The rain-soaked streets and oppressive glow of neon signs make way for the uncaring corridors of an apartment complex. Beyond the distinctive yellow-and-black police tape and an open doorway, a grisly
The rain-soaked streets and oppressive glow of neon signs make way for the uncaring corridors of an apartment complex. Beyond the distinctive yellow-and-black police tape and an open doorway, a grisly yet familiar scene awaits you, a private investigator in the procedurally generated cities of Shadows of Doubt.
Solid square pixels of blood fleck the walls, a body lies face-down on the ground; there’s nothing you can do for them, other than get out your notepad and camera, and get to work. How you go about this work though, is entirely up to you.
From LA Noire to Disco Elysium, via Return of the Obra Dinn, there have been plenty of great detective games in recent years. What makes Shadows of Doubt different from its peers in the snoopy, stealth deductive-detective genre (yes, that’s the exact technically correct description), is that it takes place in fully simulated urban sandboxes. It blends the freedom of immersive sims like Deus Ex with the assiduous crime-solving of an episode of CSI. Shadows of Doubt doesn’t direct you towards the right clues, the right suspects, or even any particular cases–you make your own way as a detective in this murky world.
