Sometimes a good Noir film is what the doctor orders, a classic “Who Done it” story, a detective or private eye working on a blade’s edge between law and crime, a city full of danger and suspects, they don’t make good noir films anymore, but a game like Shadows of Doubt from ColePowerd Games and Fireshine Games will put you in the rain-drenched trench coat of a former cop turned Private Investigator.
Shadows of Doubt is a first-person procedurally generated stealth game where players explore the open world of a city and help solve crimes to earn both money and Social Credits to earn the right to go to the retirement sector outside this sci-fi dystopian city.
Now, onto the game itself! Controls for Shadows of Doubt are a bit tricky to master at first, even during the tutorial level, but not really anything bad. It’s just a bit annoying if you want to get right to playing.
I like the sound design in the game as it’s more atmospheric than anything else, especially if it’s raining. The characters don’t have spoken dialogue but advertisements on radio and TV make up for it in the game balancing it just right. The soundtrack is OK, the only thing I don’t like about it is that the music will go on for a little bit and when the song is over, there’s no music for a while till it just randomly starts again.
Gameplay-wise, the world is open, unless a door is locked, then you can pick it open! To me, this is the biggest selling point of Shadows of Doubt, this is an active world you’re playing in, everyone has a place in it, a place where they lay their head at night, and people they interact with, it adds a bit of a strange realism where you’re actions can either go unnoticed OR cause panic. I love that you can play a sandbox mode where you can play how you like and set the rules of that world, honestly, that’s probably how I’ll play this game from now on.
Overall, Shadows of Doubt holds no punches with this sci-fi noir, you have to do some real detective work to solve cases, even on easy difficulties, but being able to solve cases your way in the world the game takes place in will have you going back for more.
Shadows of Doubt is out now on PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X/S, and PC.
