Shadows of the Damned will be released by EA and developer Grasshopper on June 21, 2011 for Xbox 360 and PS3.
With Shadows of the Damned (officially abbreviated to DMD or “Damned”), creative geniuses Suda 51 (No More Heroes 2, Killer 7) and Shinji Mikami (Resident Evil series and Resident Evil 4, Vanquish, Devil May Cry) present an all-new vision of hell unlike anything seen before!
A psychological action thriller, Shadows of the Damned follows a demon hunter deep into a hyper-twisted re-imagining of hell where he must rescue the love of his life by defeating the armies of darkness with the power of the light.
Garcia is a hard-as-nails, leather-clad, motorcycle-riding professional demon hunter who finds his true love kidnapped by vengeance-seeking demons. As he explores the farthest reaches of the netherworld, Garcia battles through hell and back, with danger and turmoil around every corner. Throughout Shadows of the Damned gamers will find themselves challenged by demented puzzles and thrust into gruesome battles with vile and deformed creatures that can only come from the darkest recesses of hell.
Having the mix of Goichi Suda, Shinji Mikami and Silent Hill composer Akira Yamaoka will go a long way in ensuring that this title is a work of pure creative talent and of the highest quality, with each contributor bringing something unique and interesting to the world they’ve created.
I am somewhat underwhelmed though that they chose to go with the whole “Light and Shadow” concept, complete with having to shoot at light orbs to give yourself a more advantageous atmosphere in which to fight the evil and demonic creatures of the night. Having recently pumped around 50 hours into Metroid Prime 2: Echoes on the Wii (Metroid Prime Trilogy collection version) which features essentially the same exact concept, the Light and Dark theme already feels tired to me. However pumping it up with a punk-rock vibe and adding all kinds of crazy to the standard third-person shooting action may liven it up enough to compensate. I hope.
Here is a behind-the-scenes developer diary featuring both Suda51 and Shinja Mikami which is both hilarious and very enlightening, going over most of the aspects of the game in detail.
This one has kind of slipped under the radar, hopefully it does well upon release and encourages more awesome team-ups between developers.
Are you looking forward to the game? I know I am. With this and Alice: Madness Returns upcoming, looks like the horror genre is definitely the one keeping this gamer the most interested.