Shadow Warrior 2

SHADOW WARRIOR 2

You return in this sequel as Lo Wang, a one-liner a$$hole, that has to battle legions of demons pouring into the world! You go on a rampage and get to kill many mobs of enemies from start to finish.

The game was developed by Flying Wild Hog, same makers of Shadow Warrior 1 and their first title, Hard Reset, another game that gives you similar gameplay but set in the future. If you played Hard Reset and loved it, you should enjoy this game too. Same engine, mostly same mechanics and whatnot.

PROS:

+Visuals are pretty decent.
+Soundtrack is good.
+Numerous missions and side missions.
+New Game + mode.
+Swordfights are what keeps you playing in this game even though you have a HUGE variety of weapons.
+Upgrade system is interesting and gives you options on how you wanna play and focus (weapons, armor and abilities).
+First game was irritating to navigate the levels and objectives. Here, you can have a compass showing you where to go next which is handy and saves you time.
+Quite humorous! A few funny one-liners! (I think I found the first game funnier?)
+Perfect UltraWide Monitor support.
+No technical issues, no crashes encountered.

CONS:

-A few levels that get repeated on every missions and side-missions.
-Repetitive bossfights.
-Maybe too long of a playthrough?

OVERALL:

Shadow Warrior 2 is a fun sequel. If you loved the first game, you should enjoy this one too. Same goes if you had already played HARD RESET, you would enjoy the Shadow Warrior series.

However, just like the first game, the game do drags on and could had been made shorter playtime. Some may love a long playtime but for that kind of gameplay where you keep mowing down mobs of foes, level after levels, it gets tiresome. Hard Reset was quite fine by me for its playtime and action style but with SW1 & 2, Flying Wild Hog added a long campaign, with repetitive environments.

RECOMMENDATION:

Played and loved Shadow Warrior 1? Get SW2!
Loved Hard Reset and haven't played any SW game? Get SW1 and SW2!
Love old school shooters and FPS games like Serious Sam and DOOM classics?
You'll enjoy this game!

And now... moving on to the next sequel, Shadow Warrior 3!

100% Achievement Completion. 40 Hours. 3 No Pain, No Gain complement.

After 40 hours of grinding, surviving three brutal "No Pain, No Gain" runs, unlocking every achievement, maxing out all skills, finding every weapon, and completing the entire Wanglopedia—I can say with absolute confidence: this game is a masterpiece.

🔥 The story? Engaging.
🎨 The art? Stunning.
💀 The characters? Unforgettable.
⚔️ The gameplay? Pure euphoria.

Every second was a thrill. The fluid combat, the insanely satisfying mechanics, the challenge that kept me coming back for more—it’s gaming at its finest. If you crave a game that rewards skill, dedication, and perseverance, this is it.

This isn’t just a game—it’s an experience. 🚀
P/s: 1.60 USD Well spent.

Wang

So you can upgrade weapons with these "orbs of masamune", which I didn't see for an entire playthrough, which I then got in NG+ but in small quantity. It cost 17, then 200, then even more to upgrade a stat.

I've been farming them for the painful 10,000 orbs achievement and im barely at half

Hoji made Shadow Warrior a cut above your run-of-the-mil shooter. Not the case with Shadow Warrior 2.

amazing game and the mc is deadpool level funny

i played 53 hours 100% with side missions just mindless silly shooting lots of in your face action 89% fun factor .. if you can get it on sale even better...

Boarderlands at home
Fun lootshooter with great melee options as well, becomes repetitive quite quick tho but will probably still entertain you for like 20 hours at least
Story is garbage which is a shame since I liked the plot of 1

PLAY THIS GAME AND LISTENING TO SPOTIFY SONGS PLAYLIST " SONGS NIGHT LIKE THIS " THE BEST COMBO EVAAA !!!

Why did they turn a fun game into a looter shooter? But that's the least of your worries. The first game was corny, but this game is unbearable. The ear-grating characters and dialogue would make even Borderlands 3 blush. Shadow Warrior 2 has neither the touch nor the power

I spent half the game sitting in the menu and making my builds, and the other half I was chopping up mobs. Good.

