Shadow's true personality is a defeated nihilist who is hesitant to show his under laying compassion and hope.
He never goes, "UGH, I MUST DEFEAT THIS HEDGEHOG FOR MY PRIDE" In SA2, he doesn't even seem to care about fighting Sonic, only that he has to do it. More than anything, he seems to appreciate Sonic's abilities. He lays it out completely that everything he's doing is to fulfill a purpose.
In SA2, he doesn't even seem to act that mad at all, after getting his revenge on GUN, he seems pretty lethargic rather than ambitious. Like that's all he wanted and everything else to finish the goal Gerald gave him.
I don't see one, "hmph" generic Vegeta bullshit when Amy goes to talk to him.
I feel like the reason a lot of writing for franchises that no longer have the original creators involved seems so lazy is that everything is copy and pasted from tropes. Like writing is pretty much automated.
I will not care when these people are replaced by ai because they already write like it.