Shadow of the Beast

Shadow of the Beast for PS4 is a gift that fans of the original Amiga game can't miss and offers a perfect mix of action, 2D platforms and puzzle, with Deep combat and fantastic artistic design.

Shadow of the Beast hits many right notes for that old-school difficult feeling, even with infinite lives.

Not all remakes are successful, but Heavy Spectrum’s new take on Shadow of the Beast is a triumph across the board. It has enough nostalgic throwback to draw in fans of the original, but plenty of updates for a new audience.

With its excellent side-scrolling platforming based experience, smooth battle system, intriguing narrative style, excellent graphics and high replay value, Shadow of the Beast is definitely a quality product. The lack of originality and somewhat unresponsive controls will be issues for some, but the well designed experience makes it easy to get past them.

Shadow of the Beast is a genuine tribute to a timeless classic, that manages to capture the original vision of Martin Edmondson, including some flaws here and there (like the disappointing bosses and some dull maps).

It’s one of those rare examples of retro remakes that really capture the essence of the original and manage to modernize it. It’s not without its own share of issues, as it has some inconsistencies in the platform, puzzle, action mix, but nevertheless Shadow of the Beast is a worthy ode to one of the great legends of gaming.

Shadow of the Beast unleashes a beast out for revenge. It offers some puzzles, a lot of platforming and even more disgustingly good hack and slash action. There is a lot of stuff to unlock as well which keeps you busy for hours.

It’s brutal, highly replayable, and one slick combination of old and new ideas into a game that really feels unique, and those types of the titles leave more of an impression on me than any other.

It’s a game filled with some insanely cool creatures, worlds, and enemy designs, along with a soundtrack that absolutely matches that, and some really fun moments.

It surpasses its predecessor by articulating a horrific but heroic myth underneath the clothes of a traditional platformer and beat-'em-up.

A stunning work of imagination that turns the shallow spectacle of the original into a gorgeous-looking action game with real depth and replayability.

Storytelling annoyances aside, it’s a solid and polished game with just the right amount of nostalgia for us oldies.

Shadow of the Beast takes the original Commodore Amiga's platform-combat gameplay and brings it bang up to date with plenty of exploration, and a more sophisticated fighting system. The result is a thoroughly enjoyable platform game that features an interesting story, entertaining combat, and excellent audio-visuals. The main campaign doesn't take too long to beat, but the game packs enough secrets and unlockables to keep you coming back for more.

Shadow of the Beast is a respectful re-imagining of the Amiga classic from 1989. The combat in the game is fun, it has a nice presentation throughout and an interesting narrative design.

Shadow of the Beast is a fine budget game who respect the original one with some interesting variations. The combat system is nice, but repetitive, the visuals are good, and the finale could have been more rewarding, but if your are seeking for nostalgia you're in the right place.

Long after its many blood-soaked dismemberments fade from my memory, I’ll remember just how alien and otherworldly it felt between the fits of violence.

A decent return of a classic, held a little bit back by clunky controls and a weird story structure.

Overall Shadow of the Beast a pretty good platformer with nothing much to hate about it. It’s a good time killer.

After 24 years, Aarbron comes back with detailed graphics, interesting story-telling and an appealing atmosphere. With its new Hack'N slash elements, Shadow of the Beast brings back the feeling of old school side-scrolling platform experience.

Shadow of the Beast was a beautiful game and it still is. This remake returns with the whole aesthetic of the original game, but we've seen better recoveries. So it is not very fresh or surprising.

A surprisingly fun platformer that’ll keep you hooked with its fluid combat and varied boss fights.

Shadow of the Beast is not a real remake but at the same time it's not a modern, stand-alone title. There are lots of archaic mechanisms in place but all in all I had a very good time. This is a very graceful retelling of the Beast story (mostly for older players), unfortunately without much perspectives for a future sequel.

Shadow of the Beast is a nice tribute to the classic Psygnosis game but nothing more. Even though it even has interesting combat mechanics and leaderboards, it feels short and not as deep as other similar contemporary games of the same size and genre.

It’s not perfect, but this is a great example of how reboots should be done.

Shadow of the Beast is a solid revival of an under-appreciated part of gaming history. It's great to see it exposed to a new audience over 20 years later as it provides a brief, yet exciting journey.

An oddly eclectic yet ultimately satisfying side-scrolling action adventure, Shadow of the Beast remains a solid and enjoyable gory brawler though it demands tolerance of its myriad of idiosyncrasies, some of which are far more forgivable than others.

Shadow of the Beast has an interesting combat system and its very replayable, but fails on other proposals like dull platforming, weak bosses and some minor issues related with to control.

This Shadow of the Beast won't have the impact the original had, but we've enjoyed going back to its universe. It's meant to be played focusing on its combat and record system, because otherwise it feels a little bit dull.

Shadow of the Beast is a small and passionate videogame, perfect for nostalgic players, but that doesn't stand out for any particular feature.

