Shadows of Doubt

It has a great artstyle and fantastic vibe to it. When you first boot it up the air of the whole thing is bound to capture your rapt attention and drag you in to it's charm for the first few hours at least, but after a while you'll start to notice the numerous cracks in the facade. Shallowly implemented investigation mechanics, pretty seriously braindead AI, "they/them" pronouns for suspects which is extremely unhelpful and makes absolutely no sense in relation to a detective trying to solve a murder case (Are you looking for a male or female murder suspect? Who knows! The only information you were able to get out of an eye witness was that they were a "they/them"?), bugs abound, incredibly easy ways to cheese the solution to most investigations (the computers at City Hall generally have all the info you could ever want on every single citizen at all times) ect. It's not a terrible game by any means. There is still enough charm, intrigue and entertainment to be had with it that I can still recommend picking it up on sale, plus the dev continues to release periodic bugfix and content updates which have slowly added more and more coherency to the overall structure of the game and so may still one day have a chance at becoming truly great, but right now I'd give it about a 7/10 at best, but there is no option on GOG to give 3.5 stars and I feel that a 3/5 looks more honest than a 4/5 in it's current state.

I purchased this through early access on Steam, so I am absolutely pumped that it finally hit full release. I'm especially happy to see it for sale on GOG (I'll probably repurchased it here). The level of immersion is outstanding, and the city generation is impressive to say the least. Sure, there are occasional bugs or oddities within the simulated lives and goings on of your city, but it more than makes up for it with the level of depth and replayability on offer. As you progress and solve more cases, you gain access to new abilities, tools, and the perks of citizenship (like legal loitering or the privilege of owning an apartment!). If you like to nerd out and get lost in immersive sims, this is an absolute gem, and it is absolutely worth your time.

I have wanted this game sicne it showed up on my radar around a year ago. But I don't have Steam, so I waited. I was very happy to see this game release on GOG and bought it at once. I have only played 5 hours and just finished my first murder case. It is a great gem of a game! You are free to invest as much or as little time on every case as you like. You can go deep, deep down the rabbit hole and also even capture the murderer your self. Or you can play safe, find some of the clues, avoid a confrontation with the murderer and hand in a report at get part of the reward. I like this freedom. You really feel like a PI, you decide your self what to do and what cases to take. There are other cases then just murder cases, but I have not tried these yet. Something that's scary but also good about this game, unlike other games, is the world. You play in a small town with about 300 people and they all live their own life, working, sleeping, eating. They have different things to say. It's strange to be in a game that feel this alive, like a tase of AI. It's scary because you never find a person where you left them. It's a new sensation not to be in control of the game world. You just have to accept that things change.

I've had an absolute blast with this game. I picked it up on a whim a few weeks ago just because the art style looked interesting and I'm still jumping in most evenings to solve a murder or complete a side case or two. I'm 30 hours in now and although some parts are starting to feel a bit formulaic, it's still fun to jump back into and life in the simulated city still feels alive and organic enough to keep it interesting. The real beauty of the game is the real time simulation - the population go about their lives whether it's getting food or going to work, and this is how cases, including your main staple of murders and kidnappings, occur. This unscripted simulation also leads on occasion to crazy spontaneous events between the city's population (I've wintessed mass knife and gun fights, security turning on bar patrons). Mostly, life seems orderly but occasionally things go awry and the results can be entertaining. The procedural generation also means that there is no scripted difficulty ramp as you progress in your 'career'. It's pot luck whether you're up against a clumsy novice who leaves a plethora of clues, or an experienced mastermind who leaves virtually none. It's one of the few times I've walked away and spent the rest of the day pondering a problem I came across in a game. It's still unfinished in places, but nothing to break the game or the immersion. Some game mechanics could be more developed. Some items don't really have the use it seems they were intended to. Some dialog is odd. The art style looks great, but with some occasional stutters, although they mostly clear as you move between areas. The soundscape is good and the voice acting where present (like the detective TV show it seems most people in the city tune into) is on point. If you're expecting a triple A title which leads you by the hand, you might not have a great time. But if you're looking for something different with some quirks and depth, Shadows of Doubt might be a flawed gem.