Shadow Warrior 3 gameplay trailer reveals Lo Wang's new tricks and sidekick

YouTube YouTube
Watch On

As promised, Shadow Warrior 3 gameplay was revealed today during the Devolver Direct livestream, showcasing the return of Lo Wang, who's got a few new tricks up his sleeve.

The setting and enemies are broadly familiar, although there will clearly be some new forces of evil to combat, including tunnelers and what looks to be a demonic clown attached to an accordion. The trailer also revealed some of our hero's new moves in action, including his grappling hook, wall-running skills, and executions, all additions to the third game in the series.

Unfortunately, the trailer doesn't get into either the story or why Lo Wang was wearing Hoji's mask in earlier teasers. The back-and-forth banter between the two was one of my favorite parts of the Shadow Warrior reboot (Lo Wang makes a great straight man) and I'd love to see more of that in the new game. The voice in the trailer and the Steam listing both indicate that his sidekick this time around is Orochi Zilla, his employer/nemesis from the reboot, but there's no ignoring the presence of that mask, so I remain hopeful. 

Here's what Steam has to say about it, by the way:

"Fallen corporate shogun Lo Wang and his former employer turned nemesis turned sidekick Orochi Zilla embark on an improbable mission to recapture an ancient dragon they unwillingly unleashed from its eternal prison. Armed with a punishing mix of blades and bullets, Lo Wang must traverse uncharted parts of the world to track down the dark beast and push the apocalypse back yet again. All it will take is the mask of a dead god, a dragon's egg, a touch of magic, and enough firepower to hold off the impending cataclysm."

That sure sounds like Shadow Warrior, alright. Shadow Warrior 3 expected to be out sometime in 2021.

Andy Chalk

Andy has been gaming on PCs from the very beginning, starting as a youngster with text adventures and primitive action games on a cassette-based TRS80. From there he graduated to the glory days of Sierra Online adventures and Microprose sims, ran a local BBS, learned how to build PCs, and developed a longstanding love of RPGs, immersive sims, and shooters. He began writing videogame news in 2007 for The Escapist and somehow managed to avoid getting fired until 2014, when he joined the storied ranks of PC Gamer. He covers all aspects of the industry, from new game announcements and patch notes to legal disputes, Twitch beefs, esports, and Henry Cavill. Lots of Henry Cavill.