Shadows of Doubt (Zero Punctuation)

[@spencerlb]

I remember the time I found a victim on the landing of an apartment complex, and the police sealed it off so I couldn’t investigate it in peace. The security cam on the floor kept detecting me, and despite searching every lead that was around the victim, I still couldn’t find the killer. Eventually I realized that that same security camera must have seen the killer. I broke into the security room, rolled back the footage to the time of the victim’s death, saw his face, and went door to door asking everyone in the building if they knew the killer’s face until one of them identified him by name. This game is amazing.

[@BrunoMaricFromZagreb]

Meanwhile,on the other side of the gaming sphere: "HEY TIM,the vampire we put in the tutorial level says that the players will NEVER see the Sun again...But they still CAN,even before setting up their HQ & quest hub..." "FUCK OFF WILL YOU?I wasted all my time writing quippy dialouge that showcases how these vampire hunters are hipsters,& I don't have the energy to fix any bugs.Go code something that'll distract them,like 2-player coop with 4 playable characters..."

[@hazukichanx408]

I think all these details are what surprised and delighted even a crusty old gamer like Yahtzee (or myself, I imagine). Diving into a game and realizing it goes to lengths we have learned not to expect. Does things most games don't, or even can't. Reacts to the player and the player's personal journey - making a little pixelly game world feel so much more real than seventeen squintillion polygons with a hyper-realistic face texture spouting the same boring filler dialogue from another triple-A cubicle slave farm's soul-sick throng of writers.

[@Lucarioguild7]

@@Noobie2k7 Hit the the nail on the head with this one, AAA is so worried about graphics they forget they're supposed to make the game enjoyable or even playable nowadays

[@Axius27]

**WARNING, AT THE END OF THIS COMMENT I WILL SOLVE THE CODED MESSAGE PUZZLE. DO NOT READ FURTHER IF YOU HAVEN'T CRACKED IT YOURSELF** I got very stuck on one case where the only clue was a coded note with a fingerprint. Spent several hours trying every cypher algorithm I could think of, before spending more hours getting my hands on every fingerprint I could find. Finally, I just start going door to door asking anyone for information and finally, an elderly woman said she'd seen a suspicious person in the lobby at 10:10am. So I go to the security room and look up the time, and find the unknown person. After adding him to the suspect list, I started tracking the guy through the building, before suddenly realising that he was outside apartment 103 just five minutes ago! Less than three seconds later, I got notified of another murder, in apartment 103! Caught him in the lobby leaving the building, whacked him with a nightstick, and found the murder weapon on his body. Fingerprints match the coded note. After verifying the evidence in the fresh crime scene, I finally turned him in. Case closed. But one last thing. In the fresh murder scene, I found another coded message. I looked at the jumbled letters and, armed with the suspect's name, the letters rearranged themselves before my eyes and I saw the code for what it was, the name of the killer! It was just an anagram. Not any of the advanced cyphers that I immediately jumped to, just an anagram. I could have saved that second victim :/

[@meateaw]

@@Noobie2k7 Honestly this is why something like Unreal Engine 5 is going to fundamentally help game devs. By making true to life realistic graphics *almost* drag and drop easy, it lets people go back to spending time on actual gameplay.

[@JhericFury]

My favourite from this game was when i went in, searched everything, found a few good leads, went to various other locations, pinned down who it was, couldn't find them anywhere, went back to the murder scene and he was in a spare bedroom, glitched/hiding in a cabinet. 10/10, love it

[@Grayvorn]

Congratulations on solving the case of the cunning bedroom phantom!

[@TheMightyPencil]

"Ah, they always come back to the scene of the crime"

[@ZephyrAnjoyo23]

This time they never left.

[@tehbeernerd]

Long live jank

[@mitrovarr]

Honestly, except for the glitching, I think I've seen a true crime instance of basically that happening. Except I think the dude was hanging out in the basement.

[@some1337dude1]

I once got to a crime scene so fast the lockdown was still engaged and found the killer standing there waiting for the gate to unlock and let him out. I then dropped out of the vents, got attacked, won the fight, and had all his info before even seeing the body.

[@MrObviousJester]

Lol I had a similar experience where the killer hadn’t even left the apartment yet and got knocked unconscious by the police when they busted in.

