Shadows of Doubt News

The Launch Countdown

Hey Detectives,

So Shadows of Doubt is launching in around 24 hours now. The countdown is on and what an incredibly milestone for our small team. This post will outline some key information ahead of the release so please do give it a read!

[h2]Launch time on the 26th of September on PC & PlayStation[/h2]

9am PST
12pm EST
4pm UTC
5pm BST
6pm CEST
27th @ 2am AEST

[h2]New community bug tracking system[/h2]
We are going to be moving to a new Bug Reporting System that will give you all visibility of what is being worked on. The idea is that you can submit any bugs you find, then Cole will be able to prioritise issues and then curate a public list of what he is working on. You can find this here

This will be going live properly on launch day and we will look to update it roughly every week so you can see what the most pressing issues are and what the small team here is working on. At the moment on the Bug Status List you can see an example of how this will look.

[h2]More Launch News[/h2]

We recommend you start new cities to make the most of all the fixes.
We will be posting the full patch notes at launch which will contain not only the new content but a whole host of bug fixes as well
We are also uploading the game's soundtrack to Steam composed lovingly by Monomoon so if you enjoy the soundtrack and want to show your support you will be able to purchase it for $5.99
Finally, we will also release a digital artbook detailing how the visual world of Shadows of Doubt was made by Miles, the voxel artist, and with contributions from Cole as well. If you have enjoy

We have also compiled a new FAQ that you can find here. This is also pinned to the FAQ channel in our Discord where it will be maintained more frequently so for the most up to date news and any additional questions please do jump in there

Right, that wraps up this post. We hope you are excited for the launch and the new content that comes with it!

Shadows of Doubt review - a fascinating sandbox of little consequence

Shadows of Doubt is a voyeur's dream. You're a P.I. trying to scrape a living in a harsh alternative past where megacorporations run the country and the sea levels have risen and birthed filthy, neon-soaked city islands. You're a nobody in a city full of nobodies; ideally, that's how it'll stay.

Read the rest of the story...

Shadows Of Doubt review: a buggy yet brilliant detective sim of grand ambition

For years, a dangerous and charismatic game has evaded the grasp of many designers. Some say it doesn't exist, that no publisher would ever back it. I'm talking about the one city block RPG that Warren Spector has often mentioned. Sure, we've seen a few usual suspects already - Deus Ex Mankind Divided, Disco Elysium, even Else: Heart.Break - they all grimace in the line-up but nothing ever sticks. Now, out of the gloom of indie development, comes another perp ready to have his mugshot taken. Shadows Of Doubt is an open world detective sim that comes perilously close to being our guy. Its clothes, stature, gait, and fingerprints match the description of what Spector often describes. And yet, if you tilt your head, something is just a little off. The game isn't confined to one block. It's not an RPG precisely. And its simulation has plenty of bugs, jank, and unintentional comedy. But after all this time, in the absence of a smoking gun, shouldn't we just put this guy in the slammer and call the case closed? I say yes, let's. Officers! Arrest this game, it's brilliant.

I found Emily in the basement of Etheridge Heights, a squat tenement on the edge of town, overlooking the water. She was a mess—hands tied, bare knees pressed into the cement. I looked worse. My hunt kicked off when I found the ransom note in her flat: Leave 4,000 credits under the bridge by 9:15 pm or she dies. By then it was already 4 in the afternoon...
Read more.

Investigations #16: Steam Deck Verified & Case Board Etiquette

Well, detectives, we are approaching the end of our Summertime investigations but the 1.0 release isn't far away and what better way to celebrate than having the Steam Deck version of Shadows of Doubt officially verified!

As some of you may know, one of the bigger features we’ve mentioned coming to 1.0 is a new case type named “Missing Persons”. Where did they go, who took them and can you save them? Your questions will be answered soon enough!

[h3]We are also happy to share a little bit of a post-launch roadmap with you all:[/h3]

More pre-made cities
Steam workshop support instead of mod.io
Continued work on QoL features & bug fixing

Longer term:

Minor new content updates such as cruncher apps, in-game artwork etc.

A thanks is in order for the detective forces across our socials and in the Discord for all of your feedback. Some of our latest patches have been able to be refined much better due to your reports and experiences in our experimental builds. You’ve been integral to making the City a much better place to be in!

Recently, there has been an increase in notes left behind around the City. Candor News has recently sent this one over for further investigation. We need to determine whether this is some fanfiction or an indication of something much darker. What do you think?

Discord Detective Jawsh has been hard on the case lately but nothing gets by these expert caseboards ! Jawsh uses all of the bells and whistles available to come up with clean and concise deductions. Here's how the breakdown works:

Red is Wound Info/ Temp info

Green is Work Information
White is DNA/ID info (Wallets, Ids, Citizen Database info, birth cert, etc)
Yellow is Living Details
Blue is Items/Info found at location
Pink is People Linked to Area/Associates (Landlords, friends, etc)

Let’s wrap up this week with a trilby tip to fellow Discord Detective iChigoMado for their bravery in the field attempting to distract a killer with some chat. Find out if the negotiation went well here.

See you in September, detectives. Don’t forget to catch us on the beat over on X and in the Discord.