Shadow Fight 2

Shadow Fight 2
Developer(s)	Nekki
Publisher(s)	Nekki
Platform(s)	iOS Android Microsoft Windows Nintendo Switch
Release	May 1, 2014 Nintendo Switch: September 13, 2018[1]
Genre(s)	Fighting
Mode(s)	Single-player, multiplayer

Shadow Fight 2 is a role-playing martial arts fighting game developed by Nekki. The first version of the game was soft launched on October 9, 2013 while the game was later released worldwide on May 1, 2014, on both Android and iOS platforms, and on January 27, 2015 it was released on Windows 8 and 8.1. The game was later ported to the Nintendo Switch as a downloadable Nintendo eShop title on September 13, 2018.^[1]

This installment introduces the game's events with an animated prologue. In this introduction, the narrator (who is the main character) reveals that he was a legendary combatant. On his travels to find a worthy opponent, he came across and opened the Gates of Shadows, releasing the demons and effectively reducing himself to a shadow. He defeats six shadow demons including- Lynx, Hermit, Butcher, Wasp, Widow, Shogun, and Titan, with the seven eternal demons including- Volcano, Megalith, Fungus, Vortex, Fatum, Arkhos and Hoaxen, and with many other warriors including the demon's bodyguards and other fighters in his journey of his shadow life. Continuing the theme of its predecessor, players begin the game as an unarmed silhouette. They are then given simple tutorials which familiarize them with the game.

Plot

In this game's introduction, Shadow (who is the main character) reveals that he was a legendary combatant. He defeated and humiliated everyone he ever faced. On his travels to find a worthy opponent, he came across the Gates of Shadows, a pathway to another world. His arrogance led to the Gates being opened and so, the demons inside were released. They tore his flesh and turned him into a shadow. Now, Shadow is forced to defeat all the demons and take their ancient seals to send them back and lock the Gates again.

After a small tutorial from his Sensei (which teaches the player how to play), Shadow comes across May, a blacksmith who offers to assist them in their journey. Shadow runs into the first demon, Lynx, and his league of assassins known as "The Order". Lynx, like all the other demons, became the ruler of a small town. Shadow defeats all five of Lynx's bodyguards, and then confronts the demon 1 vs 1. After a hard fight, Shadow is victorious and, humiliated, Lynx gives him his seal.

The three (Shadow, May and Sensei) continue the journey towards the Gates, stopping in each of the 5 towns in their way. In every town, Shadow fights one of the demons and their five bodyguards. Like Lynx, after all the bodyguards are defeated, Shadow faces the demon and, when victorious, he takes his seal. Also, after reaching a new town, the player doesn't have to fight the bodyguards immediately. There are different types of games who increase Shadow's strength and give the player money to upgrade their weapons and armor. These games include Survival (where player must survive 10 waves of fighting different ninjas; after a wave, the health doesn't regenerate completely), Tournament (which consists of a total of 24 different matches, where Shadow has to fight different warriors from all around the world) and Challenge (also consists of 24 fights, but each fight has its own set of special rules).

The second demon Shadow faces is Hermit, an old magician who opened his own school of fighting and magic. Despite him using Magic, Shadow wins, takes the seal and continues his journey. The third demon is Butcher, the leader of a juvenile gang who tries to intimidate Shadow. However, like the previous 2 demons, he is defeated and Shadow continues his journey, after taking his seal. The fourth demon is Wasp, the daughter of a pirate king. After Shadow defeats her and takes the seal, he continues and encounters the fifth demon, Widow. She is a very skilled warrior whose special power is that she can make every man fall for her. However, Shadow is immune to her charm and defeats her, taking her seal.

The final demon is Shogun, a skilled samurai who served his master well until his death. Shogun destroyed the town he once ruled and is also the one responsible of guarding the Gates. Shogun proves to be the most difficult demon to defeat, as he can summon his five bodyguard during his 1 vs 1 fight with Shadow. Luckily, Shadow defeats him and takes the final seal. Shadow and May reach the Gates of Shadow, but all the 6 demons are guarding it, to prevent Shadow from releasing Titan as well, their king, whom all of the demons are afraid of. Shadow defeats all the demons and uses the 6 seals collected from them to seal the Gates back. However, Titan captures May. Now, Shadow is forced to open the Gates again and enter the other world to rescue her. Shadow returns to each of the 6 towns and defeats the demons for the third time, in order to learn how to break their seals. After he defeats all the demons and breaks the seals, Shadow finally opens the Gates again and enters the Shadow World, on his own.

There, Shadow encounters new demons, the first one being Shroud, a warrior who was defeated by Titan and became one of his slaves. Shadow is almost defeated by Shroud, but luckily he is saved by Kali who immobilizes Shroud. Kali takes Shadow to a hideout where he meets Cypher, the leader of a small rebellion that tries to fight against Titan. Cypher tells Shadow that Titan is actually an alien conqueror who managed to capture many worlds and now wants his world as well. Shadow meets the other members of the rebellion, who are aliens from the worlds captured by Titan, and defeats them to prove his skills and earn their trust. Shadow also defeats Cypher in a friendly match, who tells him that he might be the one destined to defeat Titan.

