Shadow Warrior 2 is a first-person shooter video game developed by Poland-based indie development studio Flying Wild Hog and published by Devolver Digital. It is the sequel to the 2013 reboot of Shadow Warrior. Shadow Warrior 2 was released on October 13, 2016 for Microsoft Windows and on May 19 the following year for PlayStation 4 and Xbox One. Versions for Linux and macOS were mooted, but were never released. A further sequel, Shadow Warrior 3, was released in 2022.
Gameplay
Shadow Warrior 2 can be played in single-player mode or in a new 4-player co-op mode. In co-op mode, each player experiences the narrative as Lo Wang but sees other players as different anonymous ninjas.
The level environments are more open and non-linear than in the previous title. New traversal mechanics have been added such as climbing walls and double jumping to allow for more exploration. Mission structure in Shadow Warrior 2 is less restricted than its predecessor, players can now revisit earlier missions to re-engage past enemies in order to upgrade Wang's skills. The game features a hub area where the player can acquire quests and upgrade their abilities before beginning a mission. Every mission, except for story-specific events, will feature procedurally generated level design and content, including randomized enemy positions, terrain, buildings, and weather conditions. The game utilizes a procedural damage system that allows players to cut and blow off enemy limbs and body parts.
The game features over 70 different weapons, varying between firearms and blades. Killing enemies will level up weapons and reward the player with gems to augment their equipment with element properties and buffs.
Plot
Spoilers Below
Lo Wang gets a task from Yakuza to retrieve an ancient trinket from the Temple of Longing. Wang accepts the task and travels to the temple where he retrieves the artifact. After speaking to Mamushi, the second in command of Yakuza, he gets a new task to rescue Kamiko, Yakuza's leaders daughter from Zilla's labs. He finds Kamiko tied to a table with Kyokagami Twins inside the room and Zilla watching her through a monitor. The Twins inject Kamiko with compound 61 and she begins to hallucinate. Wang then reveals his presence and the Twins run off to catch him while huge forces of ZillaCorps soldiers attack. Eventually, Wang reaches Kamiko and brings her to Smith. Smith decides to transfer Kamiko's soul into Wang's body until he figures how to heal her body. Lo Wang then retrieves the ingredients needed to make the cure for Smith.
In the meantime, Mamushi Helka tasks Lo Wang with finding the source of black ooze that is spreading in the wildlands. She gives Wang the coordinates to the location of the supposed source. The source for the black ooze turns out to be the Outer Gates with Mezu's armor holding them locked. Wang finds Mezu still guarding the gates as before. Wang is then contacted by Master Smith asking him to go back to the mountain as ZillaCorps have attacked it.
Lo Wang is transported to wildlands and tries to reach Dragon Mountain, encountering huge forces of ZillaCorps. When Wang reaches Smith who was gravely injured during battle, he reveals that he has finished the cure. In his last dying moments, Smith puts his soul in a Soul Well. As Wang goes to administer the cure to Kamiko's body, the body attacks him being now horribly mutated. After a tough fight, the corrupted body escapes. Suddenly, Ameonna contacts him and urges Wang to meet her in Shadow Hills. He meets Gozu guarding the entrance to the temple, which let's him in. When Wang meets Ameonna he asks her to reverse the soul binding, but first must retrieve Kamiko's body and return it to its original form.
In order to perform soul joining ritual Ameonna needs Ancestral Chi, that can be found in a weapon that belonged to Kamiko's father. Kamiko reveals that Mamushi Helka carries around a wakizashi given by her father. With this information, Wang seeks out Mamushi. After a brief talk, Mamushi takes her own life and Wang brings the ceremonial dagger to Ameonna.
Gozu informs Lo Wang that they have located Kamiko's body and marks the last known whereabouts. Wang travels to the top of Devil Mountain, where the body has been feeding on Black Rain and has mutated even more. After a tough fight, the body tries to escape, but is captured by ZillaCorps. Wang then returns to Gozu informing about the situation.
Ameonna reveals that Kamiko's father should be in the vicinity of Outer Gates. Lo Wang travels there and finds Mezu. Mezu reveals to be the Oyabun, leader of the Yakuza and father of Kamiko. He then travels to Mamushi's former office, while Wang returns to Ameonna. Ameonna reveals to have known about Oyabun's identity and was setting everything up so Kamiko would die. She then orders Gozu to kill Wang, but the former evades the attack and must then fight Acolytes. During the fight Gozu and Ameonna escape. He returns to Dragon Mountain and speaks with Mezu. Mezu says that he wanted to use Kamiko to seal back the Outer Gates and Wang reveals that her soul is inside his body. They together form a temporary alliance.
Mezu says that Xing will help them to locate Kamiko's body, but Lo Wang must meet him in person. After Wang reaches Xing, he reveals the story behind the Outer Gates. Eons ago, Ancients raged war with chaos, Eventually, demon armies led by Xing managed to push the chaos into the void. Hoji then constructed a set of gates to keep them out of the Shadow Realm, while Mezu used Ameonna's soul to seal the gates. Unfortunately, they still needed the power that derived from chaos, so they used Ameonna to channel it, through her tears. For centuries, Enra, Mezu and Hoji used the power for their own desires and then isolated her as to protect the flow of energy. Loneliness and sorrow slowly drove Ameonna mad. Enra's and Hoji's deaths were the last straws for her sanity, hence the behavior. Xing then gives the location of Kamiko's body.
