The upside of Deadside
Reviewing Nightdive’s fantastic port of 1999’s Shadow Man back in (checks watch) 2021 was a pretty fun experience for me. I missed it back when it was first released, and while I saw it around a whole bunch on N64 rental shelves, I never really sat down to try it. I missed out! It’s not the greatest game, but it’s definitely a memorable one.
As for 2002’s Shadowman: 2econd Coming, I should probably get around to trying that out.
Acclaim wasn’t a particularly good publisher. They’re best remembered for mid arcade ports and often terrible licensed games, but buying Valiant Comics was one of the few things they did that benefited games. It led to games like Turok: Dinosaur Hunter and, of course, Shadow Man. After they went bust because making good decisions wasn’t their strength, Valiant Comics refused to stay down with them. Valiant Entertainment rose from the ashes. Shadow Man was rebooted as Shadowman, but it’s taken this long to get a new game based on the series.
Clinton McCleary from Blowfish Studios, the developer of the upcoming Shadowman: Darque Legacy, agreed to talk to me about the game. Not much is known about it beyond a teaser trailer and some environment shots. To be honest, we still don’t know much, so we’re going to have to let them paint a picture for us.
Strong cues
In the original Shadow Man run of comics, the role of Shadow Man was actually passed through a bunch of characters. In the reboot series that started in 2012, it’s been the same character the whole time: Jack Boniface. I asked if this would be the case for Shadowman: Darque Legacy.
“Yes! In Darque Legacy, we join Jack early on in his journey as Shadowman, while he’s still learning the role and struggling with the responsibilities,” McCleary said. “Although we are slightly altering the timeline, we’re taking strong cues from the Jack Boniface of the 2012 revival. That said, he still has much to learn and won’t have the same level of competency as you see in the comic series. Not yet!”
“While we are drawing heavy inspiration from an existing timeline within the Shadowman IP, we are telling a separate story with its own timeline,” McCleary explains.
Oh! That sounds like a wiz idea. Personally, I haven’t read any of the Shadowman comics… ever. So, there was always a risk that I wouldn’t know what was going on.
“The Shadowman comic released on Free Comic Book Day is a prequel to our narrative,” McCleary says. “But it won’t be required reading to understand the story we’re telling.”
Clean slate
What kind of game will it be? “It will be a narrative-driven, third-person action-horror title with some lite RPG elements,” McCleary tells me. “There will be a heavy emphasis on combat, with challenging boss fights against horrifying creatures from the depths of the Deadside. The game will feature linear but explorable levels, with interesting rewards scattered throughout to encourage player curiosity. We want to ensure players will check every nook and cranny, always on the edge of their seat, never knowing what lies around the next corner.”
Exploration was something that 1999’s Shadow Man had a lot of, as it had a lot of gated progression. I’m personally relieved to hear that Shadowman: Darque Legacy will be drawing from that. 1999 was a long time ago, especially in terms of video games, so it would be easy to discard the successes of those games and just start over. That doesn’t sound like what’s happening here.
“It goes without saying that we’re hugely inspired by the OG Shadowman games. We’re not creating a sequel to those games, but their legacy and atmosphere are legendary,” McCleary said. “Going a little deeper, one of the core elements of our title is very intentional combat that feels rewarding but simple to master. The recent Star Wars Jedi series has been an inspiration here, as well as Bloodborne, with combat that encourages the player to be on the offensive rather than defense. Naughty Dogs’ Uncharted series has also been a source of inspiration for the way players will traverse our environments.”
McCleary goes on to say, “The atmosphere and exploration aspects from the previous titles have been hugely inspirational – but this is a completely clean start. We want to respect the lineage of the Shadowman while doing something new with it. Bringing Shadowman to this generation of hardware gives us the opportunity to do some new and exciting things with the IP.”
Wait and see
There’s still a lot to be proven by Shadowman: Darque Legacy. However, my conversation with Clinton McCleary certainly demonstrates a passion for the project and a reverence for what has come before. That goes a long way.
For now, we’ll just have to see what Blowfish Studios comes up with. As I said back at the hop, 1999’s Shadow Man wasn’t a great game, but it had a lot going for it. You don’t have to be exceptional to have value, and Shadow Man was a unique title. If Shadowman: Dark Legacy can tap into what made it great, polish some of the rough edges, and maybe prop up those bones, it could actually be great.
