Chasm: The Rift
Chasm: The Rift
Game
Game2013
Shadow Warrior Classic Redux
Developer General Arcade
Shadow Warrior is a first-person shooter video game developed by 3D Realms and published by GT Interactive. The shareware version was released for the PC on May 13, 1997, while the full version was completed on August 25, 1997 and released in stores on September 16, 1997. Shadow Warrior was developed using Ken Silverman's Build engine and improved on 3D Realms' previous Build engine game, Duke Nukem 3D. Mark Adams… From Wikipedia (CC BY-SA 4.0)
187 reactions from 2 sources (Steam reviews, Bluesky) · newest Oct 23, 2026 · last updated Nov 4, 2026 · How this works
Audience score
78
LovedLoved
136 positive · 38 negative
95% range 71–84%
| Source | + | − | = |
|---|---|---|---|
| Steam reviews | 136 | 38 | 0 |
| Bluesky * | 5 | 2 | 6 |
* shown, not counted in the score (label accuracy below our 85% bar or not yet audited).
Steam's own rating
Very Positive
2,085 of 2,359 reviews positive (all languages, per Valve)
What players are saying
80% recommend · 148 yes, 38 no
Counted from the reviewers’ own thumbs up/down on the 186 English Steam reviews we collected, not by the AI. Valve’s all-language rating: Very Positive (3,272 of 3,660 positive).
Players praise Shadow Warrior Classic Redux as a classic boomer shooter with great humor and gameplay. [1][2][3] Some reviewers criticize the port for technical issues like unstable performance and poor mouse controls. [4][5][6] Many recommend playing the free original version with source ports instead of this paid version. [7][4][5]
Liked
Representative posts
- [4]
Do not buy this unless you just want achievements and/or trading cards. This version of the game is unstable, and the mouse movement is jagged. Instead, get the free version off of here, install voidsw by downloading eduke32, download the expansions off of moddb, and then install the widescreen sprites for voidsw. Far better and smoother experience.
- [1]
Graphics pretty. Story straight as Wang's sword. One liners hit harder than Wang after three cups of sake. Sure, game shows its age but old Wang still knows how to handle his weapon. Demons come. Demons die. Wang has good time. Who wants some Wang? 8/10
- [3]
This game's great, it has overall much better level design than Duke, much better gameplay than Blood. There are absolutely a couple areas where I get stuck or confused but it's never too bad or too often. It's absolutely hilarious too, if you like over the top fake Asian accents (flied lice type stuff), you're in for a blast, and we can be friends too because liking that stuff is an important quality in a bro.
- [2]
One of the greats of the Build engine, second only to Blood in my opinion. 9/10
- [7]
Shadow Warrior is a classic and definitely worth your time, but for the best experience, you should play it on Raze instead of this port.
Summarised from 34 of the 202 public posts collected about this game; every point cites the posts behind it ([n] opens the post) and the split is counted from the posts’ own ratings. Updated Oct 12, 2026. How summaries are made
RottenBot@rottenbot · automated account
Players who liked Shadow Warrior Classic Redux talk about hilarious and fun with great one-liners; those who didn't talk about confusing level design with hidden progression. Which matters more to you?
Critics, per Wikipedia
NPD Techworld, a firm that tracked sales the United States, reported 118,500 units sold of Shadow Warrior by December 2002. The shareware version has been downloaded 400,000 times. Reviews from critics are mostly positive and ratings vary from average to positive. Thierry Nguyen of Computer Gaming World commented: "Shadow Warrior is an average action game. While there are some good enhancements to the BUILD engine and some good level design and enemy AI, the rest of the game is mediocre." By contrast, GamePro said that "Shadow Warrior scores high in both style and level design. ... It's enhanced by a high difficulty level, a great audio soundtrack, and ambient music and environments you can…
From the “Reception” section of Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0. Critic context only — not part of the audience score.
Reactions
60 of 187 · most liked firstDo not buy this unless you just want achievements and/or trading cards. This version of the game is unstable, and the mouse movement is jagged. Instead, get the free version off of here, install voidsw by downloading eduke32, download the expansions off of moddb, and then install the widescreen sprites for voidsw. Far better and smoother experience.
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →The Wang is back for more. WHO WANTS SOME? There's also a free version if you want to warm up to Wang first before committing to a purchase. It might be an acquired taste for some.