[@sumdude5172]

You are not Rorschach, you are Batman

[@FortressWolf97]

You became the first responders. XD

[@Trynt33]

@@sumdude5172 "WANT BE BATMAN!" -Yahtzee Croshaw 2015

[@AegixDrakan]

@@MrObviousJester You'd think that in that case, the Enforcers would actually arrest the person. XD MAN, they're so useless.

[@MrBazza-zi9qg]

Was cuffing the murderer outside in the rain one time and one of the passersby decided to be a white knight. He pulled a gun and started shooting me, I made a mad dash through some alleys and into a building. I smashed the door in the face of another random person and soon I started a Benny Hill esque chase scene around the block all the while the murderer was kneeling in the pouring rain. Evaded the group with the ol' newspaper trick and searched the murderer to confirm the crime. Turns out she was carrying around the bloody knife with her all day. Stumbled into the station with several bullet wounds and handed in the arrest papers. I love being a morally bankrupt hobo detective.

[@CibraNotik]

Yatzhee somehow saw Overwatch cancelling pve a week before it happened, amazing

[@Adu767]

Jokes about ActiBlizz will always be relevant, but the timing on this one was mint.

[@XiremaXesirin]

It turns out that if you write jokes just *assuming* Actiblizz will fuck something up sometime soon, it'll pretty reliably pay off.

[@lowkeyarki7091]

​@XiremaXesirin hilarious really, just assume Blizzard will screw up some time in the future and wait for it to become true. Now there's a new screw up with blizzard Adding Wow tokens to Wrath Classic even tho the selling point of wow classic is that it's wow before it became insidiously monetized.

[@almightyk11]

You did the important thing that most players of Early Access don't. You stated what you didn't like, why you didn't like it, and what can be improved about it.

[@MrSpartan993]

So he wasn’t an apologist like all the others are. Got it.

[@notme8232]

That is the ENTIRE point of Early Access, after all.

[@StrikeWarlock]

Aka criticism

[@TorremThonius]

I think that 4:35 is the first time ZP has done a change in perspective via a close-up. What a time to be alive!

[@darkpinktv6721]

What doing something for 16 years does to a mf.

[@OnyDeus]

There's almost an uncanny valley effect when Yahtzee posts videos on games he likes.

[@BrunoMaricFromZagreb]

Wait,is it really?I feel like Ben would've done close-ups before.

[@TorremThonius]

@@BrunoMaricFromZagreb I can’t THINK of any instances when that occurred, but I’m fully prepared to be wrong!

[@johnnyburks4529]

@@TorremThonius I also can't think of any examples and I've watched every episode thrice.

[@josephgarfield3363]

That Activision joke aged extremely well in a short period of time.

[@philiphunt-bull5817]

How so?

[@jameswinter3832]

@@philiphunt-bull5817 They just killed the pve in overwatch 2

[@tomstonemale]

@@philiphunt-bull5817 they just cancelled PVE on on Overwatch 2 because...Activision-Blizzard

[@zigslotheon]

@@tomstonemaleSO NO STORY MODE?!

[@Videogamer96_]

@@zigslotheon Apparently there will be story stuff similar to the archive missions. You know, those modes you played once in OW 1 then never touched again because of how repetitive they got.

[@subtlewhatssubtle]

I would just like to comment that this is a game where you can pick a lock, open the door, be rudely rebuffed by the resident on the other side, elect to kick down the door, concussing the person on the other side, and then decide you wanted to actually climb into an air vent instead... and the game will just shrug its shoulders and let you. Brilliantly made.

[@edisontrent618]

LetsGameItOut?

[@subtlewhatssubtle]

@@edisontrent618 Indeed, my comment was inspired by our patron saint of chaotic game interaction

[@edisontrent618]

@@subtlewhatssubtle Nice.

[@Mandemon1990]

Don't forget about getting lost in the air vents because no, there is no handy dandy guide to tell you where to go. I swear, first time I played, I spend 30 minutes in those vents, trying to find some place to exit until I figured "fuck it" and just barged through someones home.

[@Zack_Wester]

@@Mandemon1990 yep I hate to navigate the airvents because currently they are whofully poorly generated. whit vents that does full loop around between two vent covers (like one was enter in appartment 1501 kitchen run into the bathroom, into the 1502 bathroom then 1503 kitchen then back to 1501 out for like 3 sec then back again and droped me off at 1501 bedroom (it whent noware and there was no other entry/exit).

