PSA: Shadow Warrior is still free

Since every other games site is ecstatic to discover this week that the original Shadow Warrior is free, hey, we'll post it too. I'll ride that #trending content, blitz the bandwagon, disseminate to the viral limit, and zonk that zeitgeist until the SEO bursts. I know that Shadow Warrior has been free for four years now -- a fact other sites seem to have missed -- but I also know quite a few folks dig Shadow Warrior so sure, it's helpful to remind people that it is free.

This is the Shadow Warrior released by 3D Realms in 1997, mind, not the pretty decent modern reboots from Flying Wild Hog and Devolver Digital. And don't confuse it with Shadow Warrior Classic Redux, the £7 update of the original with "remastered visuals". Nope, just regular old Shadow Warrior.

GOG are offering Shadow Warrior Classic Complete, which rolls in its two expansion, for free - as they have since 2016.

If you cling to Steam like a baby monkey to a cloth-wrapped wire mother, you can get Shadow Warrior Classic there for free - as you could have since 2013. Steam's freebie doesn't include the expansions but the expansions were free anyway so you can download them separately from ModDB and follow this guide to play. The Steam version did also recently add alpha and beta versions of Shadow Warrior for the curious.

Shadow Warrior, ah, it's not the Build engine game for me. It's not nearly as fun as Duke Nukem 3D or Blood (Adam's former favourite game), a lot of the environmental interaction feels gimmicky, and the lazy comedy racism is unpleasant. But it has fans.

If you are into '90s Build engine shooters, by the way, do check out Robert Zak's chat with Build creator Ken Silverman.

Of course, I should remind you that a great many wonderful games are available free.