Shadows of Doubt: An Immersive Detective Sim

Support the channel at / charlatanwonder
Shadows of Doubt just dropped into early access and it's got more open-ended gameplay in the tutorial case than most games these days. In Shadows of doubt you play as a down-on-their-luck detective in a corporate state that's looking to earn their way out of the slummy city and into retirement in the fancy suburbs... and You'll do just about anything to make it happen
Come say hi in the Discord! / discord
Chapters
00:00 intro
01:20 minute of enrichment
02:20 Shadows of Doubt
03:55 the tutorial case
07:25 The detective sim gameplay
15:30 Early Access and future plans
18:55 Recommendation
22:22 Cat Video, Frisk stole my gloves

[@alexanderrahl7034]

i started this game and said "oh cool! im gonna be batman!" an hour and a half later, i had a 2700 bounty, i'd been shot, and i accidentally shivved the only witness i was looking for, in the stairway to his own apartment. i was not batman

[@followingtheroe1952]

He doesnt wear hockey pads

[@Casshio]

You just sold me on the game.

[@user-ik7vm1kt6q]

@@Casshio it is... chaotic

[@rustyfisher2081]

I actually got the cybernetic upgrade that makes you immune to fall damage, and i figured out you can jump out of a building if you break the window. I've been doing some batman stuff that way

[@sungilroh920]

That's what batman exactly does.

[@sukamadik5983]

A cat that plays games is amazing but a cat that makes game reviews is on a whole other level.

[@andreworders7305]

?

[@leeweesquee]

Meow

[@thaemarkd1]

What about one that solves murders

[@writerlairchannel2636]

And a cat being one of the best channels about immersive sims too😂

[@miguelbranquinho7235]

Are you a baby, all you need is be shown a picture of a cat?

[@onearmedbandit84]

Regarding the example of only having a phone number to go off of to find a target, you don't have to go to the phone router of every apartment complex, you can simply hack the router of the establishment that you called from to check which apartment complex the call went to, though you'll still need to slice into the router of the complex to find what the specific room is.

[@CharlatanWonder]

Nice!

[@SleazySpliff]

yeah make a call, go check the outgoing calls and you know which building this call was going. and inside the target you can check again to narrow down the apartment with the ingoing calls :) this game is so deep. love it

[@jkl5901]

Oh my god this is so useful

[@Jan_Strzelecki]

Ooor, you can just ask them about their name and find it in a city directory 🙂

[@SleazySpliff]

@@Jan_Strzelecki in the Start they wont give this Info to you

[@HasturTheShadowpuppet]

Honestly, I think a good way to describe an immersive sim is that you have a world and goals that are built around what you can do, instead of having your abilities built around the world.

[@renaigh]

BotW is an Immersive Sim

[@renlevy411]

​@@renaigh Yes

[@Bentbire]

Hey, that's pretty good

[@KenTWOu]

@@renaigh No

[@h.w.4482]

I'm stuck on my third investigation, but my second one was laughably easy, I just forgot to check the nurderer's calling card for fingerprints lmao

[@jetex1911]

It took until the third kill on my third murder case before I realized the building for the last 2 deaths had cameras and thought to check them

[@IMeanIt100]

Spoilers for what can happen during gameplay: I had just identified the killer and went to their house to bust them when they came home, but they hadn't come home for hours after their shift ended which I found odd. That was until I got a new popup; Murder reported. I was too late, and the second victim was none other than the person who gave me a free basement in the tutorial. I was heartbroken

[@gazzy9136]

Damn, no way?! That’s crazy. Love this game lol

[@Sharpevil]

Oh, wow, you completely got me. I started reaching for the video timeline the moment you started talking about not having time to cook a meal.

[@CharlatanWonder]

believe it or not I studied how other youtubers segway into their adds so I can bamboozle you better.

[@GameDevYal]

I second the life advice in the video; cooking basically takes the same time no matter if you make one serving or ten so if you just buy as many food storage containers as you can fit in your fridge, you can save a LOT of time and effort by just making large batches and saving them for later. I'm also a big fan of stuff you can just shove into the oven and forget and then it's magically done 40 minutes later, even some stuff you wouldn't think is oven-bakeable like bacon can be cooked this way. Just don't, y'know, ACTUALLY forget it unless you like eating piles of ash.