Borderlands meets japanese culture AND GORE
Very satisfying to slice apart huge enemies

Game starts by being extremely messy and overwhelming, bunch of weapons, materials and skills to upgrade thrown at you with barely any explanation. this confusion also spreads to the level design on most missions, stages and enemy placement on them feel completely random, traversing areas is just annoying. story feels like they've only spent 25 minutes on writing it, only time you're not gonna want to skip a cutscene is when ugliness of a character hypnotizes you.
appeal of Shadow Warrior 2 is a simple loop of getting a better weapon and seeing bigger numbers on your screen and that's basically only force that's going to be moving you forward to finish the campaign, grind for a better gear. its built around a replay value but gameplay doesn't give you any satisfaction so it seems unimaginable to me to go for a ng+. (game beaten on "no pain no gain" difficulty)
on top of all that, technical issues made it even more annoying, frequent crashes, disconnections, co-op mission once failed to reward both players, overall not a pleasant experience.
good things about this game are weapon designs, they mostly look very cool, some areas are nice to look at and menu theme goes pretty hard.
it was still fun to play with a friend but i can't let co-op enjoyment blind my judgement here, SW2 is a true abysmal dogs**t.

Truly a Horrid CO-OP experience. Little enemy variety, lackluster weapons, you get a million weapon gems, but very little of them matter. All the enemies are tanky, but not difficult. So it's just hitting a brickwall for way too long. The levels are built like shit, and can be confusing and slow to traverse. The mission tracking is godawful, so the objective furthest from you is highlighted first. The GPS has a little dotted line that is suppose to help you, but it's completely broken. The environments and the character models are beyond ugly. Many times me and my friend were so appalled by the horrid character models we forgot to skip the cutscenes. The writing consists of dumb millennial humor quips, and none of the characters are interesting or likable. Furthermore the overall story is dull and dragged out. I only played 17 hours, but it felt like at least 50. The Game crashed many times, and glitching into the environment was a common occurrence. A Slop game, and I mean that fully. The plus side is the game goes on sale for like 4$, so maybe you can trap a friend completing a slop game with you.

hate to accept that i'm wrong but better than 3.

For action, upgrades and powers, this game eclipses the first in all those areas. The MP (especially coop) is also fantastic and a step up from #1, so I highly recommend this.

On the flip side, it can't hold a candle to the first games narrative and characters, which, for me, is a far stronger motivation to finish first person shooters. The first SW's story was good and, heart breaking. It actually left you emotional. The only time I get emotional in this game is when I rage out over getting killed.

good 25h to 100%

best

An arcade hack and slash.
Fun to switch off and button smash, but if you're coming for a story it isn't here.

If you enjoy the Doom franchise, I think this will be up you street. 6/10

Refund requested.

Game puts a woman inside your brain who never stops talking.
I cannot handle it. I am sorry. This horror game is too scary for me.

Its been enjoyable for me killing demon with katana and gun, till. it got stale
i dont know its just not worth my time anymore, but its decent game tho

Just a plain fun power trip with a funny protag, if you aren't bothered by Diablo and Borderlands style go here kill thing radiant quests, I can't recommend this enough.

game sucks. they try to combine elements of RPG into a classic hack, slash and shooter and what you end up with is a fuck ton of confusing HUD elements, and overly complicated 'base' and totally drained my desire to even make it past the initial few minutes of gameplay becuase the game isn't giving me enough information on where to go to progress the story.

shadow warrior should NEVER put story above slashing, that is simply not what this series is about.

also, 0 tiddies in 'the wang cave' means I'm really really pissed off at the direction they've gone with this series... way too many weapons and 'interactable characters' ...so they're trying to turn it into destiny or some other boring as fuck loot shooter style [which are all falling in popularity] instead of staying true to its roots and just letting you hop in and slash demons and a-holes in half.

don't play this, go back to shadow warrior 1, at least that game is fun and you can jump in and out when you want instead of being stuck in a extremely linear and story-locked game.

Great game !!! I love handling my Wang !!!

Confusing maps often not clear where to go, and weapons often do little damage and this get boring quickly.

At some point it started crashing and apparently I'm not the only one.
The progress in a mission is also not saved for some reason so I have no incentive to continue.

I liked the shadow warrior 1 remake more, but have to say around 32 hrs of game is a bargin.
Fun gunplay, which sadly gets a bit irrilivant near the end, just like in the first one, the sword and other melee weapons play a big part.

