Shadows of Doubt by ColePowered Games is a revolutionary game that merges elements of simulation, mystery, and cyberpunk aesthetics. Set in a fully simulated, procedurally generated city, the game places players in the shoes of a private investigator tasked with solving crimes in a sprawling noir metropolis. Combining sandbox gameplay with intricate detective mechanics, Shadows of Doubt stands as one of the most ambitious games in recent years. This review explores every feature in detail to uncover what makes this game a standout experience in its genre.
Overview of Shadows of Doubt
At its core, Shadows of Doubt is a detective simulation game where the player investigates crimes ranging from petty theft to gruesome murders. What sets it apart is its procedurally generated environment, ensuring that every city, citizen, and case is unique. The game unfolds in a cyberpunk-inspired world, filled with neon lights, gritty back alleys, and morally ambiguous characters.
Developer: ColePowered Games
Genre: Detective Simulation, Sandbox
Platforms: PC (Windows)
Release Date: April 2023 (Early Access)
From the moment you step into this world, the immersive atmosphere is palpable. The city is alive, teeming with citizens who have their own routines, jobs, and secrets, creating an unparalleled sense of realism.
Key Features of Shadows of Doubt
1. Procedural Generation
The game’s standout feature is its procedurally generated cities. Each playthrough offers a completely new metropolis, complete with unique architecture, NPCs, and crime cases. This dynamic generation ensures that no two playthroughs are alike.
Unique City Layouts: Streets, buildings, and interiors are randomly generated, offering endless replayability.
NPC Details: Every citizen has a job, daily routine, relationships, and even personal secrets.
Adaptive Gameplay: The procedural system tailors cases to the city’s layout and its inhabitants, creating a cohesive experience.
2. Deep Detective Mechanics
Being a detective in Shadows of Doubt isn’t just about piecing clues together; it’s about how you gather those clues. The game offers a range of tools and methods to solve crimes:
Evidence Collection: Fingerprints, footprints, security camera footage, and personal items can all be collected to build a case.
Infiltration and Espionage: Break into homes, offices, and secure facilities to uncover hidden clues.
Interrogation: Question NPCs to gather information, though their cooperation depends on your approach.
Caseboard System: A visual representation of your investigation, where you connect clues, suspects, and evidence.
This meticulous attention to detail ensures players feel like real detectives.
3. Open-Ended Gameplay
There is no “right” way to solve a case in Shadows of Doubt. The sandbox nature of the game allows players to approach investigations however they see fit.
Freedom of Choice: Sneak into a suspect’s apartment or bribe someone for information—the choice is yours.
Multiple Solutions: Cases can be solved using different methods, whether through brute force, careful deduction, or technological hacks.
No Handholding: The game provides minimal guidance, encouraging players to think critically.
4. Immersive Cyberpunk World
The cyberpunk setting adds a layer of intrigue to the game. The world is a blend of retro-futurism and noir aesthetics, characterized by:
Neon-Drenched Streets: A stark contrast between vibrant neon lights and the grimy underbelly of the city.
Complex NPCs: From corrupt officials to desperate citizens, every character has a role in the city’s ecosystem.
Moral Ambiguity: As a private investigator, you’re often faced with tough choices that test your ethics.
5. Replayability
The procedural generation and sandbox gameplay provide endless replayability. Each playthrough feels fresh, whether due to the unique city layouts, different NPC interactions, or new cases.
Gameplay Experience
Investigation Process
Every case begins with a crime scene. Your goal is to analyze the scene, gather evidence, and identify suspects. The caseboard becomes your best friend, allowing you to visualize connections between evidence, locations, and individuals. The thrill of piecing everything together feels immensely rewarding.
Infiltration and Exploration
Breaking into buildings is a core part of the gameplay. You’ll need to disable security systems, pick locks, and evade guards to uncover crucial evidence. This aspect of the game is reminiscent of immersive sims like Deus Ex or Dishonored, adding an exciting layer of tension.
Dynamic NPC Behavior
The citizens of the city follow their routines, making the world feel alive. However, their behavior isn’t static; they react to your actions. For example, if you’re caught breaking into someone’s home, they may become suspicious and even report you to the authorities.
Combat and Survival
While combat isn’t the primary focus, it’s present when situations escalate. You can use weapons or improvised tools, but stealth is usually a safer option. Balancing aggression with caution is key to surviving the city’s dangers.
Graphics and Sound Design
The voxel art style might seem simplistic, but it perfectly complements the game’s noir atmosphere. Shadows, lighting, and environmental details create a sense of tension and immersion. The sound design is equally impressive, featuring:
Ambient Tracks: Subtle background music that sets the tone.
Realistic Sound Effects: From footsteps to breaking glass, every sound enhances the experience.
Voice Acting: While minimal, it adds personality to key characters.
Pros and Cons
Pros
Unparalleled Freedom: Approach cases however you want, with no strict guidelines.
Highly Replayable: Procedurally generated cities and cases ensure every playthrough is unique.
Deep Detective Mechanics: The attention to detail in evidence gathering and clue analysis is unmatched.
