在评测开始前，让我们看看Flying Wild Hog在2022年都发布了些什么游戏。
2022.03.01——《影子武士3》
2022.05.05——《黄泉之路》
2022.11.22——《暗邪西部》

这一年一泻千里之后直到现在制作组都还是处于沉寂期，23-24年没有一部游戏发布，连一部新作的预告片都没看到。

我是有点怀疑《影子武士3》就是你们使劲压榨工期赶出来的，然后搞完就摆了，游戏短的简直像个demo。

好的，表明观点：我个人并不喜欢前两部，所以《影子武士》三部曲我目前计划（2024年8月份）是倒过来（3-2-1）玩的，就是想看看《影子武士》三部曲质量有没有呈进步的趋势。而玩完本作以后，思来想去，还是写下了这篇测评。

总的来说就是，能玩，但对我来说负反馈大于正面情绪。

首先画质是够的，符合2022年高清游戏的水准，并且本作弃用了前两部使用的Road Hog引擎（制作组自主研发），改用虚幻4引擎，在画质表现效果方面更上一层。游戏美术则继承了前作的“欧美式东亚风格”（指中国人当主角，然后游戏一股日本风），穿越在枫叶林与山河之间的感觉还是很惬意的。不过可惜的是，像2代跑去齐拉那里搞搞阵好歹也有科幻风满满的场景，到本作就只剩下山水建筑、晶石洞穴（还随走随塌，跟某俩干考古的人一样）可看了。而如果说前面的关卡还是秀丽的风景画，那么到了后面的古龙关卡，地图质量就急转直下，明显欠缺打磨了，古龙表皮亦或是内脏掺杂着断壁残垣，伴随着敌人攻击宛如炸烟花般的特效，视觉效果很混乱，是我游玩过程中最不喜欢的部分。

剧情方面就比较简单易懂了。本作剧情延续前作，王洛在2代的结尾放出了一条古龙，而3代开头的落败不得不让他与前作的老对手齐拉联手对抗古龙，还顺带给1代的齐拉带了回来。大团圆合家欢故事，没什么槽点的。我想强调的是本作的本地化，那可是含梗满满啊，汉化组将许多热门中文梗融入了台词的汉化当中，有的时候也能让我会心一笑，尤其是第一场BOSS名为“古巨鸡”真的是莫名的触到了我的笑点。但是，也正因为台词与梗高度融合，导致有些文本的大意并不能完全表达出来，有的时候，台词本身想表达的意思已经被那些溢出边框的梗所扭曲了，这也是玩梗过度的坏处。不过，介于《影子武士3》本身就是个无厘头幽默风格的游戏，这样的本地化反倒更能吸引到一些玩家吧。（含梗量高≠接地气，太多了觉得很刻意）

那么玩法呢？本作定位是类似于《毁灭战士》的复古FPS，那它一定能从头轰到尾吧？但作为一款Old School FPS，本作的跑酷比例可比战斗多的多，并且战斗的场地其实更偏向于竞技场类FPS，玩家大多数战斗场景都是被放置于一个小型的环形平台中，并且关卡面对的敌人种类也较为单一。那么为了丰富拉长战斗时间，制作组的处理方式是什么呢？

猛堆数量。如果能像最近《毁灭战士：黑暗命运》的预告片中呈现的那种较大型的战斗场地，单次能容纳非常多的敌人，那我没意见。可是，《影子武士3》的战斗平台已经可以用“拥挤”来形容了，无脑的堆怪简直让人无地自容，而且漫天飞的特效粒子也让我倍感晕眩，简直就是光污染。虽然但是，本作在堆怪方面尽心尽力，可整场游戏下来居然只有两场BOSS战？而且这两个BOSS的战斗体验十分枯燥：一个只知无脑冲刺，一个只能站桩输出，技能设计毫无特色。

然后本作的武器系统也是化繁为简——而且简过头了。有关战斗方面的经验值、符文、卡牌系统全部被删除，转而让玩家在游戏流程中收集宝珠来升级角色和武器。2代一些被玩家称赞的养成要素都剔除的七七八八，取而代之的就是这种单一的升级路线，让我更加质疑本作就是临时赶工出来的作品。新加入的钩索除了跑酷一无是处，恐怕部分人玩完都不知道钩索可以在部分敌人身上使用，但钩索释放的前摇极其长，机动性直接大打折扣，还不如耍着武士刀，来个咿呀剑法飞檐走壁来的快。