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →do not play blood before playing this, if your going to play the holy trinity play them from. Duke Nukem,Shadow warrior classic redux and Blood fresh supply, note buy duke 20th world tour then immediately install eduke32. trust me you will thank me
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →The game could’ve been so much better if most of the levels didn’t require you to find a secret in order to progress. On some levels, I’d get stuck and end up having to look up gameplay videos just to find the location of a secret wall, lever, painting, etc. It really kills the pacing after a while.
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →crappy port, get shadow warrior classic (1997) for free on steam, and get the 2 expansions from the internet (its freeware) and load them up in a source port. dont waste your money
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Graphics pretty. Story straight as Wang's sword. One liners hit harder than Wang after three cups of sake. Sure, game shows its age but old Wang still knows how to handle his weapon. Demons come. Demons die. Wang has good time. Who wants some Wang? 8/10
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Shadow Warrior is a classic and definitely worth your time, but for the best experience, you should play it on Raze instead of this port.
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →The worst Build Engine game by far. The most annoying enemies, the most annoying levels, and atrocious audio effects. While playing Duke and Blood I had some fun; this game became a test of my patience.
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Oh boy... This is like one of the worst ways to play Shadow Warrior and just minimally better than DosBox. The controls are awful in general including the crazy deadzones and vertical lock, some of the settings dont actually work and generally it feels like a product with a lack of polish. Sure, maybe some of the things are actually Build Engine problems but nowadays this stuff is easily fixable as games like Ion Fury have shown. So if I were you, I would just grab BuildGDX or VoidSW…
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →80% "where do I go, what do I do?" 20% "shoot enemy" 100% boring Shadow Warrior has not aged well. I played Duke Nukem and Shadow Warrior when they first came out. Duke Nukem had an action hero appeal to it, but was bogged down by puzzles, key hunts, door hunts, and "where do I go, what do I do?" But, with Shadow Warrior, it's like they double-down on all of those cons. This game is a product of it's time, and that means "we're trying to make maps that look more realistic, but are still…
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →One of the greats of the Build engine, second only to Blood in my opinion. 9/10
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →This game was hilarious and absolutely fun. I took so many stupid screen shots.
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →I finished this game years ago and HAD to have it again. With both add on packs (one which is extremely RARE) this game is complete! I've never laughed so hard at a Duke Nukem 3D clone in my life until I played this game. This game directly uses the Duke Nukem 3D engine and this game was the result. You play as Lo Wang whom was wronged by the Zilla Corporation so Wang takes it upon himself to go after Zilla himself. You go from place to place looking for clues to the whereabouts of Zilla but…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Do you remember when we used to rub our little willies to the girl pooping in e1m3
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Even after all those years with lack of interest Shadow Warrior Redux works. Despite its outdated graphics it's entertaining shooter of pureblood genre and bitter humour. It's a blast from the past when developers had balls. https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=3658338623
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Still good despite all those years. Long ago was able to run this one on super old Nokia N82 without much issues. Made on same engine as Duke Nukem 3D. Plenty of weapons, swords and nasty enemies. Levels are really good, it's hard to not enjoy them, also looking for secrets - sometimes nearly impossible to find without a guide. It's gonna be in the top tier of 90s FPS along with Doom, Quake, Nukem.
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →"Shadow Warrior" is a cult classic that has aged pretty well. The game is heavily inspired by 90's action movies like "Big Trouble In Little China". There are a lot of pop culture references to 90's media. The game shares its' engine with other classics like "Duke Nukem 3D" and "Blood". So if you are into these kind of boomer shooters you will probably enjoy it. But be warned: there is a lot of switch hunting and some of the locations of the key cards are hidden better than secret areas. This…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →This game's great, it has overall much better level design than Duke, much better gameplay than Blood. There are absolutely a couple areas where I get stuck or confused but it's never too bad or too often. It's absolutely hilarious too, if you like over the top fake Asian accents (flied lice type stuff), you're in for a blast, and we can be friends too because liking that stuff is an important quality in a bro.
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Even though this might not be the best game of its decade, I'll give respect to the developers for modernizing it for advancing technology rather than abandoning it to time. While it still lacks a proper windowed fullscreen option, it at least honors numerous monitor resolutions which makes it playable here on Steam despite other flaws like clunky mouse movement for aiming your weaponry. Many other older video games, some of which are actually slightly newer than this one in that those released…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Some things better stay in the past and this game is one of them. And I’m not happy to say it because I enjoy a lot of old games. Sadly, this one is mediocre at best. Maybe if you played in your youth and have some nostalgia left it’s fine. But if you’re just looking for some good old-school shooter better play anything else from old or new games Guns are kinda fun but I had to use rocket launcher most of the time because of annoying hitscan enemies that are everywhere. And you want to deal…
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Who wantu some Wang?
