Shadows of the Damned: Hella Remastered will officially launch for PlayStation 5, Xbox Series, PlayStation 4, Xbox One, Switch, and PC via Steam on October 31, and to celebrate the announcement, Gematsu sat down with Grasshopper Manufacture CEO and game executive director Goichi “Suda 51” Suda to discuss the remaster’s origins, the original game’s inspirations, new features, the potential for a sequel, Grasshopper Manufacture’s next game, and more.
Get the full interview.
Why Shadows of the Damned and why now? Did you know Dragami Games was doing a remastered version of Lollipop Chainsaw and thought, “why not release two of my PlayStation 3-era games as remasters in 2024″?
Goichi Suda, Executive Director: “Shadows of the Damned was our own intellectual property, and we spoke with Electronic Arts about doing a remastered version about seven or eight years ago. But Electronic Arts had the publishing rights at the time, and we were told that if we were to do a remastered version then it would have to be released on Origin. After joining the NetEase Group we spoke with Electronic Arts again, and since the Origin-exclusive thing was no longer an issue they told us we could go ahead and do it however we wanted. We’d been wanting to do the remastered version for a long time, and so now that we were finally able to, we went for it.
“As for the Lollipop Chainsaw remaster, we didn’t know anything about that—we found out about it at the same time everyone else did. We have nothing to do with that.”
Why do you think Shadows of the Damned still stands out today?
Suda: “It’s a game that I made together with Mikami and the staff at Electronic Arts, and we all put lots of passion and work into it. For better or worse, there was a lot of conflict during development, but I feel like that was part of the sort of a chemical reaction from which characters like Paula, etc. were created, and it ended up turning into a really ‘Grasshopper Manufacture-ish’ game.
What inspired your vision of the Underworld as it’s depicted in Shadows of the Damned?
Suda: “The setting of Shadows of the Damned was originally based on a famous South Bohemian town in the Czech Republic called Cesky Krumlov. Some of the development staff—some of the background artists and other art staff—actually went there and took lots of photos for reference material. Some of the environment was also based on Prague in particular, and the Czech Republic in general.
Can you talk a bit about how Shinji Mikami influenced the creative direction of the game, and maybe give us an idea of where the split was in terms of how much was Suda versus how much was Mikami?
Suda: “The creative stuff—the original scenario / story, general vibe, etc.—was all me, and then Mikami came and provided a lot of advice and ideas, and helped tweak and decide on a lot of the finer details as well. Mikami fully acted as director, which made it easier for him, as fortunately he gave me 100 percent of his trust and support.”
What was Mikami’s input this time around?
Suda: “He has been extremely supportive of the entire endeavor around the remaster. It’s a ‘remaster’—not a ‘remake’—so content-wise it’s the same as the original.”
Despite being a remaster, there does appear to be some new features. Can you talk about that?
Suda: “As I mentioned, it’s a remaster of the original game, so the story, gameplay, voices, and music are all the same. But the remastered version also includes a few features we wanted to add originally but were unable to, namely a New Game+ mode and four new costumes for Garcia. The graphics have also been updated for modern consoles, and we added haptic feedback support, and for the PC version we’ve added support for keyboard and mouse controls as well.
Will there be any changes or cut content? Have any character designs or outfits been updated?
Suda: “None of the original content has been cut or censored for the remaster. The character designs are also the same as before, but again there are four new costumes for Garcia: ‘Placa Garcia,’ which is half-naked Garcia showing off his tattoos; ‘Demonio Garcia,’ which is a demonized version of Garcia that also provides doubled attack power; ‘Ocho Corazones,’ which is based on Eight Hearts from No More Heroes: Travis Strikes Again; and finally ‘Kamikaze Garcia,’ which is based on the character Kamikaze Wataru from the Kurayami Dance manga.”
Can you talk a bit about how the game’s graphics and audio are being updated?
Suda: “The graphics have been bumped up to offer 60 frames per second / 4k resolution support (except for the Switch version), and the audio is the same as the original version.”
Is Akira Yamaoka returning for the remaster? Can we expect any new tracks?
Suda: “There are no new tracks included in the remaster.”
What was the biggest challenge in tuning the game for modern audiences?
Suda: “Nothing, really—we kept the content exactly as it was originally, so everything is still in there, warts and all.”
So we can expect the same exact gameplay?