Immersive Atmosphere: The cyberpunk world is rich and engaging.
Dynamic NPCs: A living, breathing city that reacts to your actions.
Cons
Steep Learning Curve: The lack of guidance can be overwhelming for newcomers.
Repetitive Tasks: Some mechanics, like breaking into buildings, can feel repetitive over time.
Performance Issues: Large, procedurally generated cities can strain lower-end systems.
Limited Combat: While functional, combat lacks depth compared to other aspects of the game.
Final Verdict
Shadows of Doubt is a groundbreaking game that pushes the boundaries of what detective simulations can achieve. Its procedurally generated cities, intricate detective mechanics, and immersive cyberpunk world make it a must-play for fans of mystery and sandbox games. While it’s not without its flaws, the sheer ambition of the project outweighs its shortcomings.
Whether you’re a seasoned detective or a newcomer to the genre, Shadows of Doubt offers an experience unlike any other. Its blend of freedom, challenge, and immersion ensures that you’ll be hooked from the very first case.
Fun and immersive 10 percent of the time, boring and incredibly frustrating 90 percent of the time. If you were looking for a detective simulator this is about the only one out there, which is unfortunate because almost every case you come across will have near-zero solid evidence to go off of. You will have many cases were you literally get to the point of going to every laboratory in town ID'ing the employees because the case name has something to do with an X-ray and the single 3 PROVEN clues you were given after 2 hours of sleuthing is that they are average height, have brown hair, and they have T fingerprints (of which you have never seen in the game before.) This is the average case, not a single outlier.
It's fun.....with the caveat that you need a high tolerance for bugs. there is a reason only 4% of people who own this have the retirement achievement. Your save will break, you will have unsolvable cases, evidence will outright disappear, NPCs will path into you and knock you into the back rooms. But if you can deal with all that it can be a goofy good time. I don't recommend it simply because 6 months after the 1.0 release and major bugs are still completely ignored and the system requirements keep climbing while performance is continually getting worse. Probably a great candidate for a sale grab.
The amount of jank is the only reason I cannot recommend this game. I have never once gotten into the illegal markets of this game due to the passcode system failing to work. They took away "hair hair" so now I can find details like "average, short, short" when describing an individual where you apparently now have to fill in blanks. Every kidnap case is solved in the same way (getting 2 descriptors and arresting the first person who goes to the basement matching) for me because things like the ransom note instead have the victim's fingerprint on it. Or a printed out email saying "let's lay low so my husband doesn't notice" not counting as proof of cheating.It really sucks because every time I come back to this game, I feel good about wanting to play it again, only to feel within hours of a new save why I've stopped. Maybe by the time mod support comes along, this game will be worth the 25 dollar price tag and 1.0 release, but as it stands, I can't recommend at full price.
Look at any window of any building.
You can go there, and someone lives there.
The person that lives there works somewhere.
You can follow them there.That's pretty cool.
It's a really cool concept but right now there just isn't enough content to justify the price. Gameplay loop is very repetitive and you'd think, for a detective game, that there would be more deduction based on witness/NPC interactions. Right now you basically just collect evidence at the crime scene, go to a secondary location to match up physical evidence with an NPC, and place cuffs on said NPC.So much potential. Great atmosphere. Hope they add more content, but I'm posting this shortly after the release of a major update which "delivered" on content promises which players were led to believe would be more substantive.
There's a common theme down in the reviews. People will have 1 - 3 hours played and complain about the lack of content, polish, bug fixes, etc. Which is ironic, because how much of the game could you have experienced in such a short amount of time? How many bugs can you into in 2 hours?I got around 25 hours out of it while it was still in EA. There was more to be had but it did start to become a little repetitive after 20ish hours. I had fun with it and don't regret my purchase. I didn't encounter any game breaking bugs. I did run into the occasional goofy bug that kind of lends to the absurdity of jumping out of a 20 story high window and not taking any damage.It does need more work, more love, more variance. But they're still working on it. I still see updates fairly regularly. People act like the 1.0 next to the title is a declaration of intent to abandon said title.Very unique game. I've never played anything like it. 7/10, would recommend.
After all my enjoyment and time put into this game, I can comfortably not recommend it.Firstly, I struggle to call this a full game. It is more akin to an experiment. Not an entirely unstable, or even out of the ordinary. I actually really love the idea of a procedurally generated private detective game. Matter of fact, it sounds like a wet dream. But this game gets much of it wrong. After about 4 cases, I felt like I busted the game wide open and could not go back to feeling challenged. You will ALWAYS be confirming the murderer by a fingerprint left behind and it all becomes very samey. That is, of course, until they added sharpshooter murders! Which in my experience seem broken. Trying to trace the bullet path has almost never worked properly until it does. Brutal.The RPG lite elements are so surface level, it pains me that time was spent on these things when it could have been put elsewhere. So many updates later and these elements have not changed ONCE in my experience. At least they are customizable for each status effect you wanna play with. But they either don't change the game or make it more annoying.Lastly, it is so rough around the edges. There are hidden features that you will never use or bother with because you will not need to go looking for them. Auto travel will get you stuck constantly. There is barely a combat system at all, your detective is too stupid to use a gun despite mostly everyone else packing heat. Duplicate items can break immersion and there is simply not enough variety for a game that is supposed to have that generative edge to literally avoid that. While writing this, I remembered they 'released' it out of early access. That is a joke and I will not understand how devs can be so deaf to their game clearly not being ready to be considered a full release. Feels like a slap in the face as the consumer.At first, it seems like a game I could come back to again and again. But every time I try, I leave with the same bitter taste in my mouth after a case goes tits up due to some jank or I beat a case that was dirt easy and unrewarding. I hope someone or studio can use this as inspiration for the future because the dev does not update the game quick or meaningfully. It's possible that the things they've added have actually caused the instability I feel is so glaring.I will continue to play the idealized version of this game in my dreams, alas... this game falls flat in the face of diggings beneath the surface and a couple hours of gameplay. 2/5
This game is great and everything I want from an indie developer. Expect some bugs and repetition, but I do think this game delivers on its core mechanics well.
