Shadows of the Damned already got a sequel and it’s quite bizarre

Shadows of the Damned: Hella Remastered just lately launched on PC and consoles, which let gamers expertise (or re-experience) this bizarre third-person shooter made by Suda51 (The creator of No Extra Heroes, Lollipop Chainsaw and extra) and Shinji Mikami (The “father” of the Resident Evil franchise).

Gamers who might have already crushed the remastered model of this sport might already need extra, so the place’s the sequel to Shadows of the Damned, precisely? The factor is, it already exists inside one other Suda51 sport, as a parody of Shadows of the Damned‘s troubled growth historical past which, of course, has one thing to do with its unique writer: Digital Arts.

Shadows of the Damned followers can check out its sequel in Travis Strikes Once more

The title display screen of Damned: Darkish Knight in Travis Strikes Once more: No Extra Heroes

In case you forgot, Travis Strikes Once more: No Extra Heroes is a 2019 online game by Suda51 that served as a stepping level between No Extra Heroes 2: Determined Wrestle and No Extra Heroes 3, which he finally launched in 2021. In his first journey in over 9 years, sequence’ protagonist Travis Landing forcefully groups up with Badman and will get inside the digital world of the Dying Drive MK-II, a mysterious online game console that may grant them a want in the event that they full each single one of its video games.

So, Travis has to amass completely different sphere cartridges known as “Death Balls” that maintain a completely different fictional online game in them, and the identical character really developed all of them: Dr. Juvenile. In some unspecified time in the future, Travis is on the lookout for the Dying Ball containing Severe Moonlight, an formidable RPG that Juvenile by no means launched. He finally locates the Dying Ball that one of Juvenile’s former colleagues, Damon Riccitiello, took a few years in the previous.

Travis beats Damon up, will get the Dying Ball and when he pops up Severe Moonlight on the Dying Drive MK-II each he and the participant encounter a large shock: an HD cutscene that reveals Garcia Hotspur, the protagonist of Shadows of the Damned, escaping from demons and an unknown character, who finally captures and manages to kill him. In his final moments, he offers all his energy to his comedic gun sidekick, Johnson, who transforms into a bizarre superhero determine named Eight Hearts.

Introducing: Damned: Darkish Knight!

Johnson transforms into Eight Hearts in the opening cutscene of Damned: Darkish Knight

In a single of the most sudden but good moments ever put in a No Extra Heroes sport, gamers discover out that Dr. Juvenile fully scrapped Severe Moonlight as a result of the know-how of the time couldn’t notice a sport of such a massive scope. As a substitute, she determined to make an unofficial sequel to 1 of her favourite video games, Shadows of the Damned, merely titled Damned: Darkish Knight.

Travis and Badman have to finish it as a way to proceed their journey via the Dying Drive MK-II’s catalog. Evidently, Suda51 and his workforce stuffed the total stage with references to the unique Shadows of the Damned, as the characters should discover and battle enemies in places from the sport, whereas the participant reads dialogue that references the many bosses and occasions of Shadows of the Damned. That is an absolute deal with for followers of this third-person shooter, and it proves that Suda51 nonetheless has some appreciation for the venture.

Travis Landing faces towards Eight Hearts in Travis Strikes Once more.

Eight Hearts is the ultimate boss of the Damned: Darkish Knight, and Travis instantly acknowledges him as a result of he’s a massive Shadows of the Damned fan who even performed via the unique sport greater than 3 instances. After Travis kills Eight Hearts, Johnson talks with Garcia once more, goes via a circled portal to the “4th Dimension” and guarantees to save lots of his good friend from that Hell.

Travis ends this thrilling stage with the phrase, “So, Garcia Hotspur is coming back. One more thing to look for”, which appears to have foreshadowed Shadows of the Damned: Hella Remastered, years earlier than Grasshopper Manufacture introduced it.

So, why did Suda51 did all of this?

The unique idea artwork for Kurayami, the sport that finally turned Shadows of the Damned.

For extra context, it’s necessary that we bear in mind the messy growth historical past that Shadows of the Damned went via. This was a three way partnership between Suda51 and Shinji Mikami (Each had beforehand labored collectively on 2005’s Killer7) and their unique idea was merely titled Kurayami. This was going to be a psychological horror sport with little-to-no fight and no weapons in any respect, and with artwork impressed by The Fort, by Franz Kafka.

All this sounded very completely different from what Shadows of the Damned is and it’s because all the things modified when Digital Arts entered the body. At one level, Suda51 and Mikami managed to get in contact with EA as a way to get funding for his or her new venture, as a result of it was way more formidable than something that they had performed earlier than. They pitched the thought to EA and, in response to Mikami in an interview with the YouTube channel Archipel, the executives “lied” after they mentioned they preferred it and the venture started slowly “fading away”.

Digital Arts’ irritating adjustments to Suda and Mikami’s imaginative and prescient

Garcia Hotspur in Shadows of the Damned: Hella Remastered.

