Shadows of the Damned is not a game I’d followed very closely during its development. I know it’s a Suda game, but from what little I’d read/seen early on, it all looked pretty generic. Even the name, “Shadows of the Damned”, strikes me as one of those titles where someone just throws together some words to create a phrase that sounds cool, but ultimately has little substance or meaning in relation to the content. The name sounds like 90% of all MMO guild names sound (the other 10% being the same thing, but it latin).

Nothing about the game really tugged at my attention or said “must play”. However, having given the game a second look now that it’s launched, that apathy has given way to immature curiosity. While it doesn’t appear that Shadows of the Damned brings much in the way of really revolutionary, or even solid, gameplay/story, what it has in spades is blood, gore, nudity and dick jokes.

The game appears to walk a line between being dark and disturbing at times, and overall not taking itself seriously at all. To make my point, observe these two trailers, which present the game in drastically different tones.

Shadows of the Damned doesn’t entice me with promises of a must-play game experience. It’s drawing me in with promises of a spectacle. Of silliness and excess. Promises of overloading my immature sense of humor. And you know what? I’m cool with that.