Shadows of Doubt 1.0 release & console ports announced

One of the more interesting examples of early access these last couple of years has been ColePowered Games’ voxel-based sandbox detective ’em up, Shadows of Doubt. Released into early access a little over a year ago, I thought we’d be talking about this one for a couple of years as it ironed out kinks, added features, and tempered performance issues. However, the email I got yesterday says otherwise.

“Fireshine Games and ColePowered Games are excited to announce that the award-winning detective sim Shadows of Doubt will be leaving Steam Early Access and launching on the PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X|S[,] and PC 1.0 on September 26, 2024,” the press release notes. Regardless, that’s not all on the PS5 and Xbox Series X|S release, as “A physical edition of Shadows of Doubt will also be available on PS5 and Xbox Series [S|]X shortly after the game’s digital release.”

Most of the press release runs through all the details of what you can do in Shadows of Doubt, and given I’ve just described it as “sandbox detective ’em up,” it is one of those everything games. However, unlike the hundreds of those plaguing Steam releases daily, Shadows of Doubt pulls it off somewhat well. Being in early access and set in a far-flung future city where everyone lives in buildings bigger than Rik Mayall’s manhood, I’ve been crawling through the occasional vent only to smack the pavement like a banker in 2007. Though this was a few months ago when I last played.

Between bribing people, telling somewhat interesting noir stories if you can get into it and roleplay the part, and the occasional water-cooler moments, Shadows of Doubt is extremely interesting. Especially how it can have, say 600 NPCs all with names, lives, time schedules for their day, and so on. It is one of those stupid games (hold on, it is a compliment) that you think of as a kid that would never be made and should never be made because you’d need some evil magic to make it work properly. Yet here it is.

Despite being sent a press release for Shadows of Doubt‘s 1.0 release and its console release, one detail could have slipped under the radar if I hadn’t been paying a little bit of attention. Over on Steam, there is mention of the 1.0 release being a major update, of course, but beyond the full release implications it seems to suggest a new feature or two, maybe?

That isn’t what’s so interesting about this Steam update though, as there will be a price increase from $19.99 to $24.99 starting August 23rd. Those who already own Shadows of Doubt don’t have to worry, but those on the fence about picking it up have until the 23rd before the increase. It is interesting a press release can’t note/tease these two things and you have to go digging for this.