It didn’t take lengthy for the higher administration at EA to start interfering with the manufacturing of Kurayami and pressured Suda51 and Mikami to alter issues. In the e-book The Artwork of Grasshopper Manufacture, Suda51 revealed that EA insisted on together with weapons in the sport as a result of “Westerners are about guns”, which pressured them to show it into a third-person shooter. He additionally shared one other story in the identical e-book, detailing how Garcia was initially going to have a small fairy named Paula that got here out of his gun, however EA didn’t like his idea and most popular a basic “damsel in distress” love story, so Suda51 turned Paula in the principal love curiosity in the ultimate sport.

According to Mikami, EA twisted their unique idea round a number of instances, and it resulted in a fully completely different sport that what they initially thought of, since they needed to write the script over and over till EA inexperienced mild it. Not even their principal character was secure, as Suda51 revealed in an interview with Gamespot that he got here up with 3 or 4 completely different concepts for a protagonist till he lastly landed on Garcia Hotspur, who EA apparently preferred.

One thing that almost all followers miss is that neither Suda51 nor Mikami directed Shadows of the Damned, as its principal director was really Massimo Guarini, a western developer who had years of experience working with Ubisoft, so he may extra effectively adjust to EA’s calls for. When EA fully overhauled the venture, it was instantly evident that Suda51 was not having fun with its growth anymore. He turned hesitant to reveal particulars of the sport on interviews and occasions, as IGN noted in not one however two different interviews with the developer.

Shadows of the Damned broke Suda51’s coronary heart

Garcia and Johnson in Shadows of the Damned: Hella Remastered.

When EA and Grasshopper Manufacture lastly launched Shadows of the Damned on June 21, 2011, it acquired typically optimistic opinions, but it surely sadly didn’t promote very nicely in neither North America nor Japan. As for Suda51 and Shinji Mikami, they each have come out and acknowledged how disillusioned they have been by EA’s interference on a number of events.

In an interview with PSX Extreme, Mikami acknowledged, “I think Suda was unable to create the scenario he’d originally had in his head, and he rewrote the scenario several times. I think his heart was broken. He’s such a unique creator, so it seems to me that he was not quite comfortable making this game”. As for Suda himself, in the aforementioned Gamespot video he mentioned: “If I ever happen to work with EA again, I’d really appreciate it if they just… okay’d the first version of the script next time”.

However Suda got his revenge… in an unconventional type

Damon Riccitiello’s transformation at the finish of No Extra Heroes 3.

Let’s return to Travis Strikes Once more: No Extra Heroes for a second. This odd title is not only one other entry in the No Extra Heroes sequence, but it surely’s additionally a deep take a look at Suda51’s profession as sport growth, with references to each his highest highs and his lowest lows. At many factors throughout the sport, it’s quite apparent that he created Dr. Juvenile as a stand-in for himself, and the identical is true for her longtime rival, Damon Riccitiello.

Damon developed Severe Moonlight alongside Juvenile, and he later beat her up as a way to steal the Dying Ball that has Damned: Darkish Knight inside, that’s why Travis has to finally hunt him down. However that’s not all, as a result of Damon would later seem in No Extra Heroes 3 as the principal antagonist of the sport. In the ultimate battle, Travis lastly kills Damon in a bizarre but amusing parody of the Tremendous Smash Bros sequence.

In case you didn’t know, John Riccitiello was the CEO of Digital Arts between 2007 and 2013, which means that he was more than likely round the time Shadows of the Damned entered growth. Now, Suda by no means explicitly acknowledged that Damon is predicated off of him, however the distinctive final identify of Riccitiello, coupled with the villain’s standing as a former sport developer who turned CEO of a gigantic corrupt firm clearly signifies that Damon is a parody of John Riccitiello and that Suda51 was attempting to get even with the CEO that interfered with the growth of one his beloved initiatives.

Regardless of all the things, Suda51 clearly appreciates Shadows of the Damned

The Eight Hearts costume in the official Shadows of the Damned: Hella Remastered web site.

At one level, Suda additionally revealed that No Extra Heroes 3 was initially going to have a whole sequence that may characteristic Shadows of the Damned characters, which might have made the reference to its tumultuous growth much more apparent.

At the finish of the day, Suda51 has clearly made his peace with Shadows of the Damned, and he doubtless holds some stage of appreciation for this tragic venture. That is evident not solely in the references he included in Travis Strikes Once more and No Extra Heroes 3 however, additionally in his energetic participation in the advertising for Shadows of the Damned: Hella Remastered.

Contemplating that Digital Arts has nothing to do with the remaster and that Grasshopper Manufacture is presently listed because it’s sole writer, it appears that evidently EA lastly offered the rights again to Suda and his firm. Enjoyable truth: Grasshoper included Eight Hearts as an alternate costume for Garcia in Hella Remastered, which is a enjoyable nod to 1 of the most bizarre but intelligent issues Suda51 ever did in a sport. Perhaps which means quickly we’ll lastly get to see a full fledged model of Damned: Darkish Knight, however solely time will inform…

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