[@nicklager1666]

The concept of open world and detective sounds interesting. I will keep the game as a consideration for the future as i never touch early access if i can help it.

[@ShanePizzaburg]

It's a very good game! I highly recommend it.

[@tortoiseoflegends4466]

A good rule to follow for early access is to ask if you'd be okay if the game never got anymore updates. Some games are bare bones in early access whereas some are Factorio or Rimworld. Personally, I think the game is good enough as is to justify the relatively low price. If you go by the $1/hour of playtime rule, you'll get the value.

[@PCRman]

I played the demo during Steam Next Fest and absolutely loved it. But during my playthrough I did, while navigating a vent, fall through the floor into the middle of a busy diner like a Florida Man CCTV. So I am also waiting until the game leaves Early Access.

[@Puzzl3man]

It definitely is interesting, but suffers from performance issues rn, thats a good call.

[@MrObviousJester]

Good to wait on it. Game has huge potential but is suffering massively from performance issues.

[@nathanahedgehog2871]

What timing for that Blizzard joke

[@philiphunt-bull5817]

Context?

[@DanielFerreira-ez8qd]

​@@philiphunt-bull5817They just cancelled the pve mode for overwatch 2

[@kevingriffith6011]

@@philiphunt-bull5817 Further context on what Daniel said: The entire stated reason overwatch 2 HAD to happen, according to blizzard, was the PvE mode. The one that just got canceled. Cancelling the PvE essentially reduced the transition from Overwatch 1 to Overwatch 2 down to a storefront update and a patch... naturally, people aren't happy.

[@Cortaal]

That sounds like a jolly fun time. Could hear the excitement in his voice as he described his scenario calling the number to figure out a name and the events that followed.

[@TheFanofmanythings1]

Gives the same feeling as back in his xcom review when he bragged for 30 seconds about his plan with his heavy and sniper

[@TehNoobiness]

Leafing through the phone book is in fact a thing that happened in my first case. I got stumped, because I had two first names from the victim's journal but no other leads...but I *also* had a phone call that came in about an hour before TOD, so I broke into some phone switchboards, narrowed it down to the apartment, then looked over every name with the correct first initial in the directory--and found her! The next day I opened a newspaper to hide myself while I staked out that apartment...only to find news that someone else had been killed. Someone whose first name was the _other_ name the first victim had mentioned in his journal.

[@TehNoobiness]

@@evilsclone2499 I know, it's amazing!

[@MrSubejio]

"I'm assuming they're not going to patch out the good bits" I'd like to tell you about a game I got in Early Access called "Shadowrun Chronicles - Boston Lockdown". It was hugely promising, and a very early build that featured all of two characters was likewise fun, engaging, and well-acted with crisp, clear audio. Then some time passed, and a new character was added, but her audio quality (and acting quality) was MUCH worse by comparison. So what did the devs do? Did they recast the actress to someone who knew how to act? Did they perhaps ship her a mic that didn't sound like it had been found in the dumpster out back of the defunct corpse of a Radio Shack? No, silly; they DOWNGRADED the audio quality of the other two actors! I dropped the game there out of confusion and disgust, which helped mitigate the blow a little bit when they later shut off the servers to their always-online product and rendered it inoperable. Almost enough to forget that I had, in fact, originally paid money for that.

[@alexahegao842]

Or Hello neighbour patching out the adaptive enemy ai

[@DanVzare]

While we're listing Early Access games that patched out the good bits, let's not forget to add Starbound and Subnautica: Below Zero to the list.

[@Bizargh]

Onward by Downpour Interactive is a often-mentioned example of this, as in their pursuit to optimise their game for Facebook's Quest VR, they utterly downgraded not only visual fidelity, but even AI, feature-sets & contents entirely for every available version in the single jump from v1.7 to v1.8 (I hear attempts to bring it back to parity have been made in subsequent updates, but I think the damage has been done, plus Downpour Interactive are now reportedly owned by Facebook/Meta/The Zuck/Whatever-They-Are-Called-These-Days).

[@Dragonsamuari]

Cube World had a promising premise during the alpha stage and then after years of no updates or news, the game suddenly goes gold and the gameplay was greatly changed to the point that people went back to playing the alpha version cause it was more fun.

[@AuroraFirestorm]

@@DanVzare What's wrong with Below Zero?