[@KingMoronProductions]

Why cook when food is so cheap? Just buy a vending machine for your apartment and you can get all the drinks and food you need. Very cheap.

[@cobraman90]

Wow, that calling the phone number, remembering what time you called, break into the basement and look at the phone records and see what address it routed to is insanely smart! Im going to definitely have to try that.

[@juanmanuelfariasmarroncell2514]

You mean, in the game right? _right?_

[@stompstomp8033]

Having a huge blast with this game, it's going to be an amazing game once the edges are smoothed and new features are added

[@SLRModShop]

I grabbed Blood West based on your recommendation. This is really good, did not think I'd like it that much. And Shadows of Doubt is on my radar for a while now, your video convinced me to give it a go. (but seeing the speed they're fixing it at, I might just wait a little longer). Thanks for your content man... Nah, I'm kidding, thanks for your art ;)

[@saltylemon4436]

An arrest warrant was actually one of the hardest cases I've had, the game told me the perp has long brown hair, their blood type is A-, and building they live in, not the room the building which had 15 floors all residential. I had enough time to solve 2.5 murder cases by the time I was done sifting through every single resident until I found the bitch.

[@JudgeNicodemus]

It's like playing as Rorschach with severe goober syndrome. I love it.

[@Ch3ater_Ch3ater]

I think it’d be cool if there was a mode where a serial killer is played by another player. It’d give more of a sense of urgency and it’d even make the detective feel like they’re always in danger due to the fact the person they see in a room alone might actually be the killer.

[@juanmanuelfariasmarroncell2514]

It would be cool, but the problem is that a serial killer player should need to constantly walk, converse and interact with the word as an NPC to camuflagge into them, and they could just commit a perfect crime and never being cought, or kill some random dude with no relation with them, that kills totally the part of the game of actually searching for suspects, if the first and last encounter the assassin and the victim had was the actual murder Also, in the game there are already serial killers who keep killing until they get catched, or even some that kill only certain people, leave things like signatures or personal marks, or even someone's coworkers, so something like that wouldn't be necessary

[@Largentina.]

I don't think you've thought about this enough. That would be incredibly boring for the other player.

[@sukamadik5983]

I was not expecting a video on this game so soon but it's a welcomed surprise.

[@renaigh]

in a regular Cyberpunk game you'd be playing as the murderer. Although in this one murderers seem to be Small business owners working without the advantage of having a monopoly on violence.

[@MaxK17]

Charl inspires and supports me more than anyone irl ever did. Well, me and everyone beautiful enough to read this comment on his video. Thank you, Charl - for being the legend that you are.

[@michimatsch5862]

It's so funny. You can hear the ad sliding in, it's almost scary. I already started hearing someone talking about a relevant sponsor and then he just goes:"Nah, you don't need that."

[@PhriekshoTV]

Absolutely loved the demo, even if I got confused more than a few times. Absolutely awesome.

[@SleazySpliff]

this is so true but also a great way to get involed. you have to use your brain and make your moves. the game tells you not much and the most trough tipps. some are very helpfull

[@Maartwo]

I awoke hungover so I'm immersed already

[@MidnyaDaCow]

Thanks for covering the game, i was already interested in it but you made me more interested with just the features you mentioned. I'll get around to picking it up eventually, other games are sadly on the mind including other imm sims haha. Appreciate what you do!

[@sozaj]

I haven't seen a noir cat detective since "the Nine Lives of Garfield".

[@crovik7510]

Never heard of this game but it looks amazing, all the little mechanics in this game really make it a lot better

[@Versailles18]

One of my favorite games of the year for sure. I've not been this immersed in a game in a long time. It's got jank, sure. It's got unfinished systems, sure. But god damn, do I get surprised how whatever I think it's possible, it most likely is.

[@dewinteryageu]

Nice to see an interesting and so deeply explaint review for the game, didnt even knew that i can have a flat and put shelfs on it and other stuff. Oh and thanks for the tip at the beginning with using heroforge for bringing OC's to life for fanart and stuff.

