The game is the result of a collaboration between Goichi Suda and Shinji Mikami, and the combined styles of the two designers, namely the "punk rock"[b] edge of the former and the "psychological action thriller" of the latter.

Another human demon hunter, who simply goes by the name "Colonel", temporarily aids Garcia, but then leaves to get revenge on the death of his loved one, only to be brutally killed later.

Impressed with her refusal to surrender even when reduced to a quad amputee, Fleming made the Huntress into his queen, only to repeatedly kill her over and over again, healing any wounds that resulted from the torture.

Health is restored by imbibing alcohol that can be found in the game's levels, or purchasable from Christopher or vending machines using white gems, the form of currency in the demon world.

[6] Despite his team's prior experience of joint ventures with other companies, Suda sought to advance Grasshopper's financial success by the creation of internally produced games.

[6] After Grasshopper committed to the game's development, Suda invited Mikami, who by then had departed from Capcom and established himself as an independent designer, to participate as producer.

[5][7] Kurayami originated from Suda's fascination with the works of Franz Kafka,[6] specifically The Castle, whose narrative setting he hoped to recreate within the video game medium.

[8] In Suda's intended storyline for the game, the protagonist explored during nighttime a fantastical town surmounted by a large castle, which served as the point of destination for the player's journey.

Although many hostile creatures populated the mostly unlit areas of the game's world, the player character wielded a torch which allowed him to illuminate and traverse those environments.

Sources of danger for the game's protagonist extended beyond the enemy beings, as Suda wanted to enable interaction between the player and the town's ordinary residents from which confrontations could arise.

[6] He credited this necessity as the impetus for his decision to develop the game for the PlayStation 3, as the platform's processing power aligned with Suda's expectations for the technology suited to deliver his envisioned visual technique.

[6] Suda pushed Grasshopper Manufacture to reinvent its accrued design practices from Killer7 for the creation of Kurayami in order to provide players with an innovative interactive experience; at the same time, he sought to carry over his established directorial style into the game.

[6] Comparing the game to Killer7, Suda remarked that Kurayami employed an increased degree of player control over the protagonist and a greater focus on action-based sequences, features which he believed to be evidence of the gameplay's variability.

[6] Whereas Suda mentioned that he had considered the idea for Kurayami extensively before the game's unveiling, at the time that the title was publicly revealed by Edge in May 2006, the development was in its earliest phase.

[11] In 2009, Suda revealed that his team did not work on the game over the preceding years due to their dense overall workload, and that the project's only assets comprised the designer's conceptual artwork that he showcased to Edge.

This forced Suda to completely scrap all of his initial ideas, with Johnson replacing Paula's role and the game becoming akin to a fairy tale, like Lupin the Third: The Castle of Cagliostro or Princess Peach and Mario.

"[22] GameSpot praised the game's sound design, challenging and terrifying bosses, varied gameplay, and clever use of darkness, but criticized the lack of a new game+ function as well as the stiff animation.

GameZone said, "To a much simpler degree, Shadows of the Damned is an amazing experience that anyone with a sense of humor and an affinity for rich games should get their hands on ASAP.

"[30] 1Up.com gave the game a C+ and concluded that the "Creative story, presentation, and wonderful music provide the saving grace in doses, but almost all of your gameplay encounters can be summed up as average at best.

"[41] The Guardian gave it four stars out of five and said, "It's true that, at times, it feels a bit disjointed, the dialogue is occasionally annoyingly clunky and given that it has no online element, you could argue that it's hopelessly old-fashioned.

"[43] Digital Spy gave the same console version three stars out of five and said it was "not as scary as the likes of Silent Hill or Resident Evil, not as funny as No More Heroes and not as original as Killer7, leaving it stuck in video game limbo.

"[44] The Escapist gave it a similar score of three stars out of five, saying that the game's "slick visuals and offbeat sensibility is worth checking out, despite its ordinary gameplay.

"[38] Edge gave the same console version a score of five out of ten, saying, "With a little more restraint and focus on the core experience, Shadows Of The Damned could have been the action thrill ride Garcia Hotspur thinks it is.

Additionally, a villain named Alfred uses the second abandoned design for Garcia, and the female lead of Kurayami Dance also appears in a visual novel segment of the game.