Kali takes Shadow to Ancient, a powerful being and the last one of his kind, who used to live here before Titan's arrival. Ancient tests Shadow by sending ghost of former warriors to fight him, and then he battles Shadow himself. Ancient is defeated and agrees might be indeed the hope they need. They are interrupted by Shroud who fights Shadow again. This time however, Shroud is arrested by Cypher's men and taken prisoner to the rebellion's hideout. Ancient uses his powers to disguise Shadow as one of Titan's soldiers and tells him to fight in a Tournament held in the Incubator, the place where Titan makes his soldiers. The winner would become one of Titan's elite troopers, so this would be a good way for Shadow to approach Titan.

After some victories in the Tournament, Shadow is contacted by Cypher who tells him that Shroud has lost his mind and has been tracked by another of Titan's soldiers, the mysterious Justice, who freed Shroud. He took everyone prisoner, forcing Shadow to come to the rebellion's hideout. Shadow defeats Shroud again and discovers that Justice is actually May, completely under Titan's mind control. She is taken prisoner as well, while Shadow goes to face Titan and his bodyguards. After Shadow defeats all the bodyguards (who are evil versions of him from another dimensions), Titan, impressed by Shadow's power and skills, summons May who reveals that she killed everyone in the hideout. Shadow defeats May and frees her from Titan's control. Kali tells May to return to her world, while Shadow faces Titan in a final battle.

Shadow defeats Titan, whose body is totally destroyed. Shadow is caught in the explosion, but manages to return to the Gates and, from there, to his world just in time. Shadow is now a human again, much to May's surprise. He hugs May and the two walk away into the horizon, back to their home. In the final scene, a mysterious shadow is seen slithering away as well.

Gameplay

Shadow Fight 2 is a 2D fighting game in which players must win the majority of 3 matches against computer-controlled opponents.^[2] The game also has RPG elements that let players upgrade their armor, weapons, skills and magic.^[2] The game's characters are entirely silhouettes, but the animations are realistic and physics-based.^[2]

The player earns gold throughout the game that can be used to buy weapons.^[2] It contains 7 different provinces, each with a main boss.^[2]

The player can only play up to 5 fights before their energy must be replenished, which can only be done by waiting, paying real money, or watching a limited number of ads.Their games may come to a series end after which the full game gets completed^[2]

Achievements are a core part of this game. Players are rewarded for completing the story as well as for completion of certain special tasks.

Reception

Jason Parker of CNET rated the game an 8.3/10, calling it one of the best fighting games in the App Store "if you can live with the in-your-face freemium model".^[2]

Rob Rich of Gamezebo rated the game 3.5/5 stars, praising the animations and weapon variety, while criticizing the "imprecise controls" and some combat mechanics.^[3]

Silviu Stahie of Softpedia called the game "probably the best fighting game for Android" and said that it was "easy to learn and master".^[4]

Special Edition

Special Edition is the special paid version of Shadow Fight 2. It was released on August 17, 2017 on Android^[5] and on August 22, 2017 on iOS.^[6] This version rewards players with gems more frequently. In addition, Shadow Fight 2 Special Edition features an exclusive storyline called Old Wounds, which is the story of younger Sensei.

The Nintendo Switch port of Shadow Fight 2, released in 2018, contains the same content as the Special Edition, as well as an exclusive local 2-player fighting mode.^[1]

Prequel

Shadow Fight was a Facebook-based fighting game developed by Nekki. It was released on February 12, 2011. They could play against other players in online battles. Shadow Fight was available on Facebook in English, Russian, German, French, Italian, Portuguese and Turkish.

On August 16, 2017, Nekki announced on their official twitter page that Shadow Fight servers would be permanently shut down on September 29, 2017.^[7]Following this announcement, online transactions in the game were discontinued. Due to requests received from the players, the closing of the game's servers was postponed to the following month. On October 27, 2017, Nekki permanently shut down the Shadow Fight servers.

Sequel

Shadow Fight 3 is a action-RPG fighting game developed by Nekki. It was announced in April 2016 with an expected release in fall that year.^[8]. After extensive beta-testing, the game was released in Canada^[9] on July 17, 2017, in India on October 27, 2017, and later worldwide on November 16, 2017.^[10]

Unlike its predecessors, Shadow Fight 3 does not utilise silhouettes to represent fighters. Instead, they are rendered as life-like three-dimensional characters in a richly animated 3D environment. Players build up a gauge during combat, allowing to temporarily enter 'Shadow Form'. This buffs their attacks and allows them to use powerful moves such as Choke (which releases a fireball that grabs the enemy by the neck and drops them).

Shadow Fight 3 is available in English, German, French, Russian, Chinese (simplified and traditional), Italian, Portuguese, Spanish, Turkish, Japanese, and Korean.

The game takes place years after the events of Shadow Fight 2. Three factions exist; the player starts the game in Legion, which uses mostly European weapons like swords and hammers and has slow but powerful attacks. Later they escape to Dynasty, which has a faster, more acrobatic fighting style and uses weapons from around Asia like Nunchaku and Guandao. The final main faction is Heralds, who have more precise attacks and mostly Japanese weaponry like naginata and katana (of which two variants exist: normal katana and ones used in a manner similar to Iaidō).

References