The game feels like the videogame version of "From Dusk Til Dawn". In that movie both Quentin Tarintino and Robert Rodriguez both had their hands in making the film. It was Tarintino's script meshed with Rodriguez's directing. Shadows of the Damned feels like Suda51's ideas/script/world and the game play mechanics are 100% Shinji Mikami. In short the game feels like Resident Evil 4 set in some totally messed up world thought up by Suda51.
I don't love the zoomed in camera that is offset and has your character on the left side of the screen. I think they should have left that view strictly to when you zoomed in to aim. Speaking of aiming, the shooting in this game is great! No auto-targeting here...you gotta aim and do it quickly! It feels nice and satisfying when you quickly blow off a demon's head. Though I think the shooting mechanics and camera angle make the game harder than it needs to be. The zoomed in perspective worked in Resident Evil 4 because the enemies were usually slow as sin. In SotD the demons have a tendency to leap around and it makes it hard to draw a bead on them. I feel like I take damage more to the clunky combat controls than anything else. This feeling will probably fade as I play more though.
I like the level design, it is linear, but you can explore a bit and find secret goodies. The world itself is downright weird, but thankfully you're still exploring towns so it doesn't feel too foreign.
So far the game seems decent enough. Nothing mind blowing, but entertaining for sure. Also I noticed that after I'm done playing I walk around the house speaking with a Mexican accent and I call everyone a 'pendejo'.....