好的地方在于，本作首次加入了终结技系统。当处决条积累到一定程度时，玩家就可以处决敌人，来获得相对应的“残杀兵器”。这点我还是比较满意的，基本每个“残杀兵器”都有能够大放异彩的地方，让流程没有那么枯燥。其次，武士刀终于可以右键直接使用而不像前作那样作为一把独立武器使用了，虽然手感软绵绵，砍人没有劲，但至少不用来回切换搞得那么恼人了。

1.玩法/机制：4
2.剧情/文本：7（剧情无雷点就是胜利）
3.演出/表现：5（过场动画是预演CG，有的时候没有黑屏过渡就直接进过场，很割裂）
4.操作/动作：6（爬垂直藤蔓有的时候会被莫名其妙的空气墙卡住，老王老寒腿死活蹬不上去）
5.美术/建模：7（前期很棒，后期很次）
6.配乐/音效：6（东方韵味的BGM听着很上头，但怎么感觉整场游戏下来就这一首……？有点单调。）
7.优化/bug：7（现版本游玩未遇到恶性bug问题，但掉帧问题显著）
8.性价比/价格：3（原价完全不值得，史低才有性价比）


总而言之，《影子武士3》短短5个小时的内容实在是少得可怜，不尽人意。战斗并不爽快，拥挤的场地很难给我“返璞归真的无脑砍杀”的战斗体验，并且除了宝珠以外没有其他的收集隐藏要素，几乎没有多周目的动力可言，属于是短小又不精悍。但还多亏了本作流程较短，或许充当饱食3A游戏大餐之后的小点心还算上的了台面，但噎人的口感实在很难让我想品尝第二次。

Shadow Warrior 3 is the third installation of the Shadow Warrior trilogy. Unfortunately, it was also the weakest child of the family. While I mostly enjoyed it, there are several issues that just brings the game down a grade. There are some bugs that are quite annoying, unlimited waves of enemies until I had to reload the checkpoint, some wall clipping issues, issues that didn't even exist in Shadow Warrior 1 and 2. The story was really short as well. Nonetheless, this game is action-packed and I love the gore that fills my whole screen up. I love the weapon choices and upgrades, they complement the game really well. I got this game heavily discounted so I got my worth out of it. I would recommend this game if you are looking for some mindless fun, although it was only satisfactory because we had such banger games in Shadow Warrior 1 and 2.

Today, I woke up with a peculiar desire to obliterate my senses by shoving all sorts of indulgent, flamboyant, and immensely, IMMENSELY STUPID trash through my eyeballs until I am so oversaturated with stimuli that Dear Esther will seem like a inviting experience.

Well, for this particular task i chose the very mediocre Shadow Warrior 3, a game that, despite not being the most tempting tool in the box, somehow fulfills its role of cheap entertainment with respectable efficiency.

It’s not a game so bad that it’s good. It’s a good game that is bad.

But it’s good.

But it’s pretty bad too.

Anyway...

SW3 crowns (so far) the modest list of halfway decent titles developed by Flying Wild Hog, having the dubious distinction of being one of the most fun and least problematic (Yes, that's right) games made by the studio.

And i'm not exaggerating, given that i played all of them (More than once, for some obscure reason) and I'm still waiting for the time when they will really hit the mark like they almost did in the original version of Hard Reset.

Of all of them, Shadow Warrior 3, frankly, might be the one I had the least trouble getting into. Not because it is particularly well-made, polished, or innovative (Quite the contrary), but because the other games from the studio, especially the previous Shadow Warrior titles, usually have problems so inseparable from the experience that by elimination, SW3 tends to always be the most tempting option in the collection, even though, in good conscience, there is no really valid reason to waste time with it when you have Doom, Serious Sam, Ultrakill, and the like available.

I do this because I am an idiot who likes to punish my brain by wasting my free time with partially enjoyable garbage. Judge me.

I don't know. I believe that the simplification (Or complete removal) of various mechanical elements present in previous games in favor of a more tendonitis-friendly combat experience, along with the very short duration and the ease of picking up the game and simply starting a brainless, guilty fun, allowed the game to work for me more than the others.