Suda: “Again, gameplay is exactly the same as in the original, so it should feel exactly the same, but prettier.”
With Shadows of the Damned returning, are you thinking about the possibility of more games in the series beyond this remastered release?
Suda: “If the remaster sells well enough, and if it seems like enough people really want it, then some sort of continuation of the series would absolutely be something we would at least consider working on in the future.”
What is your first thought on what a new Shadows of the Damned game might look like?
Suda: “There was actually a sort-of ‘sequel’ to it included as part of No More Heroes: Travis Strikes Again, where we used Eight Hearts / Johnson (who again, appears in game now as new costume). One possibility for a new Shadows of the Damned game could be something like Eight Hearts going on a quest to help Garcia, as a continuation of the Travis Strikes Again storyline; or possibly a prequel, portraying how Garcia came to be a demon hunter.”
Shadows of the Damned: Hella Remastered will be your first new release since being acquired by NetEase Games. Can you talk a bit about what that’s been like? Has there been any discussion or cooperation with other NetEase studios like Nagoshi Studio or Ouka Studio?
Suda: “We’re not really directly connected with any of the other first-party studios in the NetEase Group, so I don’t know much about what they’re doing; we all focus on our own stuff. Some form of collaboration or cooperative project could happen in the future, but we don’t have any plans like hat at the moment. Each of the first-party studios is doing their own thing—at Grasshopper, we’re currently working on our own brand-new intellectual property—and the NetEase publishing team is kind of experimenting, using this as a sort of test case, and Shadows of the Damned: Hella Remastered will act as a jumping off point to see how we do things from here on.”
That one game High On Life also has a talking gun. Do you take credit for giving them that idea?
Suda: “Not at all (laughs). I do think it’s really cool, though.”
So, hell aside, what’s a normal date night for Garcia and Paula look like away?
Suda: “They’d probably be in Tokyo, since it’s so cheap in Japan right now. As for where exactly they’d go, that would be up to them, but maybe a hot springs, since there are a lot of really great ones here in Japan.”
What’s going on with that new game you teased in Grasshopper Direct 2023? Feel free to tell me the title / announce it right here and now.
Suda: “Well, we’re currently developing our all-new intellectual property, and I’m afraid I can’t say anything yet, but we’ll provide updates in the future. Again, I’m sorry for not being able to talk about it just yet, but please be sure to report on it when I’m finally able to!”
Back in 2022, you told us you’d like to collaborate with Marvelous to release No More Heroes 1 and 2 for PlayStation and Xbox. Is that still something that’s on the cards?
Suda: “They’re currently on Switch and Steam—No More Heroes III was originally a Switch exclusive, and the No More Heroes series in general was originally made specifically for Nintendo consoles, but we may put out ports in the future. I’d have to discuss it with Marvelous.”
Intellectual property owner issues aside, what game do you want to remaster next?
Suda: “Flower, Sun, and Rain. It’s an old Grasshopper title, and fans have been asking for it for a long time. We really want to do a remaster this one and put it on Steam, etc., to make sure that it properly survives as part of the Grasshopper Manufacture catalogue. Also, possibly Michigan—maybe someday.”
What game do you want someone else to remaster so you can play it again on modern hardware?
Suda: “Maybe Road Rash. I played it on the 3DO way back in the day, and I’ve heard talk of a possible remake but it doesn’t seem to have gone anywhere. Hopefully EA will make it someday. Also Burnout—the series ended with Burnout Paradise, which I was really sad about. I hope that series get renewed someday, too.”
What do you want to say to our millions* of readers before we sign off? Feel free to promote yourself, your game, the wonderful staff at Grasshopper Manufacture, your dog (do you have a dog?**), your favorite bar, etc.
Suda: “I recently went to see Deadpool & Wolverine on opening day, and it looks like it’s been a big hit everywhere, so I’d like to know what everyone thought about it. Also I love X-Men, so I can’t wait to see what they do next. I was really surprised by the news about Robert Downey, Jr. playing Dr. Doom, and I’m already getting hyped for that. I can’t wait to see how all the pieces fall into place. I’ve been listening to a lot of (Japanese rock band) Zazen Boys recently, so please check them out if you get the chance. They write some really awesome lyrics, so for anyone out there studying Japanese I’d recommend listening to them for practice.”
Thank you so much for your time, Suda!
*Allegedly.
**Suda does not have a dog.