[@capacitatedflux]

0:58 Yahtz is quick on the uptake.

[@rory8182]

Just found out about it today, it is very quick

[@zakanyimen]

Also considering this is a week old video. (cause they are on their site first) makes the joke age like a fine wine.

[@capacitatedflux]

@@zakanyimen no kidding, I completely forgot about the early release of ZP. He's so quick he's seeing into the future, then.

[@Jesus_Christ_For_Real]

​@CapacitatedFlux yeah, he's the simpsons of snarky internet reviews

[@dmitriyrasskazov8858]

Well blizzard patch out good stuff constantly

[@MyrddinE]

I bought this game right away. It's buggy as fuck-all, but it's also such fun. It's wonderful to have a game that doesn't lead you around like you're a dog on a leash. "Ok, good boy, now sniff this. Good player, here's a scooby snack!" It trusts the player to do their own detecting, with multiple avenues to explore. It can be a slog sometimes, but that's the (actual) life of a PI. Great premise, and once it has six to twelve more months of polish and bugfixes I think it's going to be a real jewel in the crown of immersive sims.

[@Mandemon1990]

Although sometimes the leads can be quite silly. "Okay, we need to find this guy and steal a very important document. His blood type is A+, he has average build and alcoholism. Good luck!" Just a to let people know, there is no way to search for medical conditions beyond just randomly going through files of every single generated NPC.

[@micheljavert5923]

"And every now and again, one of those data points murders one of the other data points." That sentence made me experience both satori and existential terror vis-à-vis modern society.

[@Broomer52]

Honestly it sound like we’re doing ever closer to the possibility of a 3D Dwarf Fortress

[@luigivercotti6410]

​@@Broomer52The holy grail of immersive sims. realistic 3d first-person dwarf fortress. Then after that, we simulate an entire mini-universe just so we can make a goofy run with wacky hijinks. Establish new field - ludoethics. Is it immoral to create and sustain the simulated creatures only for our amusement? Realise that's basically what every parent/petperson has ever strived for. Realise complacent, mocking hedonism is still somehow more comforting a stance to the subject that perfect apathy and death, which is why people have invented the most mentally deranged figures possible to sit on the thrones of gods, because frankly, it's all just too funny

[@elijaminwlc6079]

How was he on the nose for Blizzard a whole week before the PvE announcement from overwatch what have they already done before?!

[@Haaalp]

Have you not heard of the massive betrayal they pulled on their fans for their Warcraft 3 re-release?

[@leadpaintchips9461]

....lots.

[@mightytoast2693]

If I may direct your eyes to a lesser known game called "World of Warcraft"...

[@mightytoast2693]

​@@HaaalpHonestly just a re-release like that would have gotten a halfhearted "it is what it is" if they hadn't had the audacity to make the original inaccessible legally in the process.

[@Ytinasniiable]

@@mightytoast2693 wayyy back when as a shaman I really enjoyed that I had a 1 in a billion chance to chain windfury procs and one shot anything Shame

[@amezzeray2]

I always get a wholesome feeling when Yahtz reviews a game he loves. It's a nice change 😂 reminds me of the Obra Dinn review

[@Videogamer96_]

0:59 This joke was written and released *BEFORE* the news of OW 2 broke yesterday

[@ShadowMXify]

"More bugs than a foreign embassy in moscow" jesus yahtzee

[@Medytacjusz]

loved it! just confirming that humour is best when it's true! or close enough!

[@Cenot4ph]

i fail to see the controversy here..

[@JCarey1988]

I literally choked on my Diet Coke and had to explain what was so funnny.

[@cabbiecarmvp145]

Whenever Yahtzee fully loves a game you know it’s gonna be awesome to play

[@gus.smedstad]

Spiritfarer wasn't. I'm not saying it was bad (except for the platforming bits, those were bad), but it was, at most, OK. From the way Yahtzee fawned over it I thought it was going to be another Portal. Well, not literally another Portal, but something equally awesome to play.

[@251TheMechanizedSingfantry]

I also didn't like Spiritfarer, but one of my mates loved it. However, imho Yahtzee was bang on about Obra Dinn - an awesome game I happily smashed through over two evenings.

