This third entry in developer Flying Wild Hog’s delightfully gaudy FPS reboot - inspired by 3D Realms’ 1997 shooter Shadow Warrior - once again follows the katana-slicing, gun-toting adventures of protagonist Lo Wang, who this time finds himself traversing Neo-Feudal Japan on a quest to recapture an ancient dragon unleashed from its eternal prison. Shadow Warrior 3 expands on the series’ usual free-running-style acrobatic action with a new grappling hook ability, and also brings some tweaks to the core gun-and-sword-play, as more thoroughly detailed in a new PlayStation Blog post. The gist of it, though, is that, alongside the ability to upgrade their sword, players are now encouraged to mix up their melee and ranged attacks via a new system that sees enemies downed by a katana dropping ranged ammo, while successful ranged kills drop health. Elsewhere, there are some structural tweaks, with Flying Hog previously revealing the game will lean a little more heavily on linear stages, rather than replicating the somewhat divisive open-world structure of part 2, while new execution finishers give players the opportunity to swipe enemy weapons and use them to obliterate nearby foes for a short time. You’ll find plenty examples of these mechanical additions in the new 10-minute gameplay trailer above. And if your appetite (and bloodlust) is sufficiently whetted, there’ll be plenty more where that came from when Shadow Warrior 3 arrives on PC, Xbox, and PlayStation - including PlayStation Now for subscribers - on 1st March.
