Shank is a bonkers 2D brawler in which you play as tough guy Shank, shanking up your enemies with shanks to save your girlfriend from the clutches of obese wrestler, the Butcher. The whole thing is beautifully drawn and animated, and if you like killing things with shanks, or chainsaws, or shotguns, then this might be just the game you're looking for. There's a demo out on Steam now.
It's not all about the shanking, you've also got a chainsaw, and a couple of pistols. Each one maps neatly to the face of a control pad, and can be used together to create devastating combinations. Grapple attacks, diving shank attacks and grenades round out your armoury as you take on the endless stream of thugs determined to stop you making any more progress rightwards. The full game also has a separate co-op campaign mode too for some old fashioned Streets of Rage-style action.
The demo is available right now on, check it out on Steam . If you're still not sure it's worth a download, there's some footage below of the madness in motion.
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Part of the UK team, Tom was with PC Gamer at the very beginning of the website's launch—first as a news writer, and then as online editor until his departure in 2020. His specialties are strategy games, action RPGs, hack ‘n slash games, digital card games… basically anything that he can fit on a hard drive. His final boss form is Deckard Cain.