This game has a great concept, but is held back by crippling amounts of lag. Even at the lowest graphics settings, I still get under 30 FPS, with choppy movement and input delay, and that's inside a small apartment. I can't comment on the gameplay because I couldn't get that far.
The mechanics do not lock you into one style of sleuthing. people may want to take the easiest path and cause chaos, but the subterfuge to get the jobs done is fun in my opinion.
Recommend, but not strongly.I think the main gameplay loop can be quite fun but can also be a bit repetetive espacially since if you scan fingerprints and they pop op again it is a bit to easy. Patch Notes are promising and I think the game has great Potential that I believe it can reach
On paper the game sounds great, in practice? not so much.I spent all of my playtime trying to solve cases with barely a shred of information only to get stonewalled by everyone I could find that were maybe related to the case. A lot of the time I had people not even accept the max bribe I could offer when I could actually scrape together some money.Eventually I got caught trespassing, ending up in a fist fight and then shot by a turret when they eventually just ran for the alarm. I couldn't find my way in to an office through the vents because the vent system layout is just dogshit. I ended up being shot dead by another turret after the security system of the room I was in decided to reset itself after a short period of time. I walked around bleeding for a good while after a fist fight and had no idea where to go to find a bandage as this game really doesn't like to explain things to you very well.I can understand that not everyone is going to be forthcoming with some random ass-hole off the street but Christ does it make this really frustrating to play. I gave up when I had a crash and realised i'd lost any progress I'd made because there is no auto save system in place. Granted that is partially my fault for not saving more often but I don't exactly remember or enjoy pausing my game every 5 to 10 minutes to drop a save. On top of all this there was bugs I ran in to here and there but maybe not as many as some have experienced .Really disappointed in this as I was looking forward to being a super sleuth.
Great detective sleuthing sandbox RPG. Have followed this game for several updates pre- and post-early access release and am excited how much it has grown.
I would put this game at the top of the list of sandbox RPGs and am looking forward to what else it can bring.Coming back to add: from the time I've put into this game so far, every case has been possible to solve. Some side jobs might give very few or very vague clues to identify the suspect, some times you might have taken too long to arrive at the crime scene or it took too long for an NPC to report a crime occurred and certain evidence will disappear if waiting too long, but every job is 100% able to be completed. It's just a matter of how much time you want to put towards those cases that require more leg work to finish.
Eventually, an absolute masterpiece of a game will come out that will have people saying "Shadows of Doubt walked so that [it] could run". I look forward to when that day comes.Shadows of Doubt is a fine game that's like nothing else before it. It swings for the fences and gets... most of the way there. It's impressively complex in some ways, annoyingly simple in others, and it's the transition between the two that, for better and (usually) worse, define the game in my eyes. A simple "humiliate this person" side gig becomes a true ordeal when your only leads to the target's identity are their shoe size, blood type and the fact that they like coffee. A murder investigation hinges on a security photograph of an unknown person - time to ask literally everyone you meet "have you seen this man?" like you're a Gundam protagonist searching for his brother.I don't need to talk about the bugs or the Early Access jank that didn't get left behind in Early Access. Even if everything that could get fixed got fixed, the game's fundamentals are good but distinctly imperfect. Asking for more, however, feels distinctly unreasonable - not when the game is already doing so, so much that hasn't been done before. Ultimately the game being what it is and ultimately getting a 7.5 or so on the landing is enough to earn it my recommendation.Shadows of Doubt, at the end of the day, is like crude oil - it's messy and it won't live up to its potential without someone going and refining the formula, but it's still something valuable with a lot of power deep down in it.
Very fun. thoroughly enjoy. took me a solid minute to realize when you hack a micro cruncher that you have to actually click on the profile when trying to enter pin. lol highly recommend.
I just love breaking into the businesses, gathering all of the data on random people, and can't solve a major case to save my life, but when I finally solve one I'm gonna mark it on my calendar to celebrate once a year.
this game might not be the biggest game on the steam market but it is a HIDDEN GEM. there is so much you can do in this game and you do not even need to be a detective in it there is many other things that are fun to do and mess around with in it. it is so worth the cash