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →It may be racist, but don't let that fool you. This is actually a really mediocre game.
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →You can save scum achievements. Need any other recommendation other than being a boomer shooter? ;)
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Shadow Warrior Classic Redux developed by General Arcade and published by Devolver Digital is a modernized edition of the cult classic first-person shooter originally created by 3D Realms in 1997. Designed to bring the chaotic action of the original game to modern systems while preserving its distinctive gameplay and personality, this release offers an updated way for players to experience one of the most eccentric shooters of the 1990s. Rather than reinventing the game with new mechanics or…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →"Pain is for the weak!" ~Lo Wang Shadow Warrior doesn't need a review, not really. It's one of the Build Engine's “Holy Trinity”: Duke Nukem 3D, BLOOD, and Shadow Warrior. While other games are optional (Redneck Rampage and Ion Maiden, which came out much, much later, were cool, but those weren't 100% original products and were based on Duke 3D's code), these three are essentials. You want to dive into the last days of the classic 2.5D FPS fun (that's what Build Engine was all about, fun, not…
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →"Definitive Edition" my a$$. Vsync does something with the mouse look, making it impossible to play with it on, at least comfortably. Crash after crash. In one particular level, the game started to crash after each quick load. Luckily, moving to the next level fixed it. Sadly, in another level the issue reappared. I'm writing this short review just after the hard crash that forced me to restart the computer with the power off button as it was impossible for me to do anything with the black…
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Meh... The controls are a disaster. The mouse jerks around, stutters. You can't look around smoothly. New versions of Duke 3D and Blood showed that it can be done better. But this remake is not well done.
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Having to find secret rooms to make progress is terrible level design.
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →What the hell is this garbage? Shadow Warrior 1&2? Big fan, bro. 100% on both games. But this garbage? I need to force myself to finish it (so that I can criticize this garbage effectively). I understand that this game is older than me and that I have no problems with graphics or gameplay at all. BUT! The level design is a piece of ... Each map was designed to be hilariously complicated. I gotta spend more than 30 minutes on each map walking around just to find stupid buttons, switches, or…
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →The best way to play Duke nukem , wich btw have not only one functional working remaster , shadow Warrior features Lo Wang who is superior to Duke in every way , not only the way of the Wang, The game is first class old shooter with a redicules sence of humor , starting with Wang what is also a Asian pseudonym for , well i think you know if not you will get a clue after you got all related phrases in the games one liners. The Theme is a wide mixture of Asian mostly japanese and chinese…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →This is the first "boomer shooter" I couldn't enjoy, no matter how hard I tried. Positive: It feels like a classic 3D realms game (even some sound effects are straight out of Duke Nukem 3D) and the humor is allright. It's clearly a product of its time. Some jokes and one liners are funny, some are cringe but there is really nothing outstanding here. Also, the Katana weapon is awesome, as well as the double uzis. Negative: Terrible level design. Key- and door-hunting to the max in a (often)…
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →some say duke is better but did duke shoot a nuke out of his rocket launcher? if you're Asian you'll love this if you're not you will still love it second best of the build engine
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →I only recommend this game if you're out of Doom Clones. I just don't think this game does anything of note. The levels are so confusing, the guns are pretty mid. Dual Uzis are about the only thing I really like about the game. The Wanton Destruction expansion had the best level design of the collection, but that's about the only positive thing I can think of. Quake 1, Duke Nukem 3D, Blood: Fresh Supply, and Dusk are all much better Doom Clones. Play those first.
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →You have small penis if you no play Shadow Warrior. Shadow Warrior give you big Wang, guaranteed. BUY NOW TO MAKE ANCESTRY PROUD.
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →I don't think I've played a classic shooter port nearly as bad as this, just use voidsw. Be warned that this is easily the worst of 3DRealms' FPS output.
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Fix your game. It won't load and i've tried all sorts of stuff to get it to work.
