comes in two flavors. The first has to do with mobility; you’ll want to use the environment to escape tricky situations. Strafing left and right in hopes of dodging enemy attacks isn’t going to cut it. You have to be more mobile than that.

There are walls that you can free-run on and platforms to jump to. You can even swing around an area using Lo Wang’s new grappling hook. Our suggestion: Use them all. Don’t just stand in one area and fight. Keep moving. Not only will this help you when it comes to dodging attacks but it’s also the only way to quickly get health, ammo, and finisher orbs that spawn/are dropped by enemies.

Several enemies fall to their deaths after a well placed shot.

The second has to do with Shadow Warrior 3’s environmental traps. Most of the arena-like areas will have traps that can be activated by shooting a button. Lure enemies into these hazards, shoot the corresponding button, and then use Lo Wang’s parkour skills to get out of harm's way. Rinse and repeat for maximum effectiveness.

Use the right weapon

One of the things that makes fighting tough is the game’s varied demon types. While it’s possible to use one or two weapons to take them all down--there’s never a wrong time to use the grenade launcher--some encounters will prove easier if you know your enemy.

For instance, the Hattori demons can deflect bullets with their swords. So, using the Sidekicks (machine guns) against them probably isn’t the best choice. At least, not until you’ve broken through their defenses with grenades, the katana, or some other high-powered weapon. The Sidekicks are perfect for the fast-moving Slinky Jakku though. The Seeking Shokera, on the other hand, are slow enemies that float in the air. This makes them easy to hit with the Basilisk, the chargeable railgun-like weapon.

Focus on the main enemies

Most of the encounters in Shadow Warrior 3 are anchored by a specific group of baddies. Whether they are a newly introduced foe or a collection of tough demons, the focus will be on them. What this means is that the weaker enemies should be mostly ignored.

Make sure to take out the big guys as soon as possible.

Lower-tiered foes like the Shogai will continuously respawn during a fight. Ideally, they’re there to give you more ammo and health--remember the Brain Tonic? Killing them should be a means to an end. It’s the stronger enemies that you really have to worry about. Make sure to take them down as quickly as you can in order to stop a perpetual flood of enemies.

Experiment

Lo Wang has a ton of tricks up his sleeve. Some are more readily noticeable than others. All of them can be combined to destroy your adversaries. Use Chi-Blast to push explosive barrels into enemies. Or better yet, use it to push enemies into traps. The grappling hook is great for escaping a tough spot. It can also be used to pull yourself up to a foe and blast them with the shotgun. I once used a Disco Grenade--an item I got after performing a finisher--to melt a group of demons. The lasers from the spinning ball of death inadvertently destroyed the ground it was above however, killing more enemies than I had intended. Basically, Shadow Warrior 3 rewards being creative. And violent. Creatively violent.

Wang gang.

Shadow Warrior 3 might be set in the demon-ravaged ruins of a futuristic Japan, but the game itself feels like a return to the early 2010s. Protagonist Lo Wang is constantly quipping, breaking the fourth wall and using his own name for dick jokes as he auditions to be the next Ryan Reynolds. There's parkour, grappling hooks, and an emphasis on light-hearted gore. The term "trash panda" is dusted off and used to describe a raccoon.

It might seem unfair to focus so much on the sequel's style, but it's so hard not to when the attempts at comedy are so frequent and so exhausting. All the quips are here: puns that Lo Wang self-consciously defends, replacing Eighties song lyrics with "douchebag". There's hardly any time for the protagonist to breathe, let alone the game.

Because comedic chafing aside, Shadow Warrior 3 can be a delightfully chaotic shooter. It keeps things simple: six guns, limited health, and lots of creatively-designed enemies to keep you on your toes. The game's 11 missions are split between arena-style combat portions and high-flying traversal sections, both as tight as each other. The addition of wall-running, air-dashing, and Lo Wang's grappling hook make for some great free-running set-pieces, as well as adding a vertical element to combat.

The shooter is at its strongest near the end of its eight-hour campaign when your screen is flooded with enemies. Fending off dozens of dynamite-decorated suicide bombers while firing rockets at four-armed sombrero samurai is genuinely exhilarating, while the game's climactic dragon chase is visually impressive. There's evidently a lot of heart in Shadow Warrior 3.

