If you were a fan of the original, can confirm - they didn't mess it up. It's exactly what a remaster should be, with enhanced visuals that don't change the style of the original, and the option to use the old muddy textures but with superior lighting. Additionally, the controls (on gamepad at least) are far smoother and more intuitive than they were before, and Shadow Man feels as agile and nimble as he was always clearly meant to be, strafing around enemies and rolling out of danger (he now auto-locks targets, instead of only locking targets when strafing). Various old grievances have been adjusted - the shadow gun is no longer annoyingly loud, and the menus no longer spam that stone noise. So if you're a fan? Yes, get it. Right now. There are some minor issues (the occasional loading/streaming hitch, I think perhaps tied to music cues), and the game froze once for me last night after a 2 hour session... but that'll be patched I'm sure. If you've never played Shadow Man before, here's a summary: Imagine Ocarina of Time meets Dark Souls, with huge interconnected levels, a general sense of persistence in the world, lots of platforming, some environmental puzzling, and some merciless enemies. The soundtrack is eerie, the environments are surreal, varied and imaginative, the story is compelling, and you'll feel like you're on one big dungeon crawl, one massive journey, with every turn either bringing you something new and unexpected... or something familiar that makes you realise you've just unlocked a shortcut. Over the course of the game, you'll explore a grim land of the dead occupied by deranged zombie creatures, a massive gothic tower full of lunatics and nightmarish industrial facilities... and then you'll swap over to the real world, and explore an abandoned tenement building, the London underground, and a maximum security prison full of headless bodies re-animated by dark magic. It's full of action, wonder and sheer horror, with some moments of dark comedy.
[Copied and pasted from my Steam review] This is... a very strange game. And one you really should play, if only to say "I was there, I saw it. I have no idea what the hell it was about". It's profound, has the most original gameplay I've seen in years, is hard as nails, genuinely creepy, and beautiful in an often dark, morbid sort of way. The game's underlying rules are simple and yet incredibly challenging; your health is your ammunition, and if you run out... game over. To gain more, you must produce it. To produce it, you must spend it. You're only ever a moment of reckless consumption from death, and yet as the game progresses, you are forced to make greater and greater sacrifices. The level design is incredibly artistic, and the sound effects and music are truly haunting. Also, there are many boobs. Breasts all over the place. I'm not sure if this is a good thing or a bad thing, but there it is.
