Shadow Warrior 3 is set to be developer Flying Wild Hog's latest adventure in the ongoing saga of Lo Wang, finally releasing to the public on March 1, 2022. Having resurrected the 1997 3D Realms property in 2013 with Shadow Warrior, Flying Wild Hog reimagined just about everything there was to reimagine for the franchise, barring its first-person perspective and emphasis on both ballistic weapons and swordplay.
2016 saw an even bigger divergence with Shadow Warrior 2, which maintained the signature irreverence, humor, and action, framing it with a wildly different gameplay loop that saw elements of loot shooters enter the mix. There were mountains of upgrades to acquire and vibrant environments to revisit, all mingled with a story that was both hilarious and epic in equal measure, providing a new take on what had already been a solid start for Lo Wang's rebirth.
And now Shadow Warrior 3 is set to reinvent the wheel yet again, with a different take on what's come before. Screen Rant had the opportunity to chat with Alek Sajnach, lead writer and narrative designer at Flying Wild Hog, to ask some questions about Shadow Warrior 3's new gameplay and change in direction.
First off, can you give us a quick rundown of who you are and what you do at Flying Wild Hog?
Alek Sajnach: I'm Alek and I'm a lead writer and narrative designer at Flying Wild Hog. I was responsible for deg and writing the story for the third installment of the series.
Have you worked on the prior Shadow Warrior games, or is this your first?
Alek Sajnach: I ed Flying Wild Hog when Shadow Warrior 2 was already in production and did some additional writing for the game. By the time I started working on it, most of the pieces were already in place, but I had a good taste of what the vibe and tone of the game was.
Shadow Warrior is known for its irreverence and humor, which is in a unique style compared to most games out there. How different is it working on a Shadow Warrior story compared to other projects that you’ve worked on in the past?
Alek Sajnach: I feel like the basis of the Shadow Warrior series is its tongue-in-cheek execution of core game elements. The essential aspect of the process of making this game was to simply have fun. The tone and style of the game could accommodate even the wildest designs, so we took that chance and our com for ideas turned out to be pretty simple - it has to be fun and funny. It's been a liberating experience to work on a game that allows for such creative freedom, and of course Lo Wang is a really fun character to write.
The overall vibe of the stories between Shadow Warrior and Shadow Warrior 2 were rather different, even though Lo Wang and the humor of the games stayed pretty similar in tone. How has the storytelling evolved in Shadow Warrior 3 compared to its predecessors?
Alek Sajnach: After talking to our Game Director, we (the narrative team) knew that the game was going to be more linear than the second one. One of our core pillars was to deliver memorable WOW moments, exciting gameplay sequences and well-paced combat encounters intertwined with narrative components. Our main challenge was to create a story setup that's welcoming for both returning and new players. We wanted the story to feed off the previous games but also stand on its own two feet. The same was applied to how we structured and designed Lo Wang's journey. We didn't want to necessarily rewrite the character or change his personality - even though it's a character that's been with us for the past, what? Almost 30 years? We concluded that the best way to approach it is to reveal more layers of the character (like an onion!) through new relations, i.e. teaming up Lo Wang with Zilla. It gave us necessary fuel to explore the character without reiterating Lo Wang completely. Ultimately, Lo Wang develops with the team and I wish for Lo Wang to reveal new colors to both our old and new fans each journey.
Shadow Warrior 2 was a fairly big departure in of gameplay structure, with something that was a bit more open-ended, that played around with sandbox ideas instead of offering a completely linear narrative. For Shadow Warrior 3, what challenges has returning to a more traditional story structure had for you and your team? Or has it proved to be liberating to tell a more straightforward tale?
Alek Sajnach: I think what's been the most beneficial for us when working with a more linear structure of the game is the control of the story dynamic and the emotional response we wanted to get from the players. We really wanted to tell a story that has a lot of heart, that resonates. Of course, it's not going to be a serious HBO-style drama, that's not the tone of the game. But having control over the most important beats of the story has definitely helped us weave a more dynamic and impactful journey. Maybe it's a good place to add that we also switched from first-person cameras in our cutscenes to a more free-roam view, to introduce more physical comedy - Lo Wang's facial expressions and so on - which ultimately helped us create scenes with a heavier emotional punch.
Are there any challenges you experienced in balancing humor with the more serious aspects of the story?
Alek Sajnach: Shadow Warrior's humor helped us design a story that players will care about. Because it's inherently funny, in comparison the dramatic moments seem a little bit more impactful. What's more, the majority of the humor in our game comes from the characters themselves, through their banter and conflict. Being with those characters when they laugh and at their worst makes them more human and relatable - even in a world filled with demons, Chi energy, and giant freaking dragons.
It would be great to get an idea of your process in creating Lo Wang’s latest journey. Was it a case of having major plot points planned in advance, or did you have more gameplay-focused ideas that ended up dictating how the story would work?
Alek Sajnach: Kind of both. There are sequences in the game that have been fully developed by our gameplay team and amazing level designers, while some of them have their origin in little narrative ideas. Of course, Shadow Warrior is a predominantly gameplay-driven game and from a narrative point of view, we are looking for certain hooks, like character reactions or certain emotional dynamics, that will suggest the placement of these sequences or certain changes to further the plot through those sequences or enrich the narrative. So gameplay and story can convey a cohesive message that's way more impactful for the players.
Did the delay of Shadow Warrior 3’s release affect anything related to the narrative, or was all of that pretty set in stone by that point?
Alek Sajnach: We were mostly done with the biggest beats of the story, but the additional time allowed us to polish some of the more systemic elements of the narrative, as well as the cutscenes. With game development there are always things that you can pour more love into, and speaking from experience, as a writer, there's always something within the story to tweak or to enhance until you ultimately don't make things better, but different. But I guess that's the nature of the craft - stories evolve with you and sometimes you just need to force that genie back into its bottle.
Fans undoubtedly can’t help but wonder what the future might hold for Lo Wang after Shadow Warrior 3. Does the team have other stories to tell in that universe, or are there new things you plan to explore?
Alek Sajnach: Let's bag the third one first. Ultimately, I can't say right now if or how fast Lo Wang will make his appearance on the screen once again, but I think I speak for the team when I say that there's still a lot to explore about Lo Wang. I hope it'll happen sooner than later.
Shadow Warrior 3 will release for PC, PS4, and Xbox One platforms on March 1, 2022.