A new video released by Grasshopper Manufacture provides a brief glimpse of what appears to be a scary game built with Epic’s Unreal Engine 5. Though no information about the upcoming title was provided during the brief clip, some fans already are going to speculate that the footage may be from a Shadows of a Damned sequel, which director Suda51 hinted at in 2021.
Grasshopper Manufacture is just a Japanese video game development company founded in 1998 by Goichi Suda, popularly known by his alias Suda51 to many gamers, that is responsible for several titles that have passed on to become cult classics.
Grasshopper’s best-known titles include 2005’s elegant and surreal killer7 and the No More Heroes franchise’s irreverent samurai slasher games. Grasshopper has also created several horror-themed games, including the demon-filled Shadows of the Damned as well as the cheerleader-led psycho-thriller game Lollipop Chainsaw.
Grasshopper Manufacture’s official statement posted a short video showing a developer working hard in the studio’s dev room in a Twitter post teasing a recent interview with Suda51 for the Grasshopper Archives.
As the camera approaches the developer’s desk, they can be seen sketching out certain sorts of grotesque critters on one screen while images of a working prototype of the same creature appear on another nearby monitor.
When questioned about what they’re doing, the development company explains that their job is to create 2D sketches of the 3D models, though they are unsure why they were assigned this task. A project file tree can be found beneath the images, indicating that these concept designs may be accessible in Unreal.
Following the release of the clip, speculation arose that the creature seen on screen might be from the rumored Shadows of the Damned sequel taunted for 2021.
Shadows of the Damned, released in 2011, featured Grasshopper’s trademark stylized action and let players control protagonist Garcia Hotspur as he fought thru the waves of enemies to his demonic sidekick, Johnson, who served as Garcia’s gun. The game has been usually well enough by fans and critics, though its lack of business potential likely contributed to Shadows of the Damned’s removal from online shops in early 2021.
The titles of Grasshopper Manufacture do not always accomplish the commercial success of some of their peers in the Japanese game development scene, but the developer’s distinctive characters, playable mechanics, as well as art direction, have made the developer a favorite among gamers willing to venture off the beaten path.
Unreal Engine 5 would allow Grasshopper to bring Shadows of the Damned’s demonic enemies to life in stunning detail, and news of a potential Nothing More Heroes 4 shows that Suda51 doesn’t mind revisiting previous titles, so this clip could be a hint of good news for fans of the frequently overlooked title.
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