If you enjoy the dirty mouthed easy going Wang, and doom style gameplay, then this will probably be for you.

Looking back, this is a game that I wish was more common in the gaming industry. So many games are dead set on making the most appealing, accessible thing possible with emotional stories and gripping, likable characters. This game says "screw that, let's be dumb and different and full of personality." Yeah, it's not perfect, but many great games from the past aren't and that's part of why we love them.

The fact that this is a co-op, looter shooter with mobility out the ass with no greedy practices and looks stunning is crazy considering it's decently overrated now compared to games that came out at the same time. If we ever get another game like this, it'll be a good year to be a gamer.

I have severe buyers remorse for this game, I thought it would be a fun Boomer shooter, but instead I got less funny Asian Borderlands. I'd ask for my money back but I paid 3 bucks for it so its no skin off my nose overall.

Special in its own way
Among the best
A lot
Very much
Liked
Was cool
Managed to finish it....... had enough fun to give it a like though
I tried....

Humorous vibe.
Great Co-op stress reliever.
Weapon modification is simply limitless.
Same said variety demising demons.
For those new & old all at once.
No complaints.

I anticipated an up to the standards sequel to the first game (which I liked very much), and in the beginning I was impressed even more with doom-eternal style mechanics! But the game just doesn't stick. There is a lot of stuff dumped at the player, a lot of weapons, a lot of upgrades, which you need to swap after 2-3 fights. After a while the game told me that i'm too weak to continue the story suggesting me to grind side missions. And the story is buried under layers of stupid jokes, sarcasm or just boring cut scenes. I was disappointed(

so....

---{ Graphics }---
☐ You forget what reality is
☐ Beautiful
☑ Good
☐ Decent
☐ Bad
☐ Don‘t look too long at it
☐ MS-DOS

---{ Gameplay }---
☑ Very good
☐ Good
☐ It's just gameplay
☐ Mehh
☐ Watch paint dry instead
☐ Just don't

---{ Audio }---
☐ Eargasm
☐ Very good
☐ Good
☑ Not too bad
☐ Bad
☐ I'm now deaf

---{ Audience }---
☐ Kids
☐ Teens
☑ Adults
☐ Grandma

---{ PC Requirements }---
☐ Check if you can run paint
☑ Potato
☐ Decent
☐ Fast
☐ Rich boi
☐ Ask NASA if they have a spare computer

---{ Game Size }---
☐ Floppy Disk
☑ Old Fashioned
☐ Workable
☐ Big
☐ Will eat 10% of your 1TB hard drive
☐ You will want an entire hard drive to hold it
☐ You will need to invest in a black hole to hold all the data

---{ Difficulty }---
☐ Just press 'W'
☐ Easy
☐ Easy to learn / Hard to master
☐ Significant brain usage
☐ Difficult
☑ Dark Souls

IF you are a gamer... and a serious sam one... you will play the hardest difficulty there is... and HAVE FUN

---{ Grind }---
☐ Nothing to grind
☐ Only if u care about leaderboards/ranks
☐ Isn't necessary to progress
☐ Average grind level
☐ Too much grind
☑ You'll need a second life for grinding

a LOT of grinding... but a fun one.

---{ Story }---
☐ No Story
☐ Some lore
☐ Average
☐ Good
☐ Lovely
☑ It'll replace your life...... of P**** JOKES

---{ Game Time }---
☐ Long enough for a cup of coffee
☐ Short
☐ Average
☐ Long
☑ To infinity and beyond..... because you can do NG+ and put even higher difficulty more more OP S***

---{ Price }---
☐ It's free!
☑ Worth the price
☐ If it's on sale
☐ If u have some spare money left
☐ Not recommended
☐ You could also just burn your money

---{ Bugs }---
☐ Never heard of
☑ Minor bugs
☐ Can get annoying
☐ ARK: Survival Evolved
☐ The game itself is a big terrarium for bugs

---{ ? / 10 }---
☐ 1
☐ 2
☐ 3
☐ 4
☐ 5
☐ 6
☐ 7
☐ 8
☐ 9
☑ 10

---{ Author }---
☑ https://vojtastruhar.github.io/steam-review-template

don't fuck with Lo Wang

🔰SHREDVIEW🔰 - From someone who actually plays and finishes the games before reviewing.