[@SpoopySquid]

Was gifted this game for my birthday and have spent three hours in just the tutorial scenario. The amount of detail this game allows you to go into during investigations can feel a bit overwhelming but at the same time, there's something really satisying of hoarding factoids like a weirdly obsessive crime gremlin and making connections on your detective board

[@andreiv1916]

Dropped on my birthday, nice gift considering :P.Never knew Frisk was a detective aswell, the faces you can edit with the raw materials are priceless :)). Maybe im a bit drunk cause its my bday but @CharlatanWonder Frisk is literally the breadwinner in ur house now....yea yea ofc u help aswell but this cat is on a K spree.

[@caseyking8394]

the thumbnail for this video is fantastic

[@someonerandom9939]

Can't wait for "can you beat shadows of doubt while homeless"

[@hanyesul336]

I was looking for more information in this game and found ur video ! I really like ur channel! Will watch another video soon XX

[@hanyesul336]

The glove boy is so cute 😂

[@YallShallPerish]

epic intro, instantly subscribed!

[@juanmanuelfariasmarroncell2514]

Bro, this could be one of the best games in existence, imagine that the game integrates the possibility of criminals actively trying to not get caught, like, leaving their appartament al living in the streets. Or... Imagine you investigate an assasination of a jury, and you end up tracking down to a hitman payed by a corrupt politician (or CEO?), and as he is free and covered, corrupt law enforcement agents chase you down around the city for your silence, or even a onother private investigator, whose only mission is to ssbbotage your investigation. And with the future "social classes" update, you could go to the darkest of the low income hoods to search for a gangster who killed a rival, or dressing nice to infiltrate into a high class party to get information of the son of a rich man who is secretely a serial killer. The possibilities are infinite

[@Login60180]

I found this game thanks to you, and it's really great ! Thank you for you review !

[@umadbroimatroll7918]

Oh wow, tour the guy that did the cooking video in the streets if rogue review, I see a distinct lack of cooking but you still earned a sub for managing to get recommended to me and I remembered you :D

[@HexagonThatReallyLikesVinegar]

I first found this game in the Silksong EDGE magazine, and it's been sitting around in my mind ever since. And this review has convinced me to get it.

[@blakecasimir]

First Person Covert Action. (For those that know.) I've wanted this for decades and now it exists. Wonderful.

[@timothypryor7952]

My favorite murder case so far. Guy has a threatening note in his home. An email from a friend warning him that person was coming to kill him, and the person's full name and address in his address book.

[@Scarecrowexe]

You can go into the basement call log of where you made the call to see where it routed to. Much faster to see where to go than building to building! Great video, only faults are small little gameplay things you may or may not learn in game time. So no fault xD. You keep playing and you'll figure it out! Hope more people pick it up as a result!

[@nixishierfrei]

Enjoyed this one quite a lot. I'm not too into playing imsims myself usually but this does sound pretty interesting.

[@dropedan]

Your videos only get better and better.

[@dscarmon]

Definitely getting this, thank you!

[@JSHADOWM]

Frisk immersive simming his way into the toolbox to get the gloves is peak charlatan wonder household.

[@JazzyUnderscoreTrumpeter]

I'm happy I have notifs on for this channel, ngl 😅

[@AlHyckGaemsTAD]

I honestly forgot about this game, damn I needed this video to remind me to spend money, lol. Great video!

[@ariaravenlock7623]

Thanks for this review. I bought it and it's now my runaway favorite game of the year.

[@Beeyo176]

Kitty cat stealing gloves

[@CharlatanWonder]

WHAT DOES HE WANT THEM FOR HE DOESN'T EVEN DO ANY WORK... OR HAVE THUMBS!!!

[@deepfriedicecream576]

i love this channel. it feels like my older brother is showing me cool ass games

[@Mordrevious]

Goofy PI voice aside, the enrichment minute was actually quite nice. Just a solid minute of super niche but useful information

[@hopperdown811]

procedural deus ex-like imsim with Majora's Mask NPC schedules

[@BubbleShield570]

Humilliations are really easy once you understand 2 things : - It does NOT need to be public. - Canned food counts as food (duh) BUT it knocks your target. Easy.

