At their press conference in Tokyo today, Electronic Arts finally revealed Shadows of the DAMNED, a psychological action-thriller game about battling demons, as part of their EA Partners program. Or as Suda51 calls it, Shadows of the DAMNED (damned…damned…damned…).

Yes, with the echo. And the uppercase DAMNED. Although, you might just want to use one “damned.” Also, when you abbreviate it, please don’t use “SotD.” Instead, use “DMD.”

That’s straight from Goichi Suda, who’s serving as executive director on Shadows of the DAMNED. While the game is incredibly dark in tone, you can expect to see some of Suda’s unique brand of light-hearted humour scattered throughout. Meanwhile, Shinji Mikami is in charge of the game’s design as its creative producer.

Wait, aren’t those roles backwards…? Then again, it is a Grasshopper game. Here’s the blurb on the game’s story from the official website:

“When evil demonic creatures kidnap Garcia’s girlfriend, it’s up to him to travel to the City of the Damned to get her back. Aided by a former demon with the ability to transform into an array of vicious weapons, Garcia will once again take on the mantel of “demon hunter” and rip apart the horrifying forces of the underworld to protect what he loves most. Players must harness the power of the light to fight the army of the dark in unique light versus darkness gameplay that will forever change the way gamers perceive puzzles, combat, and terror.”

On composition duty is Akira Yamaoka of Silent Hill fame, who now works at Grasshopper Manufacture. You can thank him for the crazy soundtrack in the debut trailer above. Shadows of the Damned is currently scheduled for a Summer 2011 release.

Suda revealed that he and Mikami had been wanting to work together for a long time, and working with EA gave them the opportunity to do so. Electronic Arts were chosen as a partner due to their ability to bring the game to a larger audience worldwide.





