A gumshoe simulator of the highest order, Shadows of Doubt was slowly making its way through Early Access, only to release in 1.0 a tad too quickly.

Certainly, the developer Fireshine Games ??has delivered a unique and engaging game where virtually everything is procedurally generated, and the 1.0 build is no worse than any of its prior ones. This detective-based immersive sim presents you with proc-gen ??cases that you may or may not be able to solve, depending on where the simulation takes you. There's plenty of depth to be found here, and the 1.0 build of the game features body-dragging, some new suspect interactions, and a bunch of other goodies. The thing is, the player base doesn't seem to be too happy about any of this.

Shadows of Doubt releases from Early Access on Steam, but players claim it should have waited

Following its 1.0 release, Shadows of Doubt has received a substantial ingress of 'Mixed' reviews on Steam, many of them citing the idea that the game wasn't ready to make the jump. Even some notable positive reviews recommend the game with the caveat that Shadows of Doubt isn't quite wher??e it needed to be to warrant a full launch.

The problems are serious enough that 54% of the?? recent reviews have been negative. This sits in stark comparison with the game's previous 'Very Positive' review rating on Steam, which is sourced from over 10,000 reviews in total.

Here's the thing about Shadows of Doubt, though: it's almost entirely unique. Whereas most other ImSim games are perfectly happy with letting players take the violent path forward (even if it is shrouded with the thin veil of non-lethality), Shadows of Doubt veers away from that.? Instead, it's all about traver?sal, exploration, and PI sleuthing.

The game's voxel-based visuals and striking setting ensure that virtually any case you come across is engaging, even if you can't solve it in its entirety. Besides, no other modern title leans quite so heavily into the noir detective fantasy as Shadows of Doubt does.

So, even though Shadows of Doubt might not have reached the incredible heights that it might've reached with a few more years' worth of development, there's something specia?l to be found here. From personal experience, I do recommend it. Besides, the game is priced at $25, with a 20% release discount in place until October 3. All in all, then, it's a pretty darn good deal, however you flip it.

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ColePowered Games has announced (spotted by Gematsu) that its procedurally generated crime investigation simulator, Shadows of Doubt, is ready to end its journey through Early Access with a full release on September 26 for PS5, Xbox Series X|S,? and PC??.

Shadows of Doubt was released into Early Access in April of last year. It attempts to simulate t??he noble profession of a private eye using a randomly generated city full of randomly generated crimes. You take cases (usually from bulletin boards in restaurants and bars), then are left on your own to talk to people, trespass on private property, and gather as much information as you can in order to crack the case.

Ther?e are different types of cases to tackle. You might try to prove that a spouse is cheating, find stolen property, or solve a murder. The city and its citizens are persistently tracked in the simulation and will have things like an apartment and a workplace, so you can typically find information in multiple ways. Sometimes a set of fingerprints will lead you to your culprit, while other times it’s an email stored on their computer.

It’s a very ambitious game, make no doubt. More importantl??y, it works.? Mostly.

I previewed the game last year when it launched into early access. At that point, I found the concept to be i?ntriguing, but the game was way too janky and buggy. There have been plenty of big updates since then. However, the last time I?? dove in (a few months ago), I found it to be in much the same way. I didn’t get deep enough into it to discover something that I’d point to as a clear bug, but there was some really weird stuff happening.

For instance, I saw so??meone get murdered directly in front of me on the street. I was actually able to have a calm conversation with the murderer right next to the body of the victim. I then quickly gathered evidence, then strolled off to solve the murder for a fat reward.

However, I get the feeling that, even with all the jank, if you put in the work to actually get good at the systems in Shadows of a Doubt, you could probably have a good time. There’s also a ch??ance that all the roughness will be sorted out before release. Honestly, I’m looking for??ward to finding out. The concept is just too intriguing not to.

Shadows of Doubt leaves early access and fully releases for PS5, Xbox S?eries X|S, and PC on September 26, 2024.

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