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Amazing port of a 1997 DOS game. One of the Build Engine Trio and my personal favorite. The music, gameplay and guns are on point! I even found use in just wasting the shuriken to hit explosives without using up precious ammo. Beat both the original campaign as well as Twin Dragon and Wanton Destruction on the "No Pain No Gain' difficulty and had a blast. I recommend giving a listen to tracks like "Shadow Raver" and "Everybody Off!". Lee Jackson is truly in his element here, and I often found…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Show me that wang
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Premise Shadow Warrior is an action FPS that sees you taking on the role of Lo Wang; a Shadow Warrior who's made it his mission to defend his honor, and take out the now-corrupted Zilla Corporation's leader; his former boss. He'll slice, shoot and blow up anybody who dares to cross his path. Gameplay Shadow Warrior is basically a sidegrade to Duke Nukem 3D. I'd never even heard of it, but was craving more Duke 3D action, and so I decided to give it a go. The two titles run on the same engine,…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Along with Duke Nukem 3D and Blood this "cult classic" supposedly forms the holy trinity of build engine games... ...but unlike the two other aforementioned games, Shadow Warrior just sucks. Yeah, I'm a man of unpopular opinions I guess. I don't think that "The Downward Spiral" is Nine Inch Nails' best album (not even their second best), and I actually like the Star Wars prequels. That's the scope of unpopular opinion we are talking about here. But concerning Shadow Warrior, hear me out.…
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Still holds up. The racial stereotypes are a little dumb, but I don't really care.
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Duke Nukem 3D as been one of my favorite games since I started gaming as a teenager. I struggled to find another game that had a similar sense of atmosphere of running around a big city cleaning up the streets and exploring secret rooms. I discovered this game not too long ago by doing a google search for games like DN3D and now I finally found a game I love more than DN3D. It has more of what I wanted, like big city fighting, secret rooms, awesome weapons, unique & funny dialogue, and smut XD.…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →WHO WANT'S SOME WANG?
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Good game. Somehow, there is no achievements for beating the game at hard difficulty.
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →This game is awesome! Don't let my playtime fool you, i use the buildGDX port for build engine games. This game is an absolute classic that while it has some level design flaws in my opinion is still tons of fun, it's got loads of charm and is incredibly funny as long as you're not easily offended. The gameplay is solid and the artsyle is immaculate, there really isn't much to hate about this game besides some confusing level design. This is one of the titles in the holy trinity of build…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →There are much better sourceports available than this one. When I got it back in 2015, this was a decent way to play the game back then, but it has been overshadowed by BuildGDX and Raze. I wouldn't buy this version, instead I would recommend getting the free Shadow Warrior Classic on Steam and then using the files for either of those sourceports. Shadow Warrior is so fucking good man. It feels great to play and I'd definitely say it's an expert-level FPS game. Be cautious, use your explosives…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Real ninjas play Blood
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →It has a few of the problems I have with classic boom shoots (some levels having cryptic progression and me getting lost, bosses just being circle strafe bullet sponge fights, and random difficulty spikes due to enclosed space mob fights) but it has some of my favorite aesthetics, music and weapons in classic boom shooters. So, good stuff.
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →A classic in its own right, lots of gory fun that I honestly want to see more of in boomer shooters today.
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Retro Shadow warrior. Fun to play for a bit. Hard due to the dated controls. Recommended if you are a retro fan!!!
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →stroking my wang rn
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Shadow Warrior (1997) is very much like Duke Nukem 3D but with added nuclear weapons. It is also one of the Build engine classics. That is enough hints for the decision to play or not. There are multiple versions of Shadow Warrior (1997) on Steam, but this one has achievements and the two expansion packs are included. It is recommended for the extra content alone.
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →One of the finest shooters from the 90's. Fast, difficult (but faIr), funny, and addicting as hell. With this edition, you also get the two expansion packs and the game has been upscaled beautifully. Buy without hesitation! Update: Consider using the Raze source port for the free classic version if you plan to play this seriously. It honestly looks and plays better
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Bro they are really leaving a real remaster for this lying on the ground waiting for someone to pick it up
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Bruh, just bruh. It is so annoying experience to play this game. You have a cool katana and fists, but you don't feel their impact and it's not joyful to use them. You have a big but bulky shotgun that looks cool, but fires with 1-3 shells at minute. Weak double Uzi that waste 1/4 of its magazine on one foe (at best!). And this Remaster is awful and it's always crashing (especially when you're trying to do a fast load). Better play Duke Nukem 3D or Blood: they're longer, playable and cooler…
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →drawn out as HELL + the port kinda sucks and idk rly boring
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →play this and blood if you havent
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →"hee-hee, taste like a chicken"
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Aged like milk. The most confusing level layouts. Duke Nukem 3D is better IMO
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →This might have been somewhat fun back in the days when it was released, but from nowadays perspective there is nothing that makes it worth playing. First two Serious Sam games are better than this, which came out few years after this one was released. Your best bet is to go with the Shadow Warrior from 2013. Not recommended.
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →
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