Shadow Warrior - Gameplay

Gameplay

Shadow Warrior is a first-person shooter similar to Duke Nukem 3D as both use the Build engine. Players navigate the protagonist, Lo Wang, through three-dimensional environments or "levels". Throughout levels are enemies that attack Lo Wang, these are killed by the player using weapons such as a katana. Shadow Warrior also features puzzles that must be solved to progress in a level.

Lo Wang's arsenal of weaponry includes Japanese-themed weapons such as shurikens—which were "likely be dropped in favor of high tech fun weapon" in development—and a katana, and marked the first appearance of a sticky bomb in an FPS, an idea which wouldn't catch on until Halo many years later. It also includes guns such as Uzis, a riot gun that fires shotgun shells, and the Eraser-inspired railgun (Lo Wang frequently mentions "Time to get erased! Ha ha!" when picking up this weapon). In addition, the head and heart of certain enemies can be used.

This was quite an ambitious game, containing many features not seen until later games. For example, the game features various turrets and vehicles (such as tanks) that the player can drive around freely. It also featured secondary firing, and multiple firing modes for various weapons. It also had climbable ladders.