But there's also the £40 price tag to reckon with. For such a short and sometimes very samey campaign, it feels overly expensive — especially when Shadow Warrior 2 had so much additional content to chew on.

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February was jam-packed with titles and the launch of the Steam Deck, but now that the dust has settled, it's time for a relaxing March month…right? Not exactly, as the gaming industry is picking up speed for the month ahead. Between gung-ho action, a Final Fantasy prequel, and a new game of Bunkers and Badasses, March is stacked with high-profile releases. As usual, we've rounded up a few highlights below, and put together a list of games out this month that should help you prepare your bank account for all the digital temptation that lies ahead.

Shadow Warrior 3 (March 1)

Shadow Warrior 3

Previous Shadow Warrior games have been uncomplicated showcases of gratuitous violence, and Shadow Warrior 3 looks set to continue that tradition with reckless glee. The best-looking entry in the series so far, the game is all fast-paced first-person action and witty one-liners from protagonist Lo Wang. Shadow Warrior 3 is once again developed by Flying Wild Hog, which was acquired by THQ Nordic parent company Embracer back in 2020.

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Babylon's Fall (March 3)

Babylon's Fall

Platinum Games has been busy lately, and its next game is a departure from the linear single-player action that it has become known for over the years. While Babylon's Fall still has plenty of action packed into its cooperative RPG frame, this title also happens to be a live service game, a first for the studio.

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Gran Turismo 7 (March 4)

Gran Turismo 7

After years of development, Polyphony Digital's latest entry in the long-running Gran Turismo series is ready to race. Much like previous games, Gran Turismo 7 looks set to raise the bar for realistic automobile racing in video game form, and it has a packed garage full of exotic vehicles for you to try out. With plenty of tracks, tons of customization options, and some neat DualSense features for the game as well, Gran Turismo 7 could be the definitive car culture experience on the PS5.

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Triangle Strategy (March. 4)

Triangle Strategy

There's nothing like a good old-fashioned tactical turn-based JRPG, and Triangle Strategy looks like it can scratch that very specific itch. While it may have a slow start, the game still plays as a love letter to the past and boasts a gorgeous art design. If you're curious, you can try out a Triangle Strategy demo before it launches this month on Switch.

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WWE 2K22 (March. 11)

WWE 2k22

After a lengthy absence, this year sees a new and reinvigorated WWE game hit PC and console. 2K Games and developer Visual Concepts is promising a wrestling experience that has a completely new feel to its design, which range from overhauled controls to updated visuals. Beyond that, you can even try running a WWE show behind the scenes in MyGM, take part in Faction Wars, and create a custom abomination that you'll take from WWE Performance Center rookie to Wrestlemania main-eventer.

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Grand Theft Auto V (March 15)

Grand Theft Auto V

Has the world reached peak Grand Theft Auto V saturation yet? Possibly, but 2K Games is rolling out one more upgrade for the long-running game as it prepares to land on a third generation of consoles. For this edition, you can expect new graphics modes that support resolutions up to 4K and frame rates up to 60fps, improvements to texture quality and draw distances, as well as HDR options and ray-tracing. Faster loading times on Xbox Series X|S and PS5 will have you hopping into games quickly, and GTA Online will be enhanced by some significant upgrades as well.

That should keep the lights on long enough at Rocksteady games, as development on GTA 6 continues.

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Tunic (March 16)

Tunic

The indie adventure game Tunic is finally out this month, and after a promising demo, this Zelda-like looks set to be one of the most popular indies of the month. You're playing as a fox dressed in a titular tunic, there are loads of obscure little secrets to uncover, and the game looks like wholesome fun. Plus, the art direction is stunning.

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Stranger of Paradise: Final Fantasy Origin (March 18)

Stranger of Paradise: Final Fantasy Origin

If it has Frank Sinatra's voice of approval, then Team Ninja's stab at the Final Fantasy franchise must have some magic under its gameplay hood. A prequel to the very first Final Fantasy, Stranger of Paradise takes a soulslike approach to combat and mixes in an extensive job system to create a ton of tactical combat options. Plus, it has some great butt-rock to listen to.

