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0 Shadows of Doubt is an immersive sandbox detective stealth game developed by ColePowered Games and published by Fireshine Games. It was first released on PC in early access in April of last year, and launched in full release earlier this month. Available on PC, PlayStation5 and Xbox Series X|S, today I’ll be taking a look at the PlayStation 5 version.
Good cop, bad port.
Shadows of Doubt encourages players to think like a private investigator and take on jobs to earn cash on your path to catching a serial killer. But as is the case in many ported games, there are some shortcomings. Have you played the game? Let us know your thoughts in the comments below.
Gameplay
Upon starting Shadows of Doubt you are instantly met with a choice. You can dive right into a pre-generated tutorial case or start only slightly slower by creating your character for this sprawling, procedurally generated city. From there on, you’re free to explore. Having played the game in early access on PC, I used my past gameplay experience and headed straight for the bars. I found this is where you’ll pick up some easy side gigs, such as stealing documents or vandalizing property. It’s not glamorous work, but who said detectives were always the good guys?
The real excitement, though, is in the bigger cases. We’re talking murder investigations where each victim has a different backstory. Each killer has different motives, and sometimes you’ll even catch killers in the act. Occasionally, you’ll have to track them down before they strike again.
There are also moments when you stumble across something like a missing person case by pure accident. The game feels alive in those moments, when you just happen to be in the right (or wrong) place at the right time. Every case in Shadows of Doubt has its flavour. Some will have you scratching your head for hours, while others might feel like a quick bust. But it’s the variety that makes the game stand out. You’re not just following the same formula over and over; every case forces you to think on your feet and use every tool you’ve got to get to the truth.
Speaking of tools, your detective gear is modest but essential. Lock picks, a fingerprint scanner, and handcuffs are your bread and butter. You’ll need to gather clues, match fingerprints, and confront suspects. If you forget something as simple as buying handcuffs before going after a suspect, good luck making that arrest. You can select to start with these tools, but I find it much more immersive to start without. You can use the money you earn from cases to buy more equipment and apartments. Upgrades however aren’t purchased with money. Rather with sync disks you find during your (very legal) break-ins, and as awards.
Graphics And Audio
Visually Shadows of Doubt is exactly what you want from a sci-fi noir game set in a hyper-industrialized 1980s. The incredible blend of pixel art and 3D pairs perfectly with the neon street signs and moody, rain-soaked cityscapes. The style choice obviously helps with the procedurally generated nature of the game too. Imagine the engine trying to randomly generate faces with every case?! I know others may not love it, but I enjoyed the characters in all their blocky glory. What I didn’t enjoy so much was the jarring visual glitches but more on bugs later.
The in game audio is also fantastic. Again it has everything you would want from this stylized type of game. Whilst Shadows of Doubt has no voice acting, the music and sound effects combine seamlessly to immerse players in a rich, futuristic noir setting.
Bugs and glitches
Let’s get straight to the point the console version of Shadows of Doubt is nearly unplayable in its current state. What should be a swing and a hit detective sim quickly becomes a frustrating exercise in patience. From the moment I started playing, I encountered one technical issue after another. When I first loaded my review copy, my game ran at sub 15 frames per second whilst trying to complete the pre-generated tutorial case. In order to circumvent this issue I tried my hand at a mini side case. Again I came across issues, for example when selecting a dialogue option that yielded no results and just plain didn’t work.
Having talked to my editor, I decided to wait for the PlayStation 5 Day 1 patch as we were told it would feature improvements to the control scheme, along with additional bug and stability fixes. Sadly, I found this didn’t fix much. Finishing even a single case without a full restart felt like a monumental achievement. It’s no exaggeration when I say I could barely finish a case without needing to fully restart due to some glitch. Opening the inventory would pause the game. Areas would be inaccessible due to the random generation. Often I couldn’t start a case at all due to not being able to enter provided phone numbers.
And then there is the kidnapping bug. Or at least I hope it’s bug. During kidnapping cases, you are supposed to look for the victim and the kidnapper themselves. With only a ransom note found in the victim’s apartment to go on. Only it doesn’t work like that. You’ll find the victim quite easily. In their own apartment. Handcuffed and holding their own ransom note. Personally I don’t think that’s how kidnapping is supposed to work?
Longevity
In theory, you can play Shadows of Doubt for however long you want. Its a procedurally generated game after all. Realistically, when bugs or glitches aren’t interfering with your gameplay you’ll probably experience every case at least once after 30 or so hours. However there’s so much variety that most players will most likely not stop there.
Final thoughts
Close your eyes for me. Now imagine you’re walking down a dimly lit alley, the cold, damp air clinging to your skin like a bad memory. A flickering streetlamp buzzes overhead, casting jagged shadows that dance in the mist. Out of the corner of your eye, you catch the movement of a figure in a nearby window, fleeing like a ghost. Before you can react, they vanish, leaving the alley in a tense silence. You sprint toward the building, your gut twisting in suspicion. As you push open the door, the smell hits you. Inside, sprawled across the floor in a pool of blood, lies a body. Lifeless.
Now open your eyes. You’re now back in the real world where you didn’t experience any of that. And that’s a bit like what playing Shadows Of Doubt on PlayStation 5 is like.
It’s genuinely heart-breaking to say this, but in its current state, I cannot recommend Shadows of Doubt on console. There’s an amazing game here, but the technical problems are simply too big to ignore. It’s not just a matter of a few bugs. It feels like the game was released in an unfinished state on consoles. These issues constantly get in the way of enjoying what could otherwise be one of the most immersive and addictive games of the year.
As it stands, I have no choice but to award Shadows of Doubt the Broken Thumb Culture Award.
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Disclaimer: A code was received in order to write this review.
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