Regardless of being a beloved recreation studio with greater than 25 years of historical past, scrappy Japanese recreation developer Grasshopper Manufacture has by no means made mega sellers. Founder Suda51 has a knack for area of interest between the likes of The Silver Case and Killer7, and virtually each recreation launched by the studio has reviewed pretty properly and loved cult following. However gross sales have been, properly… from what we are able to inform, Killer is Lifeless is the most effective acting on Steam with an all-time peak of simply 4,255 gamers in accordance with SteamDB. Over a decade in the past now, Grasshopper’s at-the-time CEO Yoshimi Yasuda claimed that Lollipop Chainsaw was the studio’s best-selling recreation ever at 700K items.
However perhaps this time will likely be totally different. Since Grasshopper’s shooter Shadows of the Damned got here out in 2011 and was a infamous flop, video games for us sickos have grow to be extra profitable—or no less than have a a lot better probability of discovering their individuals. That is what Suda51 hopes for Shadows of the Damned: Hella Remastered, out this week.
“For one factor, I feel that there are much more indie video games popping out now than there have been again then,” Suda mentioned in an interview with PC Gamer. “Additionally, to make use of a time period that’s used quite a bit lately, there are much more various video games popping out now, too.”
You want solely take a look at the sheer variety of indie references within the final two No Extra Heroes titles to see how the scene has grown. A recreation about an untitled goose most likely wouldn’t have been a recreation of the 12 months nominee again when Shadows of the Damned first got here out, but it surely’s clear participant tastes have grow to be a bit broader, even when the AAA house feels safer than ever.
“I really feel that weirder, extra non-standard video games really feel rather more pure to gamers these days, permitting for extra various titles to be launched,” Suda mentioned. “I additionally really feel that Shadows of the Damned has a greater probability of being accepted and loved by extra gamers than when it initially got here out.”
I performed Shadows of the Damned at launch, and it is caught with me ever since. Positive, it is a recreation the place there’s about 50 puns about your skeleton gun utilizing the phrase ‘boner’, but it surely’s a trendy motion recreation with cool weapons and a few intelligent ranges nonetheless properly value taking part in greater than a decade later. Let’s hope Suda’s expectations bear out and extra individuals uncover this hidden gem.
