Review: Is Shadow Warrior 3 Worth Playing?

Game Overview.

Repetitive

If you can look past the terrible dialogue, short runtime, and lacklustre character development, Shadow Warrior 3 has little left to offer. One of the few remaining bright points would be its combat system. Unfortunately, the developers do not know the meaning of too much of a good thing, and as a result, players will be completing rudimentary platforming sections interspaced with almost identical wave-based combat rounds for much of the game.

While each enemy is unique and provides a decent challenge, after encountering and defeating an enemy for the 100th time in quick succession, combat starts to feel more tiresome than anything else and serves as little more than filler between the awful cutscenes and boss battles, which are very good (by Shadow Warrior 3 standards).

Toxic Community

While not everyone who plays Shadow Warrior 3 is a horrible person, the community is mostly comprised of immature frat boys, incels, and closeted neo-Nazis who deem even the smallest changes made for the sake of diversity (such as casting an Asian voice actor to voice Lo Wang) as being woke.

Despite the Steam forum for Shadow Warrior 3 being essentially dead with only 252 topics (most of which have fewer than ten comments), the word woke is mentioned over 55 times, alongside 25 disparaging references to SJW and eight hate-filled references to feminism, including players referring to women who call for equal representation in video games and less objectifying outfits for female characters as “seething obese radical feminists who are offended over fictional characters that look better than them and not the majority of gamers who enjoy sexy, attractive characters.”

Please understand that the majority of the Shadow Warrior 3 community is so repulsive they genuinely believe that Shadow Warrior 3, one of the most immature and insensitive games released in the last decade, is woke and panders to SJWs.

That is like saying a slaughterhouse was pandering to vegans by packaging their 72-ounce steak with parsley butter sauce.

Renowned Publisher

Devolver Digital have always experimented with new and unique takes on established genres, which can sometimes result in titles deemed edgy. However, releasing Shadow Warrior 3 in 2022 was a huge misstep.

There is no place for a game like Shadow Warrior 3 in 2022, and I would hope the poor critical reception, overall low user review scores, and dismal player numbers discourage them from continuing the Shadow Warrior franchise anytime soon.

Mature Content

Shadow Warrior 3 is one of the filthiest and most immature games I have ever played, filled with hundreds of references to genitals, bodily functions, and adult relations.

In addition, Shadow Warrior 3 is one of the goriest games I have ever played, with even mundane enemies exploding in a shower of blood and gore. It is overall not a game for children or anyone with an ounce of maturity.

Filth and gore aside, as a PEGI 18 game, Shadow Warrior 3 contains plenty of harsh profanity, including over 50 uses of the F-word, which is an almost impressive feat when you consider that it is one of the shortest single-player games in recent memory, with an average completion time of just 4.5 hours.

Shadow Warrior 3 FAQ

Shadow Warrior 3 is a first person shooter game developed by Flying Wild Hog and published by Devolver Digital, it released on 1 March 2022, and is available on PC, Playstation 4, Playstation 5, Xbox One and Xbox Series X|S.

How Long Does Shadow Warrior 3 Take to Complete?

On average Shadow Warrior 3 takes between 5 and 9 hours to complete.

• ☑ Main Story: 5 Hours.
• ☑ Main + Side Quests: 6 Hours.
• ☑ Completionist: 9 Hours.

Estimated completion times are derived from various sources and may vary based on the skill level of each player.

What Peripherals Are Supported?

Shadow Warrior 3 supports the following peripherals:

• ☑ Console - Controller
• ☑ PC - Controller
• ☑ PC - Mouse and Keyboard

Is There Any Mature Content?

Shadow Warrior 3 is rated PEGI 18+ and contains:

• ☑ Bad Language
• ☑ Discrimination
• ☑ Drug Use
• ☑ Gore
• ☑ Mature Themes
• ☑ Partial Nudity
• ☑ Sexual Content
• ☑ Violence

Final Verdict.

Shadow Warrior 3 feels like a game made by frat boys, for frat boys, and I hope the developer and publisher learn from this cataclysmic misstep and start releasing games that appeal to a demographic other than 12-year-old boys, incels, and closeted neo-Nazis.

Is Shadow Warrior 3 Worth Playing?

We found Shadow Warrior 3 to be barely playable, meaning it is severely flawed, broken, or dead, and not worth playing for most gamers.