Screenshots & trailers
What players say
Why the number is what it is: aspect mentions counted across 298 sampled Steam reviews (247 positive / 51 negative), recent and most-helpful. Plain keyword counting, fully reproducible; nothing here is written by a machine.
What positive reviews talk about
- Story & writing22% mention it
- Combat19% mention it
- Progression & loot14% mention it
- Multiplayer & servers11% mention it
- Grind & repetition9% mention it
What negative reviews complain about
- Story & writing35% mention it
- Combat29% mention it
- Progression & loot22% mention it
- Grind & repetition16% mention it
- Performance16% mention it
Satisfaction by hours played
Same score, different games: see how sentiment holds up the longer people play.
Under 5h
64%
61 reviews
5-15h
88%
89 reviews
15-40h
85%
103 reviews
40-100h
93%
42 reviews
Review sentiment over time
Weekly positive-review rate (green) and review volume (bars). Dashed lines mark significant patches; the amber line is the start of the current scoring window. Hover the dots to see what drove a dip or a jump.
How this score was computed
The VGC Score is a weighted blend on a press-comparable 0-100 quality scale. Steam approval rates are first calibrated (95% positive on Steam ≈ 89.5 quality, since Steam approval skews high). Press and tracked creator reviews each count ~2x a player review and share one cap against player evidence (creator buy/skip calls pool into an approval rate, calibrated like Steam approval); all-time sentiment is capped and halved (it's context, not verdict); reviews of the current build carry the most weight when a fresh patch anchors the window; and a 'typical game' prior keeps small samples from pegging the scale. Because press reviews and Metacritic user aggregates describe the launch build, their weight decays as the game ages (3-year half-life after a 1-year grace). That's how a game that launched rough can outgrow its old reception once updates win players over. Reviews under 2h playtime (the refund window), non-Steam activations, and free copies are downweighted.
| Component | Positive | Quality (0-100) | Weight (pseudo-reviews) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Press reviews (OpenCritic) | – | 77 | 24 |
| Creator reviews (3 tracked) | – | 88 | 1 |
| All-time Steam reviews | 87% | 81 | 1000 |
| Metacritic user ratings | – | 82 | 43 |
| Post-patch Steam reviews (trust-weighted) | 84% | 78 | 22 |
| Calibration prior (typical game) | – | 72 | 50 |
Scoring window: last 30 days (no significant patch detected) · 62 reviews sampled · 51 total reviews in window · weighted 34.8 up / 6.6 down · computed 1h ago · full methodology →
Press & Creators reviews (101)
Individual verdicts from outlets we track: scored reviews first, most trusted outlets first among them. The small badge is each outlet's trust score: how well its scoring history aligns with players.
- 60
“Beautiful cover hides a boring lacking interesting ideas dummy. Maybe for the next game Flying Wild Hog will take into account and fix the numerous plot flaws, and we get more than a fancy benchmark or the ten minute time killer after a hard day.”
read full review ↗ - 90
“Solid gunplay, great weapon variety and completely over the top story puts Shadow Warrior 2 as one of 2016 best shooters.”
read full review ↗ - 80
“A sequel that improves upon nearly everything, providing tremendous amounts of fun for a not so tremendous price. ”
read full review ↗ - 85
“Flying Wild Hog's new game has some stuff that could have been done better but the amount of good things is simply overwhelming. Shadow Warrior 2 embodies visceral combat, RPG elements, pretty graphics and humor. This is a worthy entry to the "really cool shooter" category and can boldly stand right next to Doom. Hopefully we'll get Shadow Warrior 3 sooner than later.”
read full review ↗ - 85
“For all my complaints about the mission structure and repetitive semi-randomised maps, I never once stopped playing thanks to excellent gunplay, and fun upgrade system, and just enough narrative to keep me interested. It is always difficult for developers to create decent narrative in these games and the story in Shadow Warrior 2 seems more ambitious than the game can effectively convey.”
read full review ↗ - 95
“Shadow Warrior 2 is an excellent follow up to Flying Wild Hog's 2013 reboot. Lo Wang's latest adventure is bigger, meaner and bolder, letting players embark on the ultimate power trip as they shoot, loot and slice their way through demonic armies.”
read full review ↗ - 70
“Shadow Warrior 2's excellent combat mechanics cleave through its weak story and over-abundance of iffy loot. The result is a title that's incredibly satisfying to play, almost in spite of the surrounding flaws.”
read full review ↗ - 70
“Whenever I wasn't killing things I was bored out of my mind, as Shadow Warrior 2 offers no reason to explore or do anything but follow the objective marker through all-over-the-place levels. It's just fun enough to hit a 7, but could and should've been so much more and any fans of the first game planning on playing it single player will be hugely disappointed.”
read full review ↗ - 80
“Even with these issues Shadow Warrior 2 is still incredibly fun and endlessly entertaining. Add in the fact that it supports 4-player co-op online and it is a no-brainer. The console versions turned out well, just not as good as they should have been. For those without massive gaming PCs though it is not really an issue. This is a technically sound port of an incredibly great game. Don't miss it.”
read full review ↗ - 90
“Shadow Warrior 2 is amazing. The shift from linear to semi-open-world shooter hasn't hurt the game since the action remains constant and adheres to the classic shooter style over the more modern one. The multitude of new weapons gives the game some variety, even when taking artifacts into account, and the solid combat ties everything together into a very enjoyable package, whether you're going solo or cooperatively. It ranks up there with Doom as one of the best pure shooters of the year and one of the best timed exclusives on the PC in this genre.”
read full review ↗ - 75
“Shadow Warrior's surprising new direction makes the sequel a riotous blast, though it can't quite live up to its predecessor.”
read full review ↗ - 80
“Shadow Warrior 2's unfunny story gets in the way of an otherwise great game.”
read full review ↗
GameMAG
Hu3br
PLAY Zine
GRYOnline.pl
Nexus Hub
Gaming on PC
PC Invasion
GameWatcher
ZTGD
Worth Playing
Eurogamer
GameSpot…and 89 more tracked reviews.
Patch history
- Shadow Warrior 2 x PAYDAY 2 CrossoverJan 31, 2017significant · resets scoring window
- Shadow Warrior 2 x PAYDAY 2 CrossoverJan 31, 2017significant · resets scoring window
- Shadow Warrior 2 Holiday Event + Patch 1.1.7.0Dec 21, 2016
- Shadow Warrior 2 Holiday Event + Patch 1.1.7.0Dec 21, 2016
- Shadow Warrior 2 'The Way of the Wang' DLC + Patch 1.1.6.0Dec 8, 2016significant · resets scoring window
- Shadow Warrior 2 'The Way of the Wang' DLC + Patch 1.1.6.0Dec 8, 2016significant · resets scoring window
- Shadow Warrior 2 patch 1.1.5.0Nov 9, 2016significant · resets scoring window
- Shadow Warrior 2 patch 1.1.5.0Nov 9, 2016significant · resets scoring window
- Shadow Warrior Patch 1.1.4.0Oct 26, 2016significant · resets scoring window
- Shadow Warrior Patch 1.1.4.0Oct 26, 2016significant · resets scoring window
- Patch 1.1.3.0 Is Live!Oct 22, 2016significant · resets scoring window
- Patch 1.1.3.0 Is Live!Oct 22, 2016significant · resets scoring window
- Upcoming Patch 1.1.3.0 ETAOct 18, 2016
- Upcoming Patch 1.1.3.0 ETAOct 18, 2016
- Patch 1.1.1.0 is live!Oct 15, 2016
- Patch 1.1.1.0 is live!Oct 15, 2016significant · resets scoring window