SW1 rebooted the franchise, rescued old design principles, gave a fresh coat of paint to a dated action game structure, without giving up the satisfying simplicity (And inherent stupidity) of turning hordes of enemies into minced meat and bloody clouds, while listening to catchphrases from an dumb charismatic protagonist.

They made a safe, solid, humorous, and straightforward game that knew its appeal. They managed to create an FPS with powers where melee was an integral part of the combat and not an irrelevant and unsatisfying appendage.

And the game even reached dramatic and somber notes through its narrative, given the sarcastic, juvenile, and cynical nature of the experience. Some things even sounded poetic.

But the game suffers from unnecessarily long duration, further dragged by the ever-increasing repetition of the same tired setups with few extremely spongy enemies; Even worse boss fights; Horribly weak weapons and very bad feedback; Mediocre level design that barely utilized the simple player moveset; An annoying progression system, full of completely inconsequential numerical increments; And noticeable lack of challenge even at higher difficulties.

I always felt that the game runs out of steam a few hours before it ends. The last stages are frustratingly exhausting, contaminating almost the entire experience. Despite liking the game and considering it the best game of the trilogy, I rarely enjoy revisiting it because of this.

SW2 improved a lot of things. It expanded the character's mobility, added several different weapon options, introduced a Diablo-style itemization and a “build” system, and... changed the entire structure and combat dynamics into a brain-dead meat grinder (And percentage optimization), without charm and personality and, ironically, even more exhausting than the previous game.

The sequel seems to be a better game in many ways. The graphics and mechanics took a huge leap in quality. But it's a much worse experience. All the additions only served to clutter the experience, rather than elevate it to previously unattainable heights. They just added fat.

Shadow Warrior 3 abandoned almost all the previous qualities and took another route, opting for a more bread-and-butter don't-stop-moving-even-for-a-second approach. It became an ultralinear, barely readable, intense and chaotic arena shooter, which essentially funnels the experience into fights in inconsistently designed and generally not very creative spaces, ranging from open arenas full of traps, verticality, and navigation options (grapple hook, wallruns, etc.) to super tight generic squares inadequate for the game’s combat and movement (And where you can even fall off the edges); Simplistic exploration and platforming segments; Occasional set-pieces that are glorified QTEs disguised as traversal challenges; And cutscenes, a huge amount of terrible prerendered cutscenes that present a story so lazy and irrelevant that it doesn't deserve a chance.

Lo Wang lost his mojo in SW2 and could barely nail a good one-liner, but now he's turned into an insufferable Marvel-esque cartoon who never stops talking. The intelligence factor somehow seems to have dropped another 5 points.

But the gameplay became more fluid and loose, with that liberating and rewarding responsiveness, which, although existing, was not much demanded by the previous games. The game finally reached a pleasant mechanical level, condensing the action into a slightly more wearing, but much more focused and unrelenting experience, with a more impactful and efficient gunplay and some creative additions mixing concepts from other games in favor of the more consolidated elements of the franchise.

The dynamics are not the best, but the game's simplicity and short length (And instant replays) made the low variety of enemies better utilized, occasionally even managing to project some degree of strategic dimension in the fights.

Melee stopped being the core of combat and became just a complementary tool and chi was reduced to just a single attack. The rest (The grind-based rpg system) was discarded. For the better, I would say.

It’s blatantly fun. Much more than it deserves to be. The straightforward pace allowed the game to become a sharp compilation of small doses of adrenaline and spectacle that evoke a much less polished and brainless version of the elegant Doom Eternal experience, but much faster and accessible. It's a shallow experience, but it works when it works. For better or worse, it’s simply easier to get into it than into the other games of the franchise. The challenge, the speed, the pace and the uncompromising fun is much more appetizing.

And the art direction is worthy of the book.

BUT i also never expected much from these games. For me, in the best case scenario, SW3 would be something mediocre. In that way, i would say i was even surprised by how much I enjoyed the game. I beat it three times on GamePass. Bought it here and i'm beating it again. And i will probably continue to do this sporadically.

At best, Shadow Warrior 3 is a partially enjoyable trash and you should definitely play something else. But play it anyway.


P.S: The performance is still bad, even after the release of the definitive edition. For me, turning off the instant replay solved the stuttering problem.

P.S.2: Hardcore. Mute the voice volume. Turn off subtitles. Skip ALL cutscenes. Enjoy.

P.S.3: The OST is fantastic. You'll never know if you try to listen to it through the game, where it sounds little in evidence.