A noir sandbox game with the most minecraft inspired blocky graphics, that somehow still manages to make my GPU choke. That in a Unity engine title. Plus the patience, observation, skill, and among others needed to solve cases and survive cities through each pay.
Everything is procedural generated from then sandbox world, unless one of few preset cities are chosen. It's all minimalistic, in a sort of annoying sense, games like Cloudpunk pulled it off better. But where it falters, it rather also thrives in other areas. The open options to investigate my case however I want. A sandbox used to any useful piece of information.
Shadows of Doubt is asking a lot from me. But the further I go, the more intriguing things get about its world, as well as the sad life of my protagonist. From the silent perils to the looming threats of sinister ordeals. One thing's for sure, it's China Town, guys.
Megacorporations took over America, in the 80s, the future seems pretty bleak, especially if populations are scattered via island cities, and no choice but to have STARCH KOLA. They manage to even force synthetic meat, and paid-for prosthetics that'll hunt you with advertisement.
I like how my own named private detective wakes up with a stiff neck, and pretty much hate everything he has to deal with. Especially when a post-it note through his main door, leading him to a murder case within the victim's vicinity. From the first hour, I've learned a few things, one: I can actually play janky Thief, steal stuff, while making sure the law don't catch me.
There are many ways to establish connections, simply creating custom strings where I can hypothesize over the who and what and where. Like gunshot wounds, fingerprints, camera footage, testimonies, even shoe prints, emails, and easily forcing confession through citizen's arrests.
You just have to be convinced they're the main suspect, and find ways to prove it using your hunch. This one case in particular took me to a diner, where literally the door and computer passcode was posted on the wall, checking security footage, before finding the other party. Whom, after coming to, pretty much gives out the murderer's name. All I had to do was wait till perp comes out
Like I said, patience, and maybe a lot of save scumming, because I did a number of stupid things. Even going as far as having a fist-fight with the perp, and her love interest, in the apartment. Who would have thought old fashion stalking would lead me to her eventually confronting her to a citizen's arrest, finding the gun in her coat, and then just answering all the case questions in my folder menu before finally going to city hall, and submitting all of it.
Ok, that was way simpler than I thought, but this is like a Tutorial case. Things get more real. Despite getting the pay, my house is repo'd, and now am relegated to living in an unfurnished basement apartment. Yes, those exist, and god forbid it's the B2 floor where it's flooded.
So for a sandbox detective game, there's got to be an end goal to all this, right? Yeah, my guy wants to leave the city, and call it quits. Who knows, maybe the guy that led me to that case will also lead me to a series of crimes connected. That is a possibility, because there's tons that happens around in this small town of over 300 people. (Charlotte's Heights)
Hey, you like Deus Ex? You can install sync disks, increase health or inventory slots, maybe buff up for self-defense? New proprietary for helping solve cases better? Having a charm stat for convincing people to give their names, fingerprints, and such without paying.
Trust me, if you find the good ones, they're super helpful. All I got are Starch Kola ones where I get paid 5000 for installment, but have to constantly order their products to sustain myself. Removal means paying 1K extra unless I have consumed X amount of their products in due time.
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The main draw is finding a way to curve out the limitations, and make tricks to getting around places. I can only follow someone for so long, but I've also realized that maybe matching their shoe size, I don't have to wait to follow, while using my scanner to follow footprints. Damn. What else is there to do? You know those bulletin jobs? I also have to humiliate people too.
I'll get calls ringing from a local deli, where someone tasks me to dispose a body, with me deciding whether to do it or not. Hey, I'm not morally inclined to do everything right. If I can steal stuff, who's to say I can't help someone get away with murder?
Getting mugged on the streets, and then defending myself while the law draws a gun out of the blue, not my idea of sunshine and rainbows. I'm just a guy with a camera, and just waiting for attacks before to counter them in the meter can only get so dull. I need sustenance, I need some real action, maybe a way to drown out the miserable sob of existence lurking out.
To add more to my grievances, there's quite a bit of jank. I can't reach air vents all the time, and sometimes that means finding an object to climb on, before getting inside those. I have done stupid things because of the obnoxious button configuration and UI as well.
There are tons to do, like someone's getting murdered, and I'll get notified where before heading there to check out, and see for myself. Other happenings as well, like bullying, being chased, hey like I said, it's China Town in one blocky looking ass sandbox. Also, be sure to have gadgets like codebreakers for the computers, and locked doors. Take a tip, THEY'RE USEFUL!
