Have you ever thought to yourself, “Man, I really wish X game could have a remaster or remake?” Throughout the last decade, gaming companies have capitalized on gamers/fans chasing nostalgia and wanting to reconnect with their favorite franchises. Sometimes a remake/remaster can be exactly what the fans are looking for EX: Resident Evil 2 to 4, Destroy All Humans, and Diablo 2; some remakes/remasters can be god awful and damage the franchise EX: GTA Trilogy Remastered. Finally, there are the remakes that leave fans divided ex: Persona 3 Remake, Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth, and Demon Souls. This year, two projects Suda 51 worked on are set to be re-released. At PAX East 2024, we had the opportunity to speak with Suda 51 and preview Grasshopper Manufacture’s upcoming game, Shadows of the Damned: Hella Remastered.
I will be honest, I did not play Shadows of the Damned when it was first out; the game was on my list of games to eventually play but sadly I never got the chance. To give you an idea, most of the games released in 2011 and 2012 I was not able to play due to college, work, and other extracurriculars; in fact, it took me til the pandemic to play through The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim. So now with the chance to catch up and meet Suda 51, I was eager to try out Shadows of the Damned: Hella Remastered.
Demo Impressions
The demo at PAX East was early on in the Shadows of the Damned: Hella Remastered. Players play as Demon hunter Garcia Hotspur as he searches the underworld for his girlfriend, Paula with the help of demon sidekick, Johnson. After his girlfriend has been kidnapped and dragged to hell, Garcia storms the gates of hell.
Arriving in the first town, Garcia and Johnson light up the area by using the Light Shot. With the lantern lit, a cart containing demons rolled out of a shadowy place and we get to slay some demons. Like any other game, it was time to progress, so we decided to shove a torch in the door and pry it open. Images of Paula guide Garcia however, this leads us to an area where an ambush is in wait. As the lights go out, we are thrown into darkness and we are forced to move slower. Once we got safely inside, a bigger creature decided to attack.
Guests who played the actual demo were allotted only 15 minutes to play through it. If you failed a part it would reload from a checkpoint which would still eat up the time. Since it has been a while since playing the demo, I decided to watch a playthrough of the original game. Comparing the original game to the remastering, the Shadows of the Damned: Hella Remastered is definitely a visual upgrade. The gameplay mechanics appear to be more polished and easier to use than the original game. The remastering seems to include Paula more than the original which could make the story more in-depth. The controls were easy to use once we turned off the inverted aiming.
Discovering More
After the event, I discovered that Andrew Peggs, a staff member at Marooners’ Rock, had an absolute blast playing the original version of the game on his Xbox 360 console; it was during this time that he was introduced to the work of Goichi Suda. Since then, Andrew has been an avid fan of Suda’s work and the projects he’s worked on. When I heard that the remastered version of the game was going to be showcased at PAX East 2024, Andrew and I knew that it was one game that we definitely needed to check out; sadly, Andrew was unable to attend PAX East, so that meeting was mine for the taking.
After playing the Shadows of the Damned: Hella Remastered, I was eager to play through the full remaster when it releases and looked forward to meeting Suda 51 the next day.
Suda 51 Interview
After playing the Shadows of the Damned: Hella Remastered demo, we had the opportunity to sit down and talk with Suda 51, Goichi Suda, about the remastering, the loss of Akira Toriyama, and other projects. You can also watch the full interview in the video below.
Matt: How did you feel about the announcement that Lolipop Chainsaw is being remade?
Suda 51: We found out at the same time as everyone else when it was announced. They didn’t even consult with us about it.
Matt: How do you feel about Akira Toriyama’s passing?
Suda 51: Toriyama had a great impact on both the video game and anime industry.
Matt: Are there any games you’d like to remaster?
Suda 51: The two games we’d like to remaster are Black Knight Sword and Frog Minutes.