[@SleazySpliff]

so great. i startet this game yesterday and today you fucking legend make a video about it. no wonder i am following you for that long. great work. consider to get someday patreon for ya. you deserved this

[@chrisscott8166]

Love the video!

[@al0egarten]

keep up the good work yr vids are great ^^

[@ChimboFunk]

The tutorial murder is very similar for everybody. I played it 3 times during the demo and once in the full game.

[@CharlatanWonder]

Good to know.

[@anttsunami]

I’m about to go into college for art and that ending hit me, thank you

[@TheAsylumCat]

You know? I saw this in my stean queue for recommended games, saw the tags, and said to myself "if this is any good, I'm sure Charles will make a video, and lo and behold.

[@Z.O.M.G]

Man you deserve more views

[@danielcalabrese5769]

Charlatan that was the best opening of a video I have seen in a very long time, fucking brilliant brother just brilliant. Also I just had a joint so I think that made it even better haha. 😊👍

[@someonesendhelpplease]

>i WILL speak about how much fucking weed i smoke in every chance i get

[@danielcalabrese5769]

@@someonesendhelpplease no in fact I don't smoke that much and I was pretty high from only the tiniest amount which still surprises me but I only mentioned it because of the fact that I don't smoke often so I wasn't sure I liked that opening so much because it was that good or because I was stoned? That's it. Over here in Australia 2.5 grams is $50 and got that about 6 months ago and still have some left so I don't smoke much at all that was the onlt reason I wrote it. Trust me mate I don't think smoking pot is anything special considering the fact that I was hooked on heroin for 25 years from the age of 15 and spent 10 years in jail because I was an idiot but now I have been clean for 6 years I'll have a bit of pot every now and then, that not anything special mate. You must be really sensitive about pot/weed?

[@someonesendhelpplease]

@@danielcalabrese5769 nah i smoke hash like a chimney but potheads who make everything about how much they smoke pot n shit and have to mention it in every sentence (who already are a fuckin pest irl) are annoying asf

[@Yesnaught]

My "favorite" lead for an arrest so far: the suspect's name starts with an "x", and their job. (Receptionist) Sat down with a phonebook, and ran all the names through the citizen database one by one until I got them.

[@Numbers225]

i loved the intro

[@foxtondelta]

I played this game and funnily enough witnessed two seperate murders back to back

[@Deathshead419]

Adding this to the Wishlist

[@Archangelm127]

Sick! I'm sold.

[@darkgalaxy9998]

This is the best f*cking intro I've ever seen 😂

[@alttaab]

Once the bugs are ironed out, some more optimization is done, and maybe a few extra crime types are added and dialogue options too this game feels like it’s on track to be the new gold standard for detective games. The character motives and dialogue are a little lackluster but the robust system of evidence is so wide and varied I’m still occasionally finding new things at 50+ hours playing this $19 game I bought on a whim. The environmental hazard and status affect depth surprised me too. I just learned, again after like 50+ hours, the hand dryers in the bathrooms can remove the wetness debuff you get from rain lol. I’ve seen people complain about the ‘smaller’ map size online but it feels like they’re comparing it to AAA games that are mile wide and inch deep with cardboard boxes for skyscrapers. The fact that every building is literally fully playable, and their occupants are simulated makes even the smallest map sizes feel engaging to me.

[@nocultist7050]

I was trying to make a game very much like this... but i suck so I'm glad someone smarter did it. At the same time i kind of envy them because I wanted to pull it off. I already had conspiracy board working in unity and was working on stealth. Well, back to drawing board and to redesign my immersive sim.

[@Flightnight1000]

Saucy boi likes variety

[@DBxSnowman]

Charl, your reviews, as always, are in-depth and entertaining. But the fact that you manage to do then all while not only sponsorless, but criticizing/putting on blast fraudulent/predatory/otherwise scummy sponsorship offers, is frankly admirable, and I cannot overstate the level of respect I have for your principles (as well as your take on content vs art, big ups for that). As soon as my pockets aren't a lint volcano and my digital wallet isn't an "anxiety activate" button, I'm most definitely pledging as much as I can. Stay golden man. ✨️ Also, Fritz is in his lazy-boy phase I see. If I place anything on my cat, one of two things happens: A) he feels merciful and just shakes it off or moves. B) he immediately goes into V.A.T.S. and targets my legs. And he will not de-aggro.

