Shadwen

I admit to not expecting much from this game when I started it-- the "rewind time" mechanic was intriguing and I had some spare time. After playing it for the first five levels, I was addicted. The gameplay is a lot of fun. You're an assassin out to kill the king who, in the first scene, decides to pick up a little girl and take her with you. This girl really makes the game-- you need to shepherd her through the levels in addition to piloting the fairly athletic Shadwen with her grappling hook and superhuman agility. In addition to all the challenges one would expect from a stealth game, there's a moderately inept child following you around listening t your directions, and that child responds to -how- you solve the levels, leading to multiple possible conversations during the game and multiple meaningful endings. The difficulty is mostly up to you to decide. There are a few toggles for things like the child's intelligence and enemy line of sight, but mostly you can make the game fun, if straightforward, by killing through the levels or much more complex and challenging by moving through via stealth (there are in-game achievements for both routes). The game is a few years old, and you'll notice that from a few camera angles, but the graphics do what they need to and clearly communicate enemy position, terrain, tools, etc. The music is nothing special. The controls are mostly well put together (though placing traps can get annoying). Bottom line: If you like time manipulation games like Superhot Miami, you'll enjoy this. If you're looking for something new in the stealth genre and want to see how a game can remain appropriately difficult when you can rewind time at will, try Shadwen.

So, initially i was genuinely excited to play this game. I mean, from the start it has a lot going for it: -Beautiful graphics -Perfect music for the atmosphere -Sound effects are spot on -Voice acting is great -Plot is fun if not simple -You can rewind as far back as you want to change your approach to the current mission! But... Despite all these great things I was ultimately left a little disappointed. Let me explain why: -Though graphics are nice, many little bugs still exist. Found my character hanging sideways by the rope many times/ sometimes my character, when rewinding, wound up high above the point where I was supposed to be/ many sound-byte glitches occurred when rewinding as well and did not stop after rewinding was finished (a clip of the main character saying "uh" over and over again or the sound of a guard yelling over and over again or... you get the picture.) -The story isn't meant to be super deep. You have a simple choice: Kill people where the girl can see you, or kill them and hide the body so she doesn't realize who and what you are: an assassin. The game basically uses how you want to interact with the girl as the breaking point. In the end do you want liberation for the people, which requires killing the king, or do you want the little girl's affection? You decide. (You are still killing guards the ENTIRE time anyway no matter what route you choose, so to me the whole thing is pointless) -The crafting felt extremely forced. I only found a handful of times the items were useful because most of them caused other guards to react or caused the girl to be frightened... So I felt forced to use the knife 95% of the time. Ultimately it was a fun romp and I'm glad I got it on sale, but know what you're getting before you buy. It's not to be compared in any way (quality wise) to other stealth games! It is not Mark of the Ninja or Metal Gear Solid. It's just Shadwen... and that's not a bad thing, but it's just not a great thing either.

This game does have some issues, but it is nevertheless worth playing. I'd still recommand to get it while it's on sales since it represents something like 8h of gameplay. A few things lack polishing, such as the weird grapling hook physics or the dumb gards not seeing you, a little girl and three dead bodies right in front of them because all this is stuffed in a small bush. After you accept these things, the game is pretty interesting though a little easy and repetitive. The level design is pretty good and the time stop/rewind make the game feel really smooth, since you can just think before you act and correct your mistakes right on the spot. The game is rarely frustating nor irritating. There is little scenario but it doesn't hurt the game since the small story being told is still satisfying, especially if you listen to the few interesting guard dialogues and you choose to not let the girl see you kill people. Not much more to say. Visuals are ok, there are few different characters or cutscenes but they are ok too. The gameplay certainly lacks a challenge and variety, so the best I can say is I hope there will be a second, improved opus!

Controls are clunky, and the game movement/design is unintuitive. The aesthetics are very dark, and almost grotesque. The voice feedback from the guards, their reactions, are almost satirical -- they break the realistic immersion during the stealth sequences. It seems this game doesn't know if it wants to be realistic, or take its subject matter lightly. Instead of taking an original approach, and focusing on fine-tuning gameplay, Shadwen decided to become a cheap Assassin's Creed clone, essentially. I had high hopes for this title. Quite disappointed. A mediocre game at best. Not sure who the target audience is, as it makes for a poor stealth game, and a very dark and clumsy game for the average player coming into this genre. Not sure who I would recommend it to, honestly. Oh, and gotta love tombstones you can walk through like a ghost, and the inconsistency with the fall height/outcomes. A little additional testing wouldn't have hurt, either.

While it is a fun game and an interesting take on the stealth idea. Numerous shortcomings take a bit of the fun away. * a real open world would have been nice, because some roofs are inaccessible. * a bow would be blast in this game. * a proper AI with a larger variety of enemies. (enemies and the little girl) The extension pack is really difficult should one attempt a stealth run; more enemies ... way more. It is even slightly unfair or it feels this way. You need a lot of luck to get this done and especially Lily makes it difficult to get through nicely. A fun game ... but too restricted or limited.