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Shadow Warrior
Shadow Warrior is a bold reimagining of the classic 3D Realms’ shooter from independent developer Flying Wild Hog (Hard Reset) starring the legendary and quick-witted warrior Lo Wang.
What players say
Steam review score and the most-helpful voices, which may include critical ones. Data as of 2026-05-20.
What reviewers agree on
45 of the 90 reviews raise this.
26 of the 90 reviews raise this.
“I came for the swords and stayed for the Wang jokes. Shadow Warrior doesn't reinvent the wheel, but it slices it clean in half with a katana. The combat feels incredibly satisfying once it clicks. You're dicing demons…”
“great game nothing amazing but worth taking a look because the writing is pretty funny 8/10”
“[b]Pros[/b] +Great humor +Good story / music +Visuals are surprisingly good and hold up today +Skills / Weapons / Power upgrades add more to combat +Well-paced gameplay +Many weapons to get [b]Cons[/b] +Awkward power…”
14 of the 90 reviews raise this.
“---{ Graphics }--- ☐ You forget what reality is ☐ Beautiful ☐ Good ☑ Decent ☐ Bad ☐ Don‘t look too long at it ☐ MS-DOS ---{ Gameplay }--- ☐ Very good ☐ Good ☑ It's just gameplay ☐ Mehh ☐ Watch paint dry instead ☐ Just…”
“It has been a long time since I played Shadow Warrior 1, but honestly it still holds up pretty well even today. For an older game, the visuals are decent and the gameplay still feels solid and smooth. It does not feel…”
“[b]Pros[/b] +Great humor +Good story / music +Visuals are surprisingly good and hold up today +Skills / Weapons / Power upgrades add more to combat +Well-paced gameplay +Many weapons to get [b]Cons[/b] +Awkward power…”
4 of the 90 reviews raise this.
“---{ Graphics }--- ☐ You forget what reality is ☐ Beautiful ☐ Good ☑ Decent ☐ Bad ☐ Don‘t look too long at it ☐ MS-DOS ---{ Gameplay }--- ☐ Very good ☐ Good ☑ It's just gameplay ☐ Mehh ☐ Watch paint dry instead ☐ Just…”
“Pues no esta nada mal la verdad, es sin duda un buen reboot, no sabia que esperar de el pero a cumplido, buen arsenal, buena banda sonora, gore, con habilidades interesantes para la katana, buen árbol de habilidades,…”
“[b]Pros[/b] +Great humor +Good story / music +Visuals are surprisingly good and hold up today +Skills / Weapons / Power upgrades add more to combat +Well-paced gameplay +Many weapons to get [b]Cons[/b] +Awkward power…”
4 of the 90 reviews raise this.
“It has been a long time since I played Shadow Warrior 1, but honestly it still holds up pretty well even today. For an older game, the visuals are decent and the gameplay still feels solid and smooth. It does not feel…”
“Pues no esta nada mal la verdad, es sin duda un buen reboot, no sabia que esperar de el pero a cumplido, buen arsenal, buena banda sonora, gore, con habilidades interesantes para la katana, buen árbol de habilidades,…”
“[b]Pros[/b] +Great humor +Good story / music +Visuals are surprisingly good and hold up today +Skills / Weapons / Power upgrades add more to combat +Well-paced gameplay +Many weapons to get [b]Cons[/b] +Awkward power…”
10 of the 90 reviews raise this · 7 of them still recommend the game.
“Fun for a short while, but after that it just becomes tedious and frustrating, in particular because your arsenal doesn't grow nearly as fast as mob sizes do. Instead of keeping combat interesting, SW hides the cool…”
“---{ Graphics }--- ☐ You forget what reality is ☐ Beautiful ☐ Good ☑ Decent ☐ Bad ☐ Don‘t look too long at it ☐ MS-DOS ---{ Gameplay }--- ☐ Very good ☐ Good ☑ It's just gameplay ☐ Mehh ☐ Watch paint dry instead ☐ Just…”
“A decent starting point for the shadow warrior series. Quick ♥♥♥♥ hack and slash with guns action that sadly feels lacking in everyway. It stays at just ok never reaching higher potential.”
5 of the 90 reviews raise this · 3 of them still recommend the game.
“Fun for a short while, but after that it just becomes tedious and frustrating, in particular because your arsenal doesn't grow nearly as fast as mob sizes do. Instead of keeping combat interesting, SW hides the cool…”
“I really tried to enjoy it, but it’s just not very good... Neither of the two main characters is even slightly enjoyable. The story is uninteresting. In two hours and about five levels, I’ve only seen three different…”
“[b]Pros[/b] +Great humor +Good story / music +Visuals are surprisingly good and hold up today +Skills / Weapons / Power upgrades add more to combat +Well-paced gameplay +Many weapons to get [b]Cons[/b] +Awkward power…”
4 of the 90 reviews raise this · 4 of them still recommend the game.
“Rating: ★★★☆☆ (3/5) Painkiller with a dull blade. The whole time I played this, I kept thinking it felt more like Painkiller from 2004 than the original Shadow Warrior from 1997. I found out later the developers are…”
4 of the 90 reviews raise this · 3 of them still recommend the game.