[@geminiarch3972]

Your "ad read" has me in fuckin stitches.

[@dylanterry3767]

Yooo this looks cool

[@chrisdiokno5600]

Such a fascinating game

[@sleepydogz1022]

Cool Columbo simulator

[@2HeadedHero]

There's just too many awesome games coming out this week, and here's another one for the file

[@slxxpyhollow]

This game is so fun, I love it.

[@respecttheyoshi]

Well, you've convinced me to bite the bullet and buy the game. Thanks Charl

[@REALPEDROGAMEPLAYS]

Smart cat

[@ryanhorton3248]

Great thumbnail

[@dallas-cole]

I bought a studio apartment in a basement and there wasn't even a bed. Call yourself lucky.

[@LordLiquidBaconII]

I bought the game a couple days ago and I want to play it but I might wait a bit so some of the bugs can be fixed 🤔

[@tuomastall5836]

Nice opening

[@arthya3140]

dude you make amazing videos i don't have the money to help you via donation but when i got myself in a good shape i will certain try to help more than just watch the videos.

[@larzkruber822]

I was more like Marv from Sin City I break in to your house, beat you up and steal everything valuable. Sometimes i even get the evidence i was searching for

[@somekinnn]

Description says 'it's not more open-ended gameplay in the tutorial case than most games these days.', i assume not should be got. Game looks cool!

[@CharlatanWonder]

fixed. thanks!

[@kaidorade1317]

I’m waiting for more of the game to be added in and bugs to be patched but will pick it up at some point

[@DorfVG]

14:25 you can actually call them and then go to the call log of the building and see outgoing calls, it wont give you the exact apartment but it will give you the building the apartment is located in. then all you have to do is go to the building and check the incoming calls of that specific building to get the exact apartment

[@NachozMan]

Cool looking game

[@YallShallPerish]

"do you have OCs?" yeah I used to get the 40s all the time

[@danielcalabrese5769]

Charlatan I have never used Patreon before so I signed up and subbed to your Patreon but I'm on a pension so I don't know how long I will stay a Patreon but while I can send a little $ your way I'm happy to because I really enjoy your videos. I look forward to watching them as soon as I see you have a new one up I watch it instantly. Thanks for sharing your art with the world. 😊😊

[@Voxavs]

Yes!

[@Maioly]

17:40 huh, my system barely meets the min requirements (depending who you ask, my GPU does not meet the requirements, or does... its a coin toss) and I had almost none of those issues. Loading times are relatively fast, the only clipping bugs I had were fixed on the highlighted patch earlier (clipping through wall when getting up from sitting) and the game runs just fine with my GPU not even heating up while I play it, even on larger cities.

[@garchomowner]

I played the demo back in the steam next fest in december or early 2023 i think, i really like it, but the performance was horrendous (like 20 fps and below). People said the early access was leaps above the demo.

[@gamingtonight1526]

I can't see what game will beat this for my GOTY!

[@fafal9836]

poger vid!

[@lordfriedrick7911]

My inside man says that the Chonker is hungry... And he needs some snacks...

[@J.E.L.2658]

The Sugar Daddy mod also makes you addicted to the Kola lol

[@TheSpidersider]

Was waiting for you to do a video on this one after watching Northernlion botch his gameplay.

[@pizzamechman8380]

My gameplay is just beat resident of the entire block using the vents till I find the perp Very fun

[@ixxie999]

It's such a good game. If you're even partially curious, just get it. Still a lot of bugs, but I'm (hesitantly) hopeful. Thanks always Charlatan for your fight against "content". Much love

[@gonickogogo]

Gotta be honest, I was going to click off the video without "liking," but your sign-off about the misusage of the word "content" got me. Liked and subbed.

[@SebTheSamMarten]

INB4 Redfall has you generate Adobe Premier videos for evidence.