5.8 /10 1 Votes5.8
64% Metacritic | 5/10 GameSpot Initial release date 17 May 2016 Series Shadow of the Beast | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Developer Heavy Spectrum Entertainment Labs Genres Platform game, Action-adventure game Adventure games Shadow of the Beast III, Everybody's Gone to the Rapture, Fat Princess Adventures, The Tomorrow Children, Day of the Tentacle | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Shadow of the Beast is an action-adventure game developed by Heavy Spectrum Entertainment Labs and published by Sony Interactive Entertainment for the PlayStation 4 in 2016. It is a remake and re-imagining of the 1989 game of the same name.
Contents
Gameplay
Gameplay of Shadow of the Beast combines platform and action elements, with the introduction of combos. Players have to defeat enemies. This can be achieved by counter-attacking to strike them down; shield-wielding foes must be ducked behind in order to defeat them. It features a traditional health bar, combos through quick-time events, and traps inside dungeons. The game features the parallax scrolling from the original title, now in 3D.
The original Shadow of the Beast is included in the remake as an unlockable extra. An "infinite lives" mode was added to make the original game easier to play.
Plot
The game follows the story of its original predecessor. Players control Aarbron, who was kidnapped as a child and corrupted through magic into a monstrous warrior-servant; seeking revenge against his master Maletoth who was responsible for Aarbron's corruption into a feral beast form.
Development
Shadow of the Beast was announced during gamescom 2013 for the PlayStation 4. The first trailer was revealed, among with the announcement of Heavy Spectrum Entertainment Labs as developer. Sony showed the first gameplay video during Electronic Entertainment Expo 2015. The release date was originally set as 2 March 2016, but was delayed to 17 May 2016.
The game uses the Unreal Engine 4 as its underlying engine technology, and Audiokinetic Wwise for audio.
Reception
Shadow of the Beast has earned a score of 66% at Metacritic. IGN awarded it a score of 7.6 out of 10, stating: "Bloody, elegant combat and an otherworldly vibe make Shadow of the Beast a successful reboot of the Amiga classic." David Jenkins, writing for Metro's GameCentral, described the game as taking the inspiration from the art and concept of the somewhat flawed original and marrying this with influences from modern action games, such as Bayonetta, to create something greater than its own legacy. GameSpot awarded it a more negative review of 5.0 out of 10, saying "For a remake, it's not a good sign that the best part about the modern Shadow of the Beast is revisiting the game that inspired it."