Shadow Warrior

About Shadow Warrior

Shadow Warrior (1997) is 3D Realms' Build-engine shooter in which the bodyguard Lo Wang turns on his employer's demonic plan to conquer a futuristic Japan, armed with a katana, shuriken and sticky bombs.

Shadow Warrior in Depth

Lo Wang is a bodyguard and enforcer for Zilla Enterprises, a conglomerate that controls every major industry in a futuristic Japan. Well paid, he has long ignored its corruption, until company president Master Zilla allies with ancient deities to conquer Japan with creatures from the "dark side". Lo Wang quits, Zilla sends the creatures to kill him, and after learning that Zilla also had his old mentor Master Leep murdered, Lo Wang swears to end his schemes. The game ends with Zilla defeated in a giant samurai-styled war mech, though he escapes and promises they will meet again.

Like Duke Nukem 3D it runs on Ken Silverman's Build engine, but it pushed the engine further, with true room-over-room spaces, 3D voxels instead of flat sprites for weapons and items, transparent water, climbable ladders, turrets and drivable vehicles such as tanks, some of them armed. Levels mix combat with puzzles. The Japanese-themed arsenal includes shuriken and a katana alongside Uzis, a riot gun firing shotgun shells and an Eraser-inspired railgun, and the heads and hearts of certain enemies can be used as weapons. It marked the first appearance of a sticky bomb in a first-person shooter, an idea later popularised by Halo. Violent but humorous, the game also contains some sexual themes.

Making Shadow Warrior

George Broussard said in 1996 that the team wanted it "to surpass Duke Nukem 3D in features and gameplay and that's a TALL order", and more tongue-in-cheek humour was added to match Duke's style. GT Interactive released the shareware version on 13 May 1997 and the full game that September, and Mark Adams ported it to Mac OS. Reviews ranged from average to positive: Computer Gaming World called it "an average action game" despite good engine enhancements, while GamePro praised its style, level design and soundtrack, and GameSpot found it "pretty fun despite its dated qualities". It sold 118,500 copies in the US by December 2002 and the shareware was downloaded 400,000 times. It was bundled with Duke Nukem 3D as East Meets West in 1998, later made free on Steam, and rebooted by Flying Wild Hog in 2013.