Shadow Warrior 3: Definitive Edition is a free update coming to the original Shadow Warrior 3. While I have not played any of the other Shadow Warrior titles. Playing through Shadow Warrior 3: Definitive Edition was quite the treat. With its short story that welcomes multiple playthroughs. Unique weapons and enemies, and a plethora of challenges to undertake for meaningful rewards. But how does this version of the game differ from the original that launched last year?
Same Old Story, But with Cool New Challenges
I really enjoyed my time with the story in Shadow Warrior 3. It isn’t trying to be the greatest story ever told and it focuses mainly on its colorful cast of characters. Lo Wang, despite not nailing every joke he makes is actually a pretty endearing character to play while the whole world crumbles under the claws of a giant dragon. Which, slaying a giant dragon was cool enough to keep me engaged all the way through. The game paces its story beats and cutscenes fairly well between the combat and platforming segments.
It felt like playing Doom Eternal, to a degree. As the game shined brightest in its gameplay. The movement was always fluid with a very generous dodge. As well as a grappling that is used to pull yourself to enemies. It is a great time overall, and a short one at that. I finished the story with most of the challenges on offer within 6 hours overall on normal. But that short run time does invite me to play it again to get my “Warrior Rank” up by completing post-game challenges.
Throughout my first playthrough, there are tons of challenges to complete that reward me with upgrade points to spend on Lo Wang and his enemies. Further unlocking meaningful upgrades for the weapons. They are never too challenging and as mentioned before I almost finished every normal challenge before the credits rolled. The warrior rank challenges however will require multiple playthroughs in the new game plus.
As these challenges are very specific and only up my rank but do give me cosmetics for my guns, which is great for bragging rights.
Brand New Survival Arenas in Shadow Warrior 3: Definitive Edition
The main addition to the game coming in the definitive edition is the survival arenas. There are 3 of them that host 15 rounds of fighting enemy hordes. Each arena has three layers to move around in like a normal combat arena in the story. But where it gets interesting is that you only start with the sword and pistol. Then after completing rounds you can choose from three rewards similar to a roguelike. You can either get the missing pieces of your arsenal or a full upgrade to Lo Wang and his weapons.
Even on normal the arenas can be a rough ride. The first round is easy as it only has one wave of enemies. But after that, you start having to face multiple waves of enemies with your limited arsenal until you unlock everything. Then you can start running around pushing enemies off the edge, and partaking in all the gore the combat has to offer. But what do you get from these arenas? Well, aside from high scores to set and beat. You can unlock 3 unique gun skins after finishing the 10th round of each arena.
After that, once you finish the 15th round, you will enter an endless mode where you just fight wave after wave of enemies. Having to scavenge what little health, ammo, and finisher resources you can get to get the highest scores possible. Honestly, to my surprise, in my hours of playing these? These were a genuine joy to play. The gun skins were okay, but nothing to write home about. The endless fun is what will keep feeling like a reward and I hope owners of the original game feel the same.
Overall Thoughts on Shadow Warrior 3: Definitive Edition
Shadow Warrior 3: Definitive Edition is honestly a great package for both short and long-term play. If you want to play the story over and over? You can and it will never feel like a chore. Knocking out challenges always felt satisfying and getting upgrade points was always enticing. The new survival arenas are fantastic and just let the game do what it does best, be a fun shooter, and, to me, the definitive edition achieves that excellently with smooth sailing all throughout. As it runs flawlessly on PC with no crashing, stutters or freezes.
Shadow Warrior 3: Definitive Edition is available now as a free upgrade for existing owners of the original game.
Special thanks to the publisher for the review code. If you would like to read an in-depth review of the original game, we have a review you can read here.