Shadow Of The Beast: Indie dev brings a forgotten classic back for PS4

Shadow Of The Beast, the tough-as-leather Amiga side-scroller last seen in its second sequel in 1992, is getting a PS4 reboot. The Heavy Spectrum-developed title is a side-on, ultra-violent mix of ’80s era platforming and score-based bloodletting. So kind of like what would happen if Abe’s Oddysee and GOW had a gorgeous, but horribly ferocious, child. Oh, and we’ve played it!

Tearing up the scarred landscapes of Karamoon or rather, the squishy bits of the various creatures that inhabit it is smooth and satisfying stuff. There seems to be an awful lot of depth hidden behind the two main attacking buttons Square for a guard-breaking swipe and Triangle for a meatier, more painful-looking, heavy strike. It feels especially rewarding when you’re faced with waves of foes approaching from either side and you can mow through them one-by-one like they were unfortunate extras in a 300 movie.

“Like what would happen if abe’s oddysee and GOW had a horribly ferocious child”

Savage gaiden
The enemies we came across were varied enough to keep things interesting, too, from shielded foes requiring timed blocks and baited attacks, to fast-moving blighters who are especially fun to pluck out of the air and eviscerate with malice.

But when it comes to moving about outside of a fight things get a bit hairy, as your protagonist Aarbron stomps about with little grace and can feel a bit clunky. But hey, this is a very early alpha version we’re talking about here. We expect the team at Heavy Spectrum, including the almost oppressively passionate Matt Birch who’s heading the project, to work a few more wonders yet, besides bringing back this forgotten classic at all.