It feels like it's gone under the radar a bit (possibly because it's arriving on PlayStation Now at launch rather than Xbox Game Pass), but Shadow Warrior 3 is out today, and the first reviews began dropping for the game yesterday.
There are 41 reviews on Metacritic for the PC version alone right now, which averages out at a fairly good score of 72. We've picked out some of those reviews to highlight below, giving you a picture of what critics like and dislike:
Hardcore Gamer - (4/5)
"It may not be reinventing the wheel in any drastic means, but Shadow Warrior 3‘s warranted excess and lovably chaotic flow is one you’ll easily get lost in and perhaps never want to get out of."
God Is A Geek - (7.5/10)
"Shadow Warrior 3 delivers a riot of noise and colour with all the subtlety of a firework jammed in your nostril, but it does it with considerable style and confidence. It’s Serious Sam with more self awareness, Doom with a little less posturing. Traversal is fun and fluid, though not always as precise as it should be, but I’ll admit to losing my temper with a few boss fights and reducing the difficulty. This is a game I’d play as anathema to something like Elden Ring. Shadow Warrior 3 is at its best when used as a cathartic power fantasy."
IGN - (7/10)
"Shadow Warrior 3 provides some good old-fashioned FPS action, even if it isn’t doing anything particularly special within the genre. Its forgettable story gets almost entirely out of the way of its blisteringly fast combat, chock full of enemies that are fun to shoot up through largely familiar methods. It doesn’t take many risks to help it stand out, but Shadow Warrior 3's quick campaign is still a gory and enjoyable gauntlet while it lasts."
Attack of the Fanboy - (3.5/5)
"The game has some genuinely great ideas, but it is hampered by a handful of pronounced technical issues and a general lack of replayability. I would thoroughly enjoy more Shadow Warrior games in this formula if Flying Wild Hog fixes the pressing issues I encountered, though, as it shows promise."
We Got This Covered - (3/5)
"Overall, there might be an audience here, but it’s narrow on the Venn diagram of “old enough to appreciate or put up with the writing” and “hasn’t played a better shooter recently.” Shadow Warrior 3 is antiquated in ways that I found charming, but lampshading crappy design decisions with bad humor isn’t enough to make me look the other way every time. But hey, it’s fun to shoot demons, and the game looks and runs great, so if you’ve got a hankering for that sort of thing and are sick to death of every other option, who am I to bring you down."
PC Gamer - (52/100)
"Shadow Warrior 3 is a fast-paced FPS for adult-aged children. It's designed for those who'd enjoy playing as East Asian caricature and human dick joke Lo Wang, whose main character trait is that he sucks... It's best experienced with dialog volume set to zero and subtitles turned off. It isn’t malicious. It’s tasteless. It’s embarrassing, because it expects that you’re the kind of person who’d enjoy it. Just play Doom 2016 instead."
As you can see, there are definitely some mixed opinions here! If you want to grab Shadow Warrior 3 today, it's available digitally on the Microsoft Store for £41.74 / $49.99, and it's also optimised for Xbox Series X and Xbox Series S.
Will you be picking up Shadow Warrior 3 on Xbox this week? Let us know in the comments.
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Comments 14
I can't stand reading game reviews by these companies. They are just horrible people with horrible taste. It's embarrassing that they they even sent these reviews in and let them be posted online. I for one love the Shadow Warrior series and the jokes and adult humor behind them. The gameplay is some of the best in an FPS game and the graphics are usually pretty top notch. I feel bad for the people forced to write these reviews because it proves that they had a bad childhood...
Loved SW2 so bought this based on that. Gonna fire it up tonight.
@OliverOwen Not even the devs agree with you.
@FraserG mild correction for that first link, it's coming to PlayStation Now, and is not a part of PlayStation Plus
So PlayStation now gets an average day 1 release this time round… will we see the same level of vitriol on twitter? …probably not
@Shoeblazer Of course it is, my bad! Thank you
@OliverOwen bit overblown lol. Its humor isn't for everyone even though I had to laugh way too often at every sw2 joke.
Hey, guys! I played and finished SW1, however, the procedurally generated levels of SW2, plus the loot-based gameplay made me quit. Is SW3 more akin to which one? And also, is it 60fps on XSS? Thanks in advance!
This seems to be a love it or hate it game, and the people who seem to like it aren't exactly people who liked the first two. Especially people who were mostly fans of the second game, like me.
There's a lot of reasons for this, but the game is very different from the others, in fact all the games in the series are different from each other. The first was pretty much just a remake of a classic 90's FPS, the second was more of an open-ended game where you had a hub world and a bunch of open environments for missions. This latest third entry is essentially a Doom Eternal clone.
That and it seems like a lot of the humor and enjoyable writing from the first two games has been lost. They also changed voice actors for some asinine reason, and the result is a total loss of charisma.
I mean if what you desire is what essentially feels like a parody version of Doom Eternal you will probably love it. I got the game simply because of the pre-order deal that gave me the first two games with it, so I really didn't pay much for this game with that considered. It's dumb fun if that's your thing.
i'm stuck on elder ring for the month, i will wait it to come to gamepass eventually.
Lo Wang was funny PC Gamer, I did find it a little on the nose the first hour or so when I played the Original Shadow Warrior. But by the end of SW2 I thought it was really fun and funny. Of course the PC and the Fanboy websites have the lamest reviews.
Attack of the Fanboy.... Now their are some very unaware problems with this game, I mean website. Please fix the issues and maybe we might enjoy a sequel, maybe.
@OldgamerDave I haven't played it yet but I'm following it closely and happen to just have watched Under The Mayo's review on YT, so I think I can fill you in a bit 😃
If you've played Doom Eternal it's gonna be way easier explaining the appeal if this game, because it takes a lot of inspiration from DE.
Firstly, there's a fixed arsenal, no more loot crap; every weapon has its uses and purposes.
Secondly, you can gain both ammo and health back from enemies in a similar fashion to DE.
Also similar to DE is the presence of quick-switch combos.
Lastly, and again like DE, mobility is key, with a great emphasis on wallrunning and grappling.
Hope this helps you!
@clvr Much appreciated, friend! I see this is exactly what I was looking for: just some mindless reflex-based single player fun.
@OldgamerDave you're welcome mate, have a great one 😃
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