I was more judicious with the ones that followed, and was rewarded with cases whose details were far easier to follow from A to B. You get a classic conspiracy theory board-complete with red string between photographs-for every case you take on, and my first one became such a mess of names, dates, places, and codes that I eventually abandoned maintaining it and just kept the relevant details in my head. We are through the looking glass, people. Because every single person in your city has such a wealth of information attached to them, and all of it can be accessed by picking a lock, hacking a computer, bribing an NPC, or just bludgeoning your suspect into unconsciousness and taking their prints as they sleep, cracking a case becomes just as much a matter of divesting yourself of evidence you don't need as acquiring the info you do. Solving the murders you're given is satisfying, too. This is a game that appreciates the buzz of a fluorescent bulb. Shadowy figures stand backlit in doorways as they refuse to answer your questions, ghostly voices make promises from tannoys in Chinese and English, and the only sound in the apartments you scour for clues are the footsteps of neighbours and the hammering rain at the window.Īlthough I've run into a lot of graphical bugs-most of them minor-in this early access build, nothing has really broken that spell for me so far. The city, rendered in voxels, is eerie and beautiful. (Image credit: ColePowered Games)Ī lot of it works well, even at this stage of development. Shadows of Doubt's streets are like something from a voxel-based Raymond Chandler story. This game, with its rain-slick sci-fi noir presentation, multiple ways to solve problems, and fully-simulated populace is doing its damndest to see that vision realised. If for no other reason, ColePowered Games should be commended for finally putting money where Warren Spector's mouth is and trying to make the fabled " one city block dream game" that the System Shock and Deus Ex creator has spoken about for years. The game wears its Blade Runner inspiration on one sleeve and Deus Ex on the other. Over the course of a loading screen, the game will generate street maps and building blocks, fill them with individuals with detailed personal lives (think jobs, schedules, partners and other relationships), and-because this is resolutely, determinedly an immersive sim-join everything up with a vast, random spiderweb of air ducts. Even the largest option isn't much bigger than a city block, but Shadows of Doubt is going for depth, not width. Every time you hit new game, you choose a name and a size for your city and let the game conjure up a new stage for you to poke around in. ![]() It's not just the crimes that are made up on-the-fly. ![]() Hoist by my own procgen petard.Įven the largest option isn't much bigger than a city block, but Shadows of Doubt is going for depth, not width I couldn't explain why, for example, Qiao would drop an incoherent note ranting about a promotion next to the body of her husband, but I was sure it'd all come together in the end. I'd focused on the parts that did fit over the seemingly minor details that didn't. (Image credit: ColePowered Games)Īlthough I'm meant to be a hard-bitten cyberpunk private eye, picking up word of murders on the scanner and solving them for cash, I'd made a rookie error. ![]() ![]() Whatever happened to him, it sure looks painful.
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