[@boilpoil]

@@251TheMechanizedSingfantry I'm the opposite. While I liked Papers, Please as much as Yahtz did, Obra Dinn went completely over my head. Perhaps I'm stupid, but I was completely stuck and frustrated after around 1/3 solved. I do enjoy the usual puzzle game so I was confused, but I figured I hate it when I can stumble on guesses or solving things without understanding fully - which is the reason why I play puzzle games at all.

[@lnt305]

I hate when people go on about how high standards, when it’s mostly just different standards. I have similar taste for the most part, but Subnautica didn’t do it for me at all.

[@takuansoho5836]

Seriously. My biggest slap in gaming from last years. Bought it last week, spent 50 hours on it since. Can't... stop... so... fucking... addictive... XP I really hope the devs will keep working on the optimization and things like the dialogue tree : could use a better system of interrogation like "do you know this man" => "do you know where he lives" or "where he works" "do you know if he's single", etc. I mean you could know a guy from seeing him getting out of his place but not knowing his name, etc And bugs indeed. LOTS AND LOTS of bugs, the game is playable but there's a lot of things to polish. But I don't care, it's still one of the most ambitious thing I've seen in video games since... maybe Deus Ex

[@ArifRWinandar]

2:41 has there been any other game that made Yahtzee roll on the floor giggling?

[@Grymbaldknight]

This is the first ZP review which has tempted me to actually check out the game. This is partly because it sounds like an amazing core concept which has been well executed, but mostly because Yahtzee gushing about a game this hard - and an _early access_ game, no less - is adorable enough to seriously pique my interest. We've also found Yahtzee's second gaming comfort niche, it seems. The first is anything nautical, and the second is organic detective gameplay. No wonder he loves Obra Dinn so much.

[@JCarey1988]

I literally downloaded a pirate version to try-before-buy (I've been screwed by Steam refund policy multiple times) TEN MINUTES after I saw LGIO's playthrough. Worth every damn penny and it's on sale. You will not get more fun for ~$15 anywhere in the near future. Seriously, shell out, I spent 4 hours on the tutorial mission because it was that fun. The freaking tutorial. Because you aren't railroaded and 90% of stuff isn't locked out.

[@ramboacdc]

The subtitles assume that there is an advert for Yatzhee's new book at the start so they are fully out of sync.

[@ShockValue42]

This game is amazing because it’s the kind of thing where you can go to a crime scene, find as much pertinent data as possible, and then spin your wheels for an hour or more. You can break into the victims workplace, their partners work place, and all their friends houses all around this city, only to find out that the murder was committed by their literal next door neighbor. It’s beautiful to see the pieces of a case come together into a coherent (and occasionally fascinatingly incoherent) arc and I mean that with complete sincerity.

[@Zack_Wester]

I watched a let play where the literal floor was just wack. the floor had 4 apartments 301, 302, 303, 304. person gets murdered in 301, killed lived in 302, later new killer and 303 gets killed by the cop in 304.... that was the cop sent to search 301 and 303. yes the cop can be killer and the killer can be ordered to guard the crime scene.

[@Dionysus24779]

Shadows of Doubt is an excellent EA game, lots of fun can be had right away. Feels really satisfying to connect the dots and solve cases. Really deserves more attention too. However, imo, the two biggest issues in EA right now is that the economy is incredibly unbalanced, money actually isn't tight at all. A single solved case gives you enough money to never again worry about food, drinks or lock picks, which are your only real expenses besides saving up for a big (useless) apartment. The other is performance, because this game really turns your computer into an effective room heater. The fog coming from some (construction?) places when outside can also obliterate your framerate and you can't turn that down or off. Still, fantastic potential and already very fun.

[@gingerinajacket8519]

For other confused readers, Dio here means "Early Access" not "Electronic Arts" as you might be quick to assume. The publisher's name is Fireshine Games.

[@Dionysus24779]

@@gingerinajacket8519 Electronic Arts and their microtransaction-stores are so far off my mind that I didn't even think about them. But I can see how it can be confusing.

[@gingerinajacket8519]

@@Dionysus24779 you're fine, I just was clarifying because I needed it.

[@jakinbandw]

I wouldn't call an apartment useless. You can kit it out as a one stop shop for food, drink, status cleansers, and tools. If you put a case tray in it, you can even sit at home until a murder happens, grab the case file from the tray without needing to go to city hall. I got an apartment on the 16th floor and with the No Fall upgrade I have great fun grabbing my case files, then going to the roof and jumping off like I'm pretending to be batman. I do think I've sunk almost 50k into kitting out my apartment though.