🔷 ABOUT THE GAME & LORE 🔷

When the world’s falling apart or John Wick needs a hand, you call Lo Wang. Shadow Warrior 2 drops you into a chaotic, demon-infested future where everything’s literally gone to hell and only a wisecracking, katana-swinging mercenary can clean up the mess. Sounds about right, yes? Think of it as Doom on a bender but with swords, guns, and a lot of inappropriate jokes.

It all kicks off with a simple mission gone sideways, landing Wang in the middle of a war between corporations, demons, and some ancient magic that’s way above his pay grade. But do not worry, you have the company of a snarky AI companion as you carve a way through hordes of enemies, trying to fix everything with violence and sarcasm.

Lore-wise, it’s a mix of Eastern mythology, modern corporate greed, and straight-up chaos. It’s Shakespeare on crack, Victor Hugo on absinth, it's fun, it's beautiful and completely fucking nuts. Really nobody's here for the lore tho, this is Lo Wang’s world, and we’re lucky for the ticket.

🔷 THE GAMEPLAY 🔷

👉 GENERAL:
First person action & chaos in its purest form. The game is set on fast-paced combat, throws in katanas, an armory full of ridiculous & cool weapons then cranks it all up with procedural generation and a lot of enemies & mechanics to break them. This isn’t your typical "shoot, reload, repeat" gig but a full-blown massacre with style, speed, and most important: sassiness.

▪︎ The main purpose is kept very simple, very standard format for a FPS, you get main quests, side quests, a few challenges, a few collectibles and A LOT of weapons to either shoot or slice through

▪︎ To keep it fresh, we are looking at a very diverse arsenal with a total of 79 unique weapons including blades, rocket launchers, rifles, chainsaws, shotguns, dragon head machine guns, you name it. You can unlock these as drops from special enemies, story or random loot from containers. Each weapon has 3 slots in which gems can be fitted to boost damage outcome or elemental output.

▪︎ The player skill tree is based on a card system, there are a total of 48 skill cards which can then be upgraded with skill points earned as you level up. These cards are unlocked via story or drop from special enemies, once earned, forever remains. Some cards are given by default from the game.

▪︎ Power Gems are items that can be fitted into weapons as mentioned above, these drop constantly from all sources in different rarity levels ranging from common to legendary, just like weapons, however, everything is balanced, more powerful and rare gems have also a downside to them.

▪︎ Elemental damage is a huge part of the damage output mechanics, they also relate to an achievement for each elemental type so try all of them.

▪︎ Every mission with the exception of few story ones are replayable from the game's map. Make sure you focus on whatever you have to do in the story missions in one go to avoid multiple playthroughs.

👉 NAVIGATION SYSTEM
Game has one map screen and everything is on that one screen, if you find it difficult to navigate the map then go back to school. Other than that, the inventory/upgrades menu takes a while to get used to.

👉 PHYSICS & MECHANICS
Matches the game's environment and fast-paced action properly, meaning devs became water. For the intended gameplay style, the physics don't need to be realistic and they do a great job at it. Of course, there's small things like: Some items spawn under the terrain, you see them on minimap and won’t be able to pick them up, other issue I found was with the air control mechanics, you can’t freely adjust direction, for a game this "kill bill" realistic, that would've made sense!

👉 GRAPHICS & OPTIMIZATION
The graphics are decent. Once you get used to them you'll be fine but it used to put pressure on my eyes due to the very colorful palette and how sped up everything is. You got effects, fire, explosions, projectiles & enemies everywhere. The gane looks comic-book or sci-fi but very well animated. It's not "eye candy" but it shouldn't be either.

👉 ACHIEVEMENTS & COLLECTIBLES
Unexpectedly easy to 100%, I had a good look through a guide and the achievements beforehand and it was piece of cake. I finished everything in 29 hours. 80% of achievements are quest related, every single main quest or side quest has a boss in the playable area and there's an achievement for each including the campaign ones, other than that easy to do and nothing missable if studied well before. At some point you will get powerful enough to just run through all content really easy. I followed this amazing guide: PS: The 1000 masamune orbs and the 10 million coins achievements are really ass and take a while.

