Shadow Warrior is a 2013 first-person shooter game developed by Flying Wild Hog and published by Devolver Digital.

[1] Levels themselves are divided into chapters, each with Wang progressing through smaller stages to large open battle arenas that have side and hidden areas, occasionally allowing another route.

[5] "Money" is gained by locating it throughout levels and is used to upgrade weaponry such as recoil laser sights, extra barrels and new fire modes.

"Karma" points are gained through how well the player performs in combat, like well-aimed gunshots and katana moves such as head shots and limb removals (indicated briefly in-game) or large deposits hidden within stages.

Finally there are "Ki Crystals" that can also be found hidden in levels that allow Wang to learn new powers that can be used in combat, including shockwave attacks, health and damage properties and stunning or manipulating enemies.

Through the course of the game, Wang comes across "Whisperers": magical golems which contain a memory (in place of a heart) that one of the Ancients, the immortals that rule the demons, chose to sequester away.

Xing was beheaded by Gozu on Enra's orders for his role in the plot, which did not kill him, and Hoji was banished to the mortal realm for his treachery.

Enra brokered a deal with the mortal Zilla to find and assemble the sword, promising a cure for his paraplegia and the assistance of demons to conquer the Earth.

[7] In regards to the new writing style and character redesign, Bartkowicz explained it as "a much more clever sense of humor and wit, rather than relying on the old Duke Nukem or Shadow Warrior tropes, falling back on jokes about women and racial stereotyping," instead being drawn to what they considered to be the "rich setting" of the original game.

[7] The game was first announced in May 2013 with a teaser trailer that showed the new graphics engine with the in-game cinematic following a trail of bodies left by Lo Wang before revealing the character of Hoji.

[8] The game was further shown off at E3 2013 in June, conveying the trademark humor and over-the-top violence, with designer Paweł Kowalewski comparing it to an exploitation film, calling it "so violent it's funny".

Pre-ordering from Steam also gave players the "Zilla Enterprises Z45 katana" in-game weapon and a 75% discount off Hard Reset or another Devolver Digital published game.

It is a crossover with Viscera Cleanup Detail, a Steam Greenlight game developed by RuneStorm where players must clean up blood and body parts left after a violent slaughter aboard a space station.

When commenting on the boss fights, however, VanOrd felt that while they "make for a fearsome presence" visually, he noted the overly straightforward strategy for all of them, causing them to "drag" and become "slogs".

[23] Dan Stapleton of IGN said that the same PC version's excellent fast-paced swordplay and surprising story make Lo Wang's comeback tour a great success.

"[38] Darrell Shayler of The Digital Fix gave the PC version a score of eight out of ten, calling it "an unrepentant love poem for all things 90s and plays out as a greatest hits album of the video games and buddy cop movies from that time.

"[34] Liam Croft later gave the PlayStation 4 version the same 8/10 score, saying, "If you're looking for humour and a bucket load of fun in this busy gaming period, then look no further than Shadow Warrior.

"[35] Paul Goodman of The Escapist gave the PC version three-and-a-half stars out of five, saying, "Shadow Warrior isn't free of some design flaws that can take away from the experience, but as an action game, its combat is solidly put together.

"[36] Roger Hargreaves of Metro gave the PC and PlayStation 4 versions each a score of six out of ten, saying, "For a game obsessed with OTT violence and knob gags this is a surprisingly charming and likeable shooter, if an unavoidably shallow and repetitive one.

"[3][39] On 10 June 2015, publisher Devolver Digital announced Shadow Warrior 2, a sequel to the game, developed by Flying Wild Hog.