Shadow Man Remastered

Shadow Man is sometimes considered a 3D metroidvania. While the game does not include the role-playing game elements typically characteristic of a metroidvania game, it does follow many of the conventions established by the Metroid series and similar The Legend of Zelda series, such as nonlinear progression and acquiring new powers to directly access new areas and unlock new paths forward.

In 1888, Jack the Ripper – lamenting the fact that his ritualistic murders have not unlocked a mystical power that he believes to exist – prepares to perform the ritual upon himself at the expense of his own life. A man named Legion appears and tells Jack that the power he seeks does exist and offers to share this power with him if Jack constructs an insane asylum for like-minded killers in Deadside – the land of the dead. Proclaiming "for we are many!", Jack commits suicide.

In the present day, Michael LeRoi becomes the current Shadow Man – a lineage of voodoo warriors who protect the world of the living (known as Liveside) from threats crossing over from Deadside – after the voodoo priestess Mama Nettie bonds the Mask of Shadows to him. Nettie has a prophetic dream that Legion is preparing to usher in the Apocalypse by claiming the Dark Souls – the immortal souls of damned warriors – and using them to create an immortal army and send it into Liveside. Nettie reveals that Michael cannot stop the Five, a group of serial killers recruited by Legion, without his powers. The Five, who each have a Dark Soul within them, are hiding in Liveside, where Michael's powers do not work during the day. Michael travels to Deadside with the use of his dead brother's teddy bear, which serves as a link between both worlds.

Acclaim Studios Teesside began by creating the game engine, with no specific concept in mind. Acclaim Entertainment then offered them about eight comic book series to create a game from, and the developers chose Shadow Man.

The game's development budget was more than $6 million. It was announced in 1997 and was originally slated for a late 1998 release on Nintendo 64 and an early 1999 release for Windows, but was delayed to 1999.

The Dreamcast, PC and N64 versions of Shadow Man received favorable reviews, while the PlayStation version received mixed to negative reviews, according to video game review aggregator GameRankings. Alan Lackey of Computer Games Strategy Plus gave the PC version four-and-a-half stars out of five, calling it "an example of how [integration and manipulation of the gamer's emotion] can be done successfully. Shadow Man is graphically rich and emotionally binding. Top it off with an excellent storyline and superb gameplay and you have a game that you must experience to truly appreciate." Edge gave the same PC version eight out of ten, saying: "Shadow Man, near-peerlessly expansive in size and demands on player time, is a child of both eras, comprising the best and worst of each."

Damien Thorpe of AllGame gave the Dreamcast version four stars out of five, saying: "Shadow Man is lengthy and difficult, and can cause you some frustration, but if you're not interested in completing it the first week that you have it, then it can also reward you with hours of enjoyable and challenging gameplay." Likewise, Jason White gave the PlayStation version the same score of four stars, saying: "While this game is very challenging, it's not the kind of challenge that will make you put your foot through the TV. If you're a fan of the horror or comic book genre, Shadow Man is a must have." However, Anthony Baize gave the PC version three-and-a-half stars out of five, calling it "a good game that can get bogged down as any complex game can.