Shadows of Doubt News

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.

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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.

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.

Hey folks, as one experimental patch leaves and joins the default branch, we have a brand new experimental for you all.

Experimental Branch: These builds are only found on our ‘experimental’ steam branch. You can access this by right clicking the game in your steam library, choosing ‘properties’, then the ‘betas’ tab. The experimental build should be in the dropdown list. Experimental builds may be less tested than the default branch builds. Most experimental branch patches will make their way to the default branch after a week or two (barring any issues discovered).

• Tweaks to AI routines for better timings
  
• Tweaks to default controller controls
  
• Fixed: Citizen job timings were incorrect
  
• Fixed: Item duplication bug when using the decor editor and certain gadgets
  
• Fixed: Corpses getting stuck in floor/inside of other objects
  
• Fixed: Missing sniper window bullet holes
  
• Fixed: Issue with loading into air ducts
  
• Fixed: Controller virtual cursor tracking errors
  
• Fixed: When the player knew a name & image of a citizen they were able to talk to them from a much further distance than normal.
  
• Fixed: Sales ledgers are no longer pin-able
  
• Fixed: More cases of AI getting stuck
  
• Fixed: Inspecting citizens while holding the print scanner would reveal the purple scanning light in their mugshot
  
• Fixed: Citizens turn off their crunchers after finishing work properly
  
• Fixed: Some placement errors in decor mode
  
• Fixed: Added some missing object name references
  
• Fixed: A case of virtual cursor being active when a popup message is active when using a controller
  
• Fixed: Improved object drop/put down positions for larger objects
  
• Fixed: Updated/fixed player holding positions for: Katana, Box Cutter and Razor
  
• Fixed: Boosted scale of held knifes
  
• Fixed: Weapons dealer/black market trader passwords should now be different on cities generated in the city editor
  
• Fixed: Broken link in the Employment Contract evidence text
  
• Fixed: Disabled virtual cursor in the city editor while playing with a controller
  
• Fixed: The far left side of the players arm no longer looks like it’s floating while the watch is selected
  
• Fixed: It was possible for a bookcase to block a doorway in a pawn shop*
  
• Fixed: Rare cases of a sniper being able to shoot while restrained
  
• Fixed: Lessened the effects of the sync disk that altered player height as they could result in the player becoming stuck
  
• Fixed: Activated gadgets would be destroyed if the player attempted to pick them up while they had a full inventory.
  
• Fixed: Unemployed citizens could own employment contracts*
  

* Requires a new city generation to appear/spawn/see

A host of fixes that have come through the experimental branch for you all plus a new fix for some vent issues that should go a long way to making your sleuthing more enjoyable!

Also - we are now officially verified on Steam Deck which is fantastic as the hard work continues towards the 1.0 release.

• More improvements to stuttering when navigating between areas
  
• More memory leak fixes
  
• Some object spawn position adjustments
  
• Revised citizen names lists*
  
• Fixed: Assigned inventory hotkeys are now loaded properly
  
• Fixed: Janitors had invisible brooms
  
• Fixed: Active killers could reveal rooms on the map under certain conditions
  
• Fixed: Boarded up windows were only visible from one side
  
• Fixed: Case of AI getting stuck outside of doors
  
• Fixed: Blood pool interactable trigger area could obscure other evidence
  
• Fixed: Explored air ducts are now saved properly
  
• Fixed: Minor fixes/alterations to several ceiling lights
  
• Fixed: In Steam OS the onscreen keyboard did not effect the text input when first selected
  
• Fixed: Cancelling a search could cause items to be found in a following progress bar related interaction
  
• Fixed: Tweaked some furniture placement rules to stop diner booths spawning in inaccessible locations*
  
• Fixed: Inconsistent flooring styles on some ground floor lobbies*
  
• Fixed: In ‘Dead of Night’ there was a very small chance the name on the note shared an identical city directory entry as another person
  
• Fixed: While using a controller the back button prompt was displayed on the submit button in the bug report menu
  
• Audio: Mastered version of soundtrack added
  
• Audio: Menu music recut
  
• bonus fix; Issue with loading into air ducts
  

* Requires a new city generation to appear/spawn/see