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Shadows of the Damned: Hella Remastered sends you back to the underworld on PC, Switch, Xbox and PlayStation

Who says you can’t go back to the underworld again? Garcia Hotspur’s girlfriend Paula has been kidnapped by Flemming, the Lord of the Underworld and he will travel to the City of the Damned to rescue her. Originally released in 2011, Shadows of the Damned was a title published by EA and was created by a collaboration of Suda51 and Shinji Mikami. Suda’s Grasshopper Manufacture eventually purchased the rights to the title back from EA and sought to make the title available for modern platforms.

Shadows of the Damned: Hella Remastered (see our review here!) upgrades to the visuals, adds new costumes, modernized controls and a new game plus mode. To celebrate the launch of the title Grasshopper Manufacture shared comments from Executive Director, Goichi “Suda51” Suda, and Creative Producer, Shinji Mikami and Boss Character Designer Q Hayashida. Their comments are embedded below.

Shadows of the Damned: Hella Remastered Official Launch Trailer/『シャドウ・オブ・ザ・ダムド：ヘラ・リマスタード』公式ローンチトレーラー

Executive Director, Goichi “Suda51” Suda

・Feelings regarding the upcoming remastered release of 2011’s Shadows of the Damned:
The project started in 2008, and Shadows of the Damned was finally released in 2011. This game was like my own personal road movie together with Shinji Mikami, and our days of fighting with EA from the time they first got onboard after our presentation all the way up to the game’s release were all a part of the story which helped make Damned an awesome work of art. This “super-punk-action-horror game”, which only could have been made at that specific time and in that specific moment, was unfortunately not promoted as much as we would have liked it to be at the time, so not many people were even really aware of it. But now we are finally able to bring this title to gamers all over the world once again in its remastered form, which is a project that I had been wanting to take on for a long time. This is an extremely precious title to me, produced by Mikami himself, and I can still remember all the emotions I felt back in 2011, when I was still young and the Tohoku Earthquake and Tsunami had just happened during development. I still have many have memories of this project – and of course of the team as well – of all of us working on it amidst a deep sadness, and also of the painful experience of having many of our overseas staff having to return to their home countries. However, everyone managed to keep working on the game in such a lively and cheerful way, and I think the game itself had this sort of energy to it that it helped wash away the dark atmosphere of the time. I think it’s the sort of game that has something for everyone, and you’re bound to find something that really hits you, so I hope as many people as possible will play it this time around. Back then, I was really into the manga known as Crows and Worst, and I was especially inspired and stimulated by the stuff regarding the gang called “The Front of Armament”. The leather riders jacket worn by Garcia was of course inspired by “TFOA”, and then there’s the wallet chain he wears – which I also used to wear back then, too. This was of course also inspired by “TFOA”. If you’re a fan of Crows or Worst, then there’s definitely going to be something for you in this game. For all those of you outside of Japan, please be sure to check out the Japanese street punk manga masterpieces that are Crows and Worst. I’m personally rereading them myself right now. I’m currently rereading the part where the Kennan stuff happens, right around when Kouhei Jinnai appears. Right now, I’m in the middle of my own personal hardcore Crows and Worst boom, just like I was back when we were developing Shadows of the Damned. I want to share the awesomeness and excitement of Shadows of the Damned: Hella Remastered with all of you out there. Also, let’s all read Crows and Worst together, too. Thank you very much.

・Comment for fans looking forward to the release of Shadows of the Damned: Hella Remastered:
Bringing back a game from all the way back in 2011 now, in this day and age, in the year 2024, in the form of a remaster, my first and foremost feelings about it are that it somehow doesn’t actually feel like an “old game” at all. There are so many moments where it truly feels like it was made recently, and even we, having made the game ourselves, can feel the sort of power it has – the kind of power that just blows things away, things like the dark, depressing atmosphere of the time in which it was originally made, which I believe came from the sheer amount of passion that we put into its development. Please get your hands on this truly one-of-a-kind, “super-punk-action-horror game”. Please play the hell out of it. You can even just watch someone streaming it if you like. But if possible, please buy it. It’s pretty cheap. Get it on those Store pages now!

Creative Producer,Shinji Mikami

・Feelings regarding the upcoming remastered release of 2011’s Shadows of the Damned:
This is a work that remains unaffected by the changes of time, so if you haven’t played it yet, don’t miss this opportunity! I especially recommend it for fans of Suda and Grasshopper.

・Comment for fans looking forward to the release of Shadows of the Damned: Hella Remastered:
I believe that many fans who played the game in the past have experienced changes in their sense of gaming over time. If you play it again after 13 years with that same sense, you might find it feels surprisingly fresh!

Q Hayashida

Congratulations on the release of Shadow of the Damned: Hella Remastered!
This was my first time working on character design for a game, and designing four boss characters made it an incredibly enjoyable job. I had received the images and scripts for the bosses from Suda, but I remember submitting rough sketches just as I pleased, thinking they might not be accepted. I was so happy when Suda kindly gave me the green light for those drawings!
Moreover, this job was the reason I started playing Western games, which has been a huge plus for my work as well. I’m really looking forward to playing Damned with the remastered visuals!