Shadow Man Remastered
2025-05-05
Ah yes, "Shadow Man Remastered." I have been wanting to play the game since it was released, but it didn't happen at the time. Then, quite recently, I learned about Nightdive's remaster, and I had it on my list ever since. Over a quarter of the century after its release, I finally get to bit my teeth in it.
First what caught my eye were visuals. The game got remastered, and it has high-resolution textures (plus HUD) and better lighting, but the model stayed as they were, including a bit awkward animation of the characters, and it got old in a way, but I still find it charming. My wife thought it was a new game that pretended to be an old one, so that's rather good outcome. It generally gives away early 3DFx vibe. I'm not an aficionado of that, but it does bring nostalgia.
As I understood from a YouTube review, the controls got an update and match more modern approach. I can't compare that, as I never played it originally, but I can say that controls are okay. Pulling the movement stick to myself makes Shadow Man back out, so a bit different approach than "Dark Souls" or "The Legend of Zelda" or "Sky: Children of the Light," but that's not an issue. Revised controls are my favourite part of remasters. The intuitive way did not emerge until late into the game.
Being late 1990s, the vibe is extremely edgy and gritty by today's standards. I tried to imagine how would I perceive it back then, and I think I would be delighted. I can put Shadow Man side by side with Caleb from "Blood," as both games are Occult-themed and characters are this 1990s antihero type. Shadow Man also brings Philip Marlowe to my mind, especially when he talks about Agnetta at the beginning in the boat. So, we're cool in this department. Voice acting is really nicely done.
I died once so far and very foolishly: by getting stuck on fire. :D
The game has saves, but in a case of death, we're getting reborn at the beginning of the section. However, all the monsters killed are dead, so we need to get to where we died. I would prefer to reset it maybe, especially that I can save, but whatever.
There is quite a lot of reading. Just to begin with, I got handed a file with dossier on 5 different serial killers I have to catch. Old-school nice. It reminded me a bit of "The Talos Principle," where half of the time I would be reading text from various terminals. I feel like it's a good moment for a story-rich game.
2025-05-07
Funny I mentioned Caleb and "Blood" because "Shadow Man Remastered" reminds me of world there. Something about the textures and Shadow Man moves similarly to "Blood II: The Chosen." I got to the Asylum, which also brings fond memories of castlely structures from "Quake." I suppose it only means that "Shadow Man" shared a certain style that emerged in the late 1990s.
I found a book of a prophecy, which is told in a series of cards reminding me of the Tarot style. Very fitting with the general occult character. It also presents all the weapons to pick up and gives the player a crudely drawn map of the world, foretelling locations we'll visit. The map is, I have to stress that, still useful. It's a creative way of presenting information. Nowadays, they often do encyclopaedia-like feature, which auto-updates.
The map reminds me of "Thief," which didn't have detailed maps, but ones like that. There is something spy- or special-agent-like to this. The visuals and character animation also bring back the "Thief." As I just wrote, the game is heavily rooted in its time. I am a bit surprised how well it plays regarding that. I suspect Nightdive played here no small role.
The fact that Shadow Man backs when I pull the stick back (and not starts running towards me, like is a standard nowadays) has some gameplay consequences because Shadow Man moves slower walk walking back. When being charged with an enemy, we have to choose between running and backing out while shooting. There's a trade-off here. Nicely done. Just imagine those Doom speedruns if moving back had a different speed.
Probably due to the fact that the game was released for Nintendo 64, there is a sniper mode (I think something similar was in "GoldenEye 007" as well; along with blocky 3D models). Normally, Shadow Man auto-aims – and pretty accurately when fighting many monsters at a time and cirlce-strafing – but it's possible to switch to a first-person view where we maintain the control of the aim. Probably, "Shadow Man Remastered" could be played as an FPP. I need to check how climbing on ledges would be.
In the inventory, Shadow Man has a Teddy bear, which belonged to his brother, and the plush toy allows him to travel between Liveside and Deadside. I just realised that this feels very much like "Constantine" (the movie). Which is my kind of Occult-like.
I had my first encounter with a boss, Yort, which apparently was added to the remastered version. Ah yes, Nightdive added some stuff that didn't make it to the final game back in 1999. One of the reasons why we love their remasters. I wonder what was in the original game?
As per boss fight, I made it in a couple of attempts and by abusing pain state. At first, it seemed to be a tough one, but figuring the pain state made it rather on the easy side of things.
Around the place where I found the book of prophecies, the music reminded me of a track from "Natural Born Killers" soundtrack, the one with tribal moaning (I don't know how to describe it otherwise :D). The soundtrack is generally strong here.
Too bad it didn't made to *my* Spotify. I can google it outside of the app, but damn regionalising doesn't let me in the app. I see it's available on Bandcamp, though (in 2 variants), and I might get it from there.
2025-05-11
The more I play, the more I see other games in "Shadow Man." Apart from "Blood" mentioned earlier, I see "Thief" and "Quake" and "Half-Life" and "Fade to Black" (now, this I would play again) and a bit of "Tomb Raider." And I don't mean it as inspirations. No, "Shadow Man" is a product of its time. It's as 1990s as it can be. And it's really well restored, with additional monsters and whole areas.
Speaking of 1990s visuals, when I got to the Cathedral of Pain (naming worth "Doom 64" here :D) and found those half-bodies, the whole place looks like Nine Inch Nails videoclip from 1992-1994.
Controls are tricky because despite using a stick, it's not fully analog. I have reflexes from other games where I adjust direction to the side, but here it's all or nothing, so I end up sometimes with Michael LeRoi jumping fully to the side (and falling, but luckily height hath no power over Shadow Man). I suppose it's a leftover from keyboard/D-pad controls. That also means that if I set Shadow Man in a particular direction, he will not deviate from it walking forward. Quid pro quo.
2025-05-12
Speaking of "Fade to Black," apart from similar controls (but better :D), what reminds me of it the most are those really high ceilings. I suppose it was to ease with rendering and camera movement (the ceiling will not get into the way of the camera, if it's not there), but it builds a surreal impression.