With the location of Kamiko's body, Lo Wang breaks into Zilla's HQ. Wang then confronts Zilla, After a tough fight, Wang proves victorious. After defeating him, Ameonna appears. She reveals herself to have used both Lo Wang and Zilla to fight each other, hoping they would both end up dead. She plans to destroy the Outer Gates and destroy the entire world. To accomplish this, Ameonna's sleeper agents in Project Hope, steal Kamiko's body and take it to the gates. Given the circumstances, both men put aside their differences for the time being, with Zilla loaning Wang the Arm of Orochi to put and end to Ameonna's madness.
Lo Wang meets with Mezu, which reveals that Gozu has already transferred Ameonna's soul into Kamiko's body. This caused the body to mutate even more. Wang then faces off Ameonna, knocks her out and uses Smith's antidote on the body. Mezu comes, but before he can extract Ameonna's soul, Lo Wang kills her. Seconds later, Xing and Zilla come to scene. Kamiko decides to seal the Outer Gates open using her living soul and rectify the two worlds. She then flies to the gates, shattering them. Out of the gates, a giant dragon emerges and then swallows Lo Wang.
Game Content
Weapons
Items
- MedKit
- Fortune Cookie
- Gems
- Ammo
- Orbs of Masamune
Skills
Life:
Warrior:
Powers: |
Powers (cont.):
Elemental:
Resource: |
Fightable Enemies
| Animals:
Cyber:
Yakuza: |
Yakuza (cont.):
Demons:
Bosses:
|
Other Characters
Missions
Main story
| Shadow Warrior 2 Missions |
|---|
| All in a Day's Work ⢠My Hero ⢠Hot Blooded ⢠Industrial Espionage ⢠Seepage Problem ⢠Big Trouble in Calamity ⢠Ancestral Ties ⢠Body Shaking ⢠All in the Family ⢠Stop the Ooze ⢠Corporate Shill ⢠Violent Takeover ⢠The Battle of the Gates |
Side missions
| Shadow Warrior 2 Side Missions |
|---|
| Chi-ters ⢠Ninja'd Scrolls ⢠Heisenberg ⢠Stop the Propaganda ⢠One More Thing ⢠The Cookery ⢠Monster Tea Party ⢠Demon Trafficking ⢠Flirty Fishing |
The Way of the Wang Trials
Bounty Hunt Bounties
| Shadow Warrior 2 Bounties |
|---|
| Plague of the Bunny Lords ⢠Chi-Crystals ⢠50 Shades of Shade ⢠Tea Party ⢠Pest Control ⢠Bad Boy ⢠For Whom the Belly Tolls ⢠Power Supply ⢠Faceless Foe ⢠Returning Some Video Tapes ⢠Lost Girls ⢠Danger Zone on Mt. Akuma ⢠Monster Hunter ⢠Missing Yakuza ⢠The Traitors Among Us ⢠Missing in Action ⢠Attack on Yakuza Mansion ⢠A Delicate Subject ⢠Merciless Captain ⢠The Butchers of Onishima ⢠Attack of the Drones ⢠Legendary Box ⢠Toxic Avengers ⢠Infernal Affairs ⢠High Voltage! ⢠Cold Play |
Locations
Expansions
The game has two DLC expansions:
- The Way of the Wang: Announced on December 1st., 2016, and released on December 8, it features seven trials for Wang that unlocks new tools for the Anvil. The trials' final reward is a new weapon, the Fist of Gozu.
- Bounty Hunt: A two-part DLC that adds 27 new side missions accessible from the Bounty Board in the Wang Cave. Part 1 was launched on March 16, 2017, and adds 14 missions, two new weapons and four new Skills, while part 2 was released on August 22, 2017, and adds 13 missions, two new weapons and three new Skills.
Reception
Shadow Warrior 2 received "generally favorable" reviews, and gained a Metacritic score of 78/100, based on 61 critic reviews, for PC, 74/100, based on 8 critic reviews, for PS4, 79/100, based on 9 critic reviews, for Xbox One. Leif Johnson for IGN gave the game a score of 8.6 out of 10, summarizing his review with: "Wang's stupid wisecracks kept me smiling from start to finish, and the variety of melee and ranged combat and the loot that dropped from it was satisfying enough that I came back with friends for more. It's great fun in solo or in co-op, and its small degree of randomization is enough to keep the action fresh for at least a few runs."
Trivia
- Shadow Warrior 2 features the biggest number of different enemies and weapons out of the three games.
- Its the first game in the series to feature co-op mode.
- Its the first game in the series to feature chainsaws as a viable weapon.
- Its the first game in the series to feature nail guns as a viable weapon.
- Its the first game in the series to feature more than one female enemy type.
- Shadow Warrior 2 continues the tradition started in Shadow Warrior (2013) to team Lo Wang with a spiritual sidekick.
- Although this time the sidekick is a female.
- Shadow Warrior 2 is the first installment in the series to not feature both Head and Heart special weapons.
References
Gallery
Promotional
Video