We expected more from this tribute. But it will appeal to fans of the original work, albeit with its loose controls and its poor gameplay evolution.

I'm probably being more harsh on this game than it deserves, but for the price point there is an enjoyable title here. You just need to give it time to grow on you. Hopefully gamers out there can look past the flaws that I seem to be hooked on.

Stilted platforming and a short story don't prevent the deep, satisfying combat and multifaceted levels from being worth experiencing more than once. And when you're done, the very first game awaits in all its glory for you to discover – maybe for the first time.

The Shadow of the Beast remake came out spectacular but dull platformer which would be better as a screensaver or a dynamic theme for the PS4. [Issue#210, p.91]

Shadow of the Beast has impressive production values and combat mechanics that improve over the original, but weak platforming and poor design decisions greatly hamper the experience.

Shadow of the Beast is enjoyable. Good ideas and good intentions, but not well-executed.

This reboot of Shadow of the Beast is an honest game which sticks to the recipe that made its original success, but it could have been better with an improved level design, better enigmas and more intrictate patterns fro the bosses.

Shadow of the Beast is a tribute and a modernization of the namesake action game that Psygnosis developed in 1989 on Amiga Computer. It shows some impressive art works, a captivating style, and create an original setting, but the story mode is impressively short and the gameplay is far from being well designed and responsive.

People interested in improving scores in rhythmic fight sequences will have a moment of fun with Shadow of the Beast. Those counting on a story, exploration or character development will be disappointed - there's not much more under the puddle of blood.

Shadow of the Beast is an average arcade brawler that offers a smooth combat system that has a surprising amount of depth to it. With a playtime of around 4hrs to complete, the game relies heavily on whether or not the player wants to trek through the dull levels for a second or third time to discover all the game has to offer.

That the developers really struggled to explore the concept in any meaningful depth is disappointing, but nonetheless, Shadow of the Beast is ultimately worthwhile.

Shadow of the Beast might not be exactly what true fans were expecting, especially with a few strange gameplay and narrative choices, but there's still something here for everyone. It's short, but it's only £11.99 and there's plenty of replayability here - not to mention it's two games for the price of one.

Shadow of the Beast somehow takes fast and brutal action and makes it feel slow and clunky. The game isn't terrible by any means, and even has some very enjoyable visuals, but there's just too many frustrations to make it feel like a fun, cohesive experience.

Shadow of the Beast is enjoyable, its combat smooth and rewarding, but high-score chasing isn't going to keep many players around for long once the credits roll.

I imagine that if you have fond memories of the Amiga game, playing this remade version will feel like checking in on an old friend after a few decades apart. If you don't have that nostalgia, though…let's just say you'll wonder what all the fuss was about.

The new version of Shadow of the Beast tries really hard to honor the original, while adding modern features. The amazing looking world and the interesting fighting system are not enough: the game is too short, the controls are annoying and the focus is on getting a high score is simply too much. Very forgettable.

Unfortunate proof that the classics of old don't always hold up well when dropped into the modern day. [July 2016, p.78]

The best I have to say about this reboot is that the included bonus material centered around the Amiga original is better than the game itself, that shows a lot of potential but gets caught in clumsy controls.

Despite its numerous missteps, it's clear that this is a labour of love for its creators, whose fondness for the original is well know. [Aug 2016, p.118]

Shadow of the Beast has the atmosphere and raw beauty of an alien, hostile world going for it, but other than that the game is simply boring. [07/2016, p.61]

An interesting misfire. [July 2016, p.84]

A reboot for the God Of War generation, but one in which the combat sadly lacks the tight flow and impact required to keep up with Kratos and co. Still, it’s an interesting misfire. [August 2016, p73]

Shadow of the Beast is an action title whose combat simply isn't particularly enjoyable. Throw in some off-putting map design, and you have a game that's a shadow of what it could have been.

For a remake, it's not a good sign that the best part about the modern Shadow of the Beast is revisiting the game that inspired it.

Shadow of the Beast's best moments are to be found in its introduction, which says something about a game that is only a few hours long. The combat system, which starts out strong, turns into a button mashing nightmare, while a confusing story and weirdly designed boss battles cements its standing as a mediocre experience.

Shadow of the beast is a fighting game that evolves around getting high scores. Fighting is not too dynamic, levels aren't so well designed and the pretty cool story gets killed off brutally. There is not much to love about Shadow of the Beast.

In trying to re-invent a classic that was never really any good to begin with, Shadow of the Beast becomes a cautionary tale about how nostalgia is sometimes better left in the past.

This Shadow of the Beast first succeeds in seducing fans of the original game with its art direction and treasures from the past to unlock. But it quickly appears to be clunky and outdated in its mechanics.

Shadow of the Beast is as dull as it is brown, which is to say extremely. The platforming is clunky, the AI is bad, the story requires multiple playthroughs, the game defies its own logic, and it reeks of other laughably awful design decisions. Don't bother with this beast.