It´s a classic, go play it!

80% "where do I go, what do I do?"
20% "shoot enemy"
100% boring

Shadow Warrior has not aged well. I played Duke Nukem and Shadow Warrior when they first came out. Duke Nukem had an action hero appeal to it, but was bogged down by puzzles, key hunts, door hunts, and "where do I go, what do I do?" But, with Shadow Warrior, it's like they double-down on all of those cons.

This game is a product of it's time, and that means "we're trying to make maps that look more realistic, but are still non-sensical" and "your goal is to find keys, open doors, and get to the exit". However, this game decided to really ramp-up the key/door hunt. Every two seconds you'll run into a door you can't open. And they decided to try to make the keys as annoying as possible to find. The non-sensical maps don't help in the key hunting, because they're all just mazes of halls, twists and turns that all blur together.

So, typical map goes...

* enter area
* spend minutes wandering around running into doors you can't open
* start to figure out where first key is after you realize it's in an convoluted place
* spend minutes trying to figure out where the doors are that it opens again
* find another key
* wash-rinse-repeat... until you reach the end of the level

Oh, and there's enemies you can kill along the way. And it's sad I say it like that. Duke Nukem and Shadow Warrior should have focused on simpler maps and more action, not mazes, puzzles and key hunts. When I run into more secret areas than I do the correct path to take in the map, then it means the level design is seriously lacking.

So, if you played this long ago, and want to relive the nostalgia.. I recommend skipping it. Playing it after playing modern games will just tarnish your memories. (Had same issue with Duke Nukem when I played it recently.) They were "good" for their time, but have not aged well. Unlike, say, Doom. But, that's because Doom primarily focused on action. Shadow Warrior and Duke Nukem put the action second. And I think it has to do with the game engine. They usually don't have too many enemies on the screen at once, b/c back in the day it would bog down your computer. Meanwhile, Doom could swarm you with tons of enemies.

So, it's a product of it's time, but hasn't aged well. If you've never played it, I also recommend skipping it unless you're some completionist or like to dabble with old software. Just be warned: your patience will be tested.

an okay classic game with inconsistent difficulty.
would suggest playing other classic titles before playing this.