🔷 CONCLUSION: 🔷

If you're looking for a quick intense action gig, this is sure not the game you want but the one you need. If you're only looking for a game thats easy on achievements, you'll also have a lot of fun doing it. I have played the original Shadow Warrior when I was a kid, this sure brought up memories and quite a laugh. Really well tailored around it's genre for a weekend quest.

🔷 PROS & CONS 🔷

✔️ PROS:
- Very entertaining fast-paced combat.
- Broad arsenal, many choices, much gore.
- Well used ridiculous factor in the character & story writing.
- Perfect length for its campaign & completion tasks.
- Well optimized, flows like water.
- Unexpected enough.
- Very do-able achievements.

❌ CONS:
- At some point you become very OP.
- Secrets are very annoying to search for.
- Not the most intuitive inventory menu.
- Could've refrained from respawning enemies and let me clear a whole damn map, I could replay it to run through its enemies again
- Fire the companion's voice actor

　🔷 SHORT REVIEW & STATS 🔷

• PLAY STYLE:
🔳 PVP
✅ PVE
🔳 ONLINE CO-OP
🔳 Online Multiplayer
🔳 SPLIT SCREEN
✅ SINGLE PLAYER

• GRAPHICS:
🔳 Fire the designer.
🔳 Fairly old game, what you expect?
✅ Not great, not terrible.
🔳 Great
🔳 Exceptional

• REPLAYABILITY:
🔳 YES
🔳 EVERY NOW AND THEN
🔳 NOT SURE
🔳 RARELY / ON MAJOR UPDATE / DLC RELEASE
✅ NO

• STEAM ACHIEVEMENTS:
✅ YES
🔳 NO (WTF MAN)

• GAMEPLAY:
🔳 WTF IS THIS SHIT
🔳 TERRIBLE
✅ DECENT
🔳 ENGAGING
🔳 HAD A BLAST

• DIFFICULTY
🔳 DARK SOULS
🔳 BAFFLING
🔳 CHALLENGING
✅ MEDIUM
🔳 WALK IN THE PARK

• STORYLINE:
🔳 A WHAT? WE WRITE CODE NOT BOOKS
✅ GOES FINE WITHOUT ONE
🔳 DECENT
🔳 ENGAGING
🔳 SHAKESPEARE AINT GOT S**T ON THIS

❗ NOTE - This is a review based on personal preferences and opinions. I always suggest you try the games for yourself before letting others decide for you. Even though we're all gamers, we are sure not the same.

It has better graphics than Shadow Warrior (2013) and has free roam (semi-open world) design. I played a couple of side missions to make more money, earn skills and weapons thinking that it might be necessary to succeed in the boss battles, later I realized that it was not necessary to play the side missions.

The game had no crash. FPS was very stable. The only glitch I noticed was when I fell from a 20 feet high rock and landed between bamboos, I couldn't get out using any movement or weapon. I had to exit the game and relaunch to proceed. The range of weapons is very broad.

On Normal difficulty (called 'I have no fear') the game is very generous in granting ammo & health during boss battles. If you die you instantly spawn back with full health & Chi but the enemies or Boss does not regenerate. Doom (2016) released in the same year gives you hell but Shadow Warrior 2 is significantly easier but still challenging.

its was like an old school shooter with new tech style. 5 stars.

Good Brainless fun! Get while on Discount. its not worth much more than that.

Shadow Warrior 2 Review – 60 Hours In

Rating: ⭐⭐⭐⭐☆ (4/5)

After 60 hours in Shadow Warrior 2, I can confidently say this game is a wild, chaotic ride packed with over-the-top action, ridiculous humor, and tons of customization. It’s an experience that thrives on embracing its absurdity while delivering fast-paced, satisfying gameplay.

[hr][/hr]

Gameplay – Fast, Fluid, and Frenzied

The gameplay is the star here. Shadow Warrior 2’s combat is fast, brutal, and endlessly satisfying. You’re swapping between guns, swords, and a whole arsenal of devastating tools in battles that demand quick reflexes and creativity. The loot system adds a layer of depth, letting you tweak weapons and abilities to fit your style. Whether you’re slicing through enemies or raining bullets, every fight feels fresh and chaotic.

