Games powered by Cole he announced (spotted by Gematsu) that his procedurally generated criminal investigation simulator, Shadows of doubtis set to conclude its Early Access journey with a full release on September 26 for PS5, Xbox Series X|S, and PC.
Shadows of doubt was released in Early Access last April. It attempts to simulate the noble profession of a private investigator, using a randomly generated city full of randomly generated crimes. You take cases (usually from bulletin boards in restaurants and bars), then you’re left alone to talk to people, trespass on private property, and gather as much information as possible to solve the case.
There are different types of cases to solve. You could be trying to prove that your spouse is cheating on you, find stolen property, or solve a murder. The town and its residents are constantly tracked in the simulation and will have things like an apartment and a place of work, so you can usually find information in a variety of ways. Sometimes a set of fingerprints will lead you to the perpetrator, while other times it will be an email saved on their computer.
It’s a very ambitious game, no doubt about it. More importantly, it works. Mostly.
I got into the game last year when it went into Early Access. The concept was intriguing at the time, but the gameplay was too lame and buggy. There have been a few major updates since then. But the last time I dug into it (a few months ago), I found it to be pretty much the same. I didn’t dig deep enough to find anything I could point out as a clear bug, but there were some really weird things going on.
For example, I saw someone being murdered right in front of me on the street. I managed to calmly talk to the murderer right next to the victim’s body. Then I quickly gathered evidence and left to solve the murder for a gigantic reward.
But I feel like even with all this mess, if you put in the effort to get good at the systems, Shadows of doubtyou could probably have a lot of fun. There’s also a chance that all the kinks will be ironed out before release. Honestly, I can’t wait to find out. The concept is just too intriguing not to try it out.
Shadows of doubt leaves Early Access and will fully launch on PS5, Xbox Series X|S, and PC on September 26, 2024.
