At PAX East 2024, we had a very busy schedule. Over the last month, we have shared with you our coverage of the event. If you missed any of that coverage, you can find it here. The last meeting we have to share with you is our meeting with GRASSHOPPER MANUFACTURE or more importantly the legendary director, game designer, and writer Suda 51. Earlier in the week, we met with Grasshopper to preview their upcoming remaster of a 2011 game, Shadows of the Damned. With Shadows of the Damned Hella Remastered set to release in 2024, we knew we had to check it out.

As someone who had only seen a playthrough of the game when it was originally released, Shadows of the Damned Hella Remastered remains faithful to the original keeping the story the same while updating the graphics and audio. The demo itself was only fifteen minutes long, so I was only able to get a small taste; however, the demo took place right after Garcia’s girlfriend had been kidnapped and taken to hell. Comparing the old graphics and controls to the original, Shadows of the Damned Hella Remastered, provides players with a smoother and visually rich experience compared to its prior version; this is primarily due to the change from Unreal Engine 3 to Unreal Engine 5.

With only a taste of the full game, the demo managed to satiate our palate and make us crave more. At the moment, there is no official release date for the remaster, but from what we got to experience, it should be better than other modern-day “remasters”. After our hands-on with the demo, we eagerly awaited the chance to interview Suda 51. Below is our interview:

Suda 51 Interview

Matt: Hi, My name is Matt with Nichegamer. Can you introduce yourselves so those who do not know who you are?

Suda51: Hi, My name is Goichi Suda better known as Suda 51. I’m best known for the No More Heroes series also Killer7. Today, we are here specifically for Shadows of the Damned Hella Remastered. First time being back in the United States after multiple years.

However, for myself, I am James Mountain, Community Manager and Organizer for Grasshopper Manufacture.

Reception at PAX

Matt: How has the reception for the game been at PAX East 2024?  

Suda51: So this is the third day of PAX. Unfortunately, I wasn’t able to show up til today. 

James: So he has been leaving everything up to me and the rest of the staff to run things to make sure everything went smoothly. We’ve been giving him reports on how everything is going.

He feels like things have been going well based on what the staff and I have been telling him. The line has not really gotten much shorter the whole time I have been here. People really seem to dig the game. Since he’s got here he’s been having a great time too.

No Lollipop Chainsaw

Matt: Yeah, so far I’ve seen positive feedback for the game as well. Is the team handling anything with the Lolipop Chainsaw Remake?

Jason: No, we have nothing to do with it. Completely unrelated. We found out about the remake when everyone else did. 

Remastering the Game

Matt: How was bringing Shadows of the Damned to the modern era with Shadows of the Damned Hella Remastered?

Suda51: It has been great so far. Coming back to Shadows of the Damned. We have actually wanted to bring it back for a while. We are really happy that we get to bring it onto modern consoles/platforms. People who didn’t get the chance to play it the first time around can play it now.

We’ve been pitching for a long time and this will kind of create a catalog of the games we’ve done the best. This has been a big part of that. Luckily, EA was cooperative. They helped us out with the rights for it. They helped us set it up to bring to other platforms. They’ve been helping us with other stuff too. 

Matt: Is the game more of a remaster or a remake of the original? Were there any issues with bringing the game to the modern era?

Suda51: So it is not a remake, it is a straight-up remaster. Same game, nothing has been taken out but there has been stuff added. As far as new additions, New Game +, and a handful of costumes for Garcia, the main character.

As far as issues with development,  the original was back in 2011 and was done on Unreal 3; now it is being done in Unreal Engine 5. There were a lot of things that popped up.

Unreal 3 didn’t support things in different ways. There was a lot of stuff that was Unreal 3 specific that just doesn’t work with Unreal 5. Following a bunch of algorithms trying to port it into new files.

We are working with Engine Software, a Dutch developer, very closely and they have been helping with the remaster; they have been working super hard. They’ve been helping us. We’ve found lots of issues and stuff pop up. They’ve been kicking ass and have been helping us make it real.

Future Projects

Matt: Is there one game that you would like to remaster and if so, what?

Suda51: There’s a lot of stuff we’d like to remaster. If we had to pick two it would be a game we did way back in the day called Black Knight Sword and another game we were discussing today, Frog Minutes. Those two games, if possible, we’d really like to revisit/remaster.

Inspirations

Matt: So being Japanese, were there any comics, manga, or anime that inspired you? As you know Toriyama recently passed away.

Suda51: There are a lot of works that I’ve been inspired by. Leiji Matsumoto. In fact, I’m just really big into that scene. Go Nagai, Toriyama. They have all had a big impact not only as a game creator but also in my personal life. I’ve been reading Shonen Jump and I take inspiration from a lot of places. I was basically brought up on Manga and Anime. 

Horror Games

Matt: Favorite horror game?

Suda51: For a horror game, I would have to say Fatal Frame. I was originally a fan of the game and that’s how I came to make one myself. It is actually hard to say that I like the game; I actually kind of hate it because it is so scary. Fatal Frame was so scary that it gave me hives all over my face.

Favorite Anime

Matt: Favorite anime franchise?

Suda51: For Anime, I’d have to say IDEON, Space Runaway Ideon. It’s really great it is a legendary one. It has great animation. 

A special thanks to Suda51, Zach Mountain, and Zac Gunnell for the meeting. Shadows of the Damned: Hella Remastered will launch later in 2024 for Windows PC (via Steam and the Microsoft Store), Xbox One, Xbox Series X|S, Switch, PS4, and PS5.