“I really tried to enjoy it, but it’s just not very good... Neither of the two main characters is even slightly enjoyable. The story is uninteresting. In two hours and about five levels, I’ve only seen three different…”
“Pointless story, fun mechanics but not well balanced. Main hero isn't that compelling.”
4 of the 90 reviews raise this · 4 of them still recommend the game.
“Fun single player game if you want a night of just hacking and slashing.”
“Surprisingly fun. Short, dumb, unsophisticated fun, but that still counts.”
“Old good classic - ton of demonic gore, fancy gunns and dirty humor. Only a little bit overextended for last few chapters.”
Counted across 90 English reviews, sampled to match this game's 92.0% positive rating · as of 2026-05-20
“Shadow Warrior is at its best when you’re dashing around the arena, juggling demons with the katana, then switching to a shotgun or SMG to finish the job. The combat feels fast and aggressive, especially once you start mixing in upgrades and actually using the dash instead of…”
— a player, Steam review · 560 hrs played“Compared to today's gaming standards, Shadow Warrior may feel a little lackluster. But if you can see past that you'll be in for one of the most badass experiences in gaming. You're a sarcastic and immature samurai (Lo Wang) with a cool sword, magic powers, and powerful guns who…”
— a player, Steam review · 11 hrs played“one of my video game hot takes is that this Reboot of the shadow warrior franchise much like its predecessor is a 10/10 must play. the combat is very engaging, was extremely unique for 2013 and served as the next evolution in the boomer shooter remake market. I would find it…”
— a player, Steam review · 17 hrs playedPlayer activity
Monthly average concurrent players. Live count fetched 2026-07-11 11:58 UTC · history via SteamCharts.
Achievement stats
Global completion rates across all Steam players — a data view of how far people actually get. Source: Steam official stats · as of 2026-07-25.
Price tracking
US-region pricing (USD), sampled twice daily by our own tracker since 2026-07-11. Steam prices vary by region — always confirm your local price on Steam.
Regional prices at last sample, in local currency — Steam sets each region's price independently.
Cheapest → most expensive, converted to USD at ECB reference rates (2026-07-24). Relative comparison only.
Latest official news
Developer announcements via the Steam news API — links go to the original posts. More across all games on the news hub.
Grab the Shadow Warrior Trilogy at its All Time Low!
Devolver's marketing powerhouse is full of potentially bad ideas. The latest one made us discount the 'Shadow Warrior Trilogy' bundle to its all-time low price for a week. Grab Shadow Warrior, Shadow
Shadow Warrior 3 is Out Now
The Year of the Wang starts now, as Shadow Warrior 3 launches on Steam! Jump in now to see Lo Wang and his former employer turned nemesis turned sidekick Orochi Zilla embarking on an improbable missio
Shadow Warrior 3 Slices, Dices & Makes Katana Fries on March 1st
Hi everyone! Today, we have some exciting news to share with everyone - Shadow Warrior 3 is launching on March 1st (aka less than 4 weeks from now!). In case you prefer to consume your news in a more
Games like Shadow Warrior
From our knowledge graph — ranked by shared traits, not a black box. Each card says why it's here.
Shadow Warrior Classic Redux
88.5% · 2,328 reviews
shares Remake, Ninja, Classic, Dark Humor
Shadow Warrior 2
87.1% · 10,251 reviews
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Serious Sam Classics: Revolution
87.5% · 1,411 reviews
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Bulletstorm: Full Clip Edition
85.8% · 4,200 reviews
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Painkiller Hell & Damnation
70.7% · 1,496 reviews
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Serious Sam HD: The First Encounter
91.0% · 3,094 reviews
shares Remake, Classic, Gore, Old School
Duke Nukem 3D: 20th Anniversary World Tour
79.6% · 3,847 reviews
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DmC: Devil May Cry
90.5% · 10,418 reviews
shares ReBoot, Demons, Hack And Slash, Gore
Screenshots
Official Steam store screenshots — click any shot to enlarge.
Facts & details
From the Steam store record, snapshot 2026-05-20.
| Genres | Action, Adventure |
| Player tags | Action · FPS · Swordplay · Gore · Comedy · First-Person · Hack and Slash · Singleplayer · Shooter · Adventure · Old School · Ninja (SteamSpy community voting) |
| Features | Single-player · Steam Achievements · Full controller support · Steam Trading Cards · Captions available · Steam Cloud · Remote Play on TV · Family Sharing |
| Languages | English * , French, German, Spanish - Spain, Portuguese - Brazil, Russian, Polish, Italian, Hungarian, Japanese, Simplified Chinese * |
| Controller | Full support |
| Achievements | 92 |
| Estimated owners | 2,000,000 – 5,000,000 (SteamSpy) |
| Official site | http://www.shadowwarrior.com |
Minimum system requirements (PC)
Minimum: OS *: Windows XP / Vista / 7 / 8 Processor: 2.4 GHz Dual Core Processor or higher Memory: 2 GB RAM Graphics: ATI Radeon HD 3870/NVIDIA 8800 GT or better DirectX: Version 9.0c Storage: 15 GB available space Additional Notes: An unabashed love of katanas is preferable.