Year: 2023
Type: Original Soundtrack (OST)
Composer(s): Maciej Kulesza
Number of tracks: 12

★★★★★

Mediocre moshpit

Although I could quite like Shadow Warrior 3 on paper, I haven't yet been able to bring myself to give it a chance - thanks to the mixed reviews and my steadily decreasing amount of free time connected to my age. If you're not familiar with the title, here's a brief introduction: Shadow Warrior used to be a Duke Nukem knock-off and, not unlike the DOOM series, was relaunched in 2013. So we can expect lots of guns, a large number of enemies who are brought closer to spoon food and, of course, gallons of the red life juice.

Sounds entertaining and could certainly be a lot of fun with the right audio spectacle. At least in this department, however, you have to put the brakes on a little in terms of anticipation. Composer Maciej Kulesza, who apparently got his first taste of AA air here - his portfolio otherwise only includes music for indie games such as Urban Trial Trick or Nature Matters - unfortunately doesn't manage to contribute any really gripping pieces.

And that's a real shame, because I quite like the style itself: an exaggerated mixture of electro, dubstep and low-fi trap that plays with Asian sound tropes and makes it clear from the start that Shadow Warrior 3 doesn't take itself 100 percent seriously. However, the twelve tracks only rarely manage to motivate the listener to do more than bob along over the 45-minute duration of the OST. Real adrenaline kicks like in Dark Messiah or even DOOM from 2016 are sought in vain here.

Whether this rhythmic and leisurely score compliments the gameplay or whether the lack of driving melodies is a hindrance in-game is of course not for me to judge. However, the music alone could lead you to believe that this is a spin-off of the Borderlands-series or simply an experimental electro album. But maybe I'm being a little too harsh in my assessment, after all, the only mistake a soundtrack can make in my opinion is to bore you. Shadow Warrior 3 doesn't do that - but a little more pizzazz wouldn't have hurt.

Nr.	Title	Interpret(en)	Ratings
1	Viet Diet	Maciej Kulesza	3
2	Wild Hog	Maciej Kulesza	3
3	Wu Wei	Maciej Kulesza	3
4	Ch'i Cannon	Maciej Kulesza	4
5	Long River	Maciej Kulesza	3
6	Ken Lee	Maciej Kulesza	3
7	Sashimi	Maciej Kulesza	3
8	Kata	Maciej Kulesza	4
9	Lotos	Maciej Kulesza	4
10	Dragon's Breath	Maciej Kulesza	4
11	Satori	Maciej Kulesza	3
12	Mojo	Maciej Kulesza	4