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Tiny Tina's Wonderlands (March 25)

Tiny Tina's Wonderlands

Roll for initiative sucka! Borderlands games have always fused role-playing mechanics with loot-and-shoot action, and Tiny Tina's Wonderlands embraces that inspiration with a return to the world of Bunkers and Badasses. With a number of classes to choose from, a talented cast of actors giving each character a distinct personality, and some good-looking loot to earn, Gearbox's next game looks like it's rolling 20s in the fun department.

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Kirby and the Forgotten Land (March 25)

Kirby and the Forgotten Land

Kirby will finally exist on a three-dimensional plane in Kirby and the Forgotten Land, the biggest Nintendo Switch exclusive of the month. Kirby and the Forgotten Land is a stage-based 3D adventure in the vein of Super Mario 3D World. Along with Kirby's suite of copy abilities, Kirby has a new trick up his sleeve: Mouthful Mode. Kirby can now take control of large objects such as a car, vending machine, traffic cone, and plenty more fixtures to aid you during the adventure.

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March 2022 Video Game Release Schedule

• Shadow Warrior 3 (PC, PS4, PS5, Xbox One, Xbox Series X|S) - March 1
• Elex 2 (PC, PS4, PS5, Xbox One, Xbox Series X|S) - March 1
• Conan Chop Chop (PC, PS5, PS4, Xbox Series X|S, Xbox One, Switch) - March 1
• Puzzle Quest 3 (PC, iOS, Android) - March 1
• FAR: Changing Tides (PC, PS4, PS5, Xbox One, Xbox Series X|S, Switch) - March 1
• Pants Quest (PC) - March 1
• Little Orpheus (PC, PS4, PS5, Xbox One, Xbox Series X|S, Switch) - March 1
• Babylon's Fall (PC, PS4, PS5) - March 3
• Gran Turismo 7 (PS4, PS5) - March 4
• Triangle Strategy (Switch) - March 4
• What Lies in the Multiverse (PC, PS4, PS5, Xbox One, Xbox Series X|S) - March 4
• Have a Nice Death - Steam Early Access (PC) - March 8
• Spellforced 3: Reforced (PC, PS4, PS5, Xbox One, Xbox Series X|S, Switch) - March 8
• Chocobo GP (Switch) - March 10
• Aztech Forgotten Gods (PC, PS4, PS5, Xbox One, Xbox Series X|S. Switch) - March 10
• WWE 2K22 (PC, PS4, PS5, Xbox One, Xbox Series X|S) - March 11
• GTA V (PS5, Xbox Series X|S) - March 15
• Phantom Breaker: Omnia (PC, PS4, PS5, Xbox One, Xbox Series X|S, Switch) - March 15
• Tunic (PC, PS4, PS5, Xbox One, Xbox Series X|S) - March 16
• The Settlers (PC) - March 17
• Persona 4 Arena Ultimax (PC, PS4, PS5, Switch) - March 17
• Syberia: The World Before (PC) - March 18
• Stranger of Paradise: Final Fantasy Origin (PC, PS4, PS5, Xbox One, Xbox Series X|S) - March 18
• Rune Factory 5 (Switch) - March 22
• Norco (PC) - March 24
• A Memoir Blue (PC, PS4, PS5, Xbox One, Xbox Series X|S, Switch) - March 24
• Kirby and the Forgotten Land (Switch) - March 25
• Tiny Tina’s Wonderlands (PC, PS4, PS5, Xbox One, Xbox Series X|S) - March 25
• Ghostwire: Tokyo (PC, PS5) - March 25
• King Arthur: Knight's Tale (PC) - March 29
• Ikai (PC, PS4, PS5, Xbox One, Xbox Series X|S, Switch) - March 29
• Crusader Kings 3 (PS5, Xbox Series X|S) - March 29
• Death Stranding Director's Cut (PC) - March 30
• Uragun - Steam Early Access (PC) - March 30
• Weird West (PC, PS4, Xbox One) - March 31
• Coromon (PC, Switch) - March 31
• FixFox (PC) - March 31

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