[hr][/hr]

World – Gorgeous, But Lacking Depth

The semi-open world design offers beautifully crafted environments with plenty of opportunities for exploration. However, the story feels more like a backdrop to the action, and the quests can sometimes veer into repetitive territory. Still, the humor and self-awareness make up for a lot.

[hr][/hr]

Highlights – What Makes It Shine

✔️ Fluid, fast-paced combat that keeps you on your toes.
✔️ Loot and customization systems that let you experiment endlessly.
✔️ Hilarious dialogue and over-the-top humor.
✔️ Stunning visuals that bring the chaos to life.

[hr][/hr]

Cons – Minor Setbacks

❌ Story is thin and feels secondary to the gameplay.
❌ Repetitive mission structure can drag at times.
❌ Some enemies can feel like bullet sponges in higher difficulties.

[hr][/hr]

Final Thoughts – A Bloody Good Time

Shadow Warrior 2 delivers exactly what you’d expect—high-octane action, a ridiculous arsenal, and irreverent humor that never takes itself too seriously. While it’s not perfect, it’s undeniably fun, especially for those who love chaotic combat and tons of loot.

Recommended for fans of fast-paced shooters with a dose of absurd humor and endless carnage!

Deelt wrote:

If you found this review helpful, please give it a like or an award! Thanks for reading, and happy slashing!

No hoji -10/10

My rating: 7.5/10
The perfect game when you're having a bad day and want to have some fun, or you just want to destroy some demons and other creatures. A very large selection of weapons and the ability to upgrade them, funny texts and various cool characters. As for the plot, it is quite interesting, but unfortunately at the end I really had no idea what happened or why it happened.

Having revisited this game after a long time I can say that it has some fun movement and satisfying gore. Some people might complain about the cheesy jokes, but, c'mon man, it's Shadow Warrior, what do you expect.

However, several things just kill the flow of the game. The first one is repetitive quest design. The second and main one is the upgrade system. You have to constantly micro-manage tons of various trinkets you pick up in order to improve various stats by a few percentage points. The sheer amount of them is overwhelming. Additionally, you have to do inventory management once your backpack fills up. This aspect feels sort of antithetical to the series' game design and is just plain annoying.

However, if you're still curious and want to try this game out, I would recommend waiting for a sale. The game is frequently 90% off and at that price you're not losing much.

You can't handle my Wang!

Shadow Warrior 2 is the biggest surprise of my year in 2024.

This game is an absolute masterpiece, and yes, I am comparing it to games that have come out in the past year. I enjoyed the first Shadow Warrior's combat and silly jokes naturally, but my lack of knowledge regarding Shadow Warrior 2 led me to absolutely falling in love the moment I picked it up.

Unlike Shadow Warrior 3, Shadow Warrior 2 uses a more life-like graphics model rather than a cartoon-like format. Shadow Warrior 2 might just be the most violent/goriest game I have ever played.

Shadow Warrior 1 was very linear in it's level progression, Shadow Warrior 2 is similar in the sense that each level has it's own area. Howver, in the second game, these maps are very large. While there is a mini-map and an objective trail in the game's map, these maps are large enough to vastly explore, and most missions (including side missions) have a hidden 2nd boss somewhere in the map that also grants a steam acheivement when you kill them.

Shadow Warrior 2 was slept on because of how violent it was and is possibly one of the games that sparked the whole anti-violence in video games wave, but hey, its 2025 son chop some shit up cuz.

+ Can be funny at times
+ Has a serious same vibe
- Coop does add to the experience but cannot save it
- Weapons are luck luster and boring
- Boring fetch quests
- Messy UI

hella chill didnt expect it

Tight controls, great weapons, and a lot of enemy variety. Skills are varied and all have their uses, and combat encounters are rarely dull once you realize just how many tools are in your arsenal. The gameplay is a lot more dynamic than Borderlands, and I enjoy the game's personality - obnoxious but sometimes funny, and never boring.

It is a hack and slash looter shooter game but with annoying enemies and dialogues. The story is meh.

Poor man's borderlands. Please don't play this. Even for cheap.
Cringiest humour and story I've played all year.
I feel bad for me for playing this.

Things I liked
•Lo Wang's sense of humor [If killing you guys is wrong then i don't want to right]
•World design is beautiful.

Things i didn't like
•Boring Side quests
•Forcing this game to be a looter shooter
•Level design is very repetitive.