[@Malsypoo]

@@jakinbandw truly the world's greatest detective

[@gamepapa1211]

I have a feeling from Yahtzee's description that this game would be something truly special when polished out. Hopefully the devs took care in perfecting the product. We sorely need a good open world detective game.

[@Denizu]

I'm fuming over the fact the Activision Blizzard joke is seemingly what got the most attention rather than the contents of both this really interesting and unique game as well as the sheer hilarity of the review. Probably some of Yahtzee's best work!

[@StrikeWarlock]

This is shaping up to be his #1 GotY contender already, never heard him this positive since Neon White.

[@burnsyburger]

Ehhhh, at least Top 5. Probably 2 or 3 at most depending on how the rest of the year rolls out. Don't forget, Hifi Rush came out earlier and Yahtz couldn't stop beaming about it and that was a finished game

[@StrikeWarlock]

@@burnsyburger This is still gonna be top 1 IMO since Hifi Rush is great in a general audience sense, whereas Shadows of Doubt actually feels like a game specific for Yahtzee similar to Obra Dinn and Hardspace Shipbreaker.

[@psinjo]

I haven't gotten to play the game much myself. But one of my favorite things is that you can literally make a 'crazy conspiracy board' in your head, complete with all the red string you could ever want!

[@davyspark3435]

This sounds like a spiritual successor to Sid Meyers Covert Action. On the wishlist, it goes.

[@MoogieSRO]

I'm very happy to see someone else who remembers Covert Action. That was a fantastic little game for its time.

[@jorgenjorgensen2739]

I forgot the last time i heard this much excitement about the gameplay of a video game. I'll keepy eyes out

[@SimonClarkstone]

Perhaps the time ZP reviewed Obra Dinn? He loved that one too.

[@jorgenjorgensen2739]

@@SimonClarkstone oh yeah that was a very positive one too... great game too.

[@WolfHreda]

"Lurk nearby until the cops have finished taping off the crime scene and have pissed off back to their cars to compare Punisher decals." So good. 😂

[@Jesus_Christ_For_Real]

Nothing sells me on a game like a positive zp about it

[@JCarey1988]

It's on sale, 20% off. Go get it.

[@donavenhollow5709]

I got it full price right before that sale and I'm not even mad. This game is worth the 20 dollars, easily.

[@RacingSnails64]

"There's someone in my house!" *in handcuffs kneeling on the floor* I always love your glitch stories, Yahtz.

[@LunerKunai]

Its not a glitch, its actually just how the AI in handcuffs works.

[@Zack_Wester]

@@LunerKunai to be fair I could see a AI that just woken up after been unconscious go... ohh where Im I... I hear something... hay what are you doing in my house.... shortly after going why im I cuffed.... ohh wait now I remember you smacked me (if he saw the attacker).... if not he might ask the player if he/she can unluck the cuffs.

[@DrunkCat1337]

3:30 This is why Holmes did opium.

[@Superman2890]

Holmes did cocaine

[@Drogmir]

I love how the game makes you feel smart within the context of its own system. Had a case where I managed to find one single print in the entire crime scene that wasn’t the victim’s. Went to the victims place of employment and found the fingerprint on a employee wall list with Polaroid photos and got going that way. Eventually found the killer in bed with another employee from the same workplace. And I love how it was never elaborated on just like a hey, this is happening. Also got to beat them down before they call the cops on me as I arrest the real killer.

[@KaiserHitoshi]

Oooh, that ActiBlizz burn is suddenly very topical. 😂

[@MnemonicHack]

What Iove about it is that it's a playground for the toolbox that is your mind. It gives you a problem, simply tells you to find the right person, and lets you take whatever method you want to get there. Just find the person and find some scrap of evidence. If you're the problem solving kind of person with a lot of mental tools, you're gonna have a great time. If you don't have so many tools, well you might still enjoy it but take a bit longer

[@geldonyetich]

Looking forward to the Post-ZP on this one. Sounds like the intrigue-riddled procedural sandbox life simulator I've always wanted ever since I had grown so bored of peaceful Animal Crossing village life as to fantasize what it would be like to dig for a fossil only to find a neighbor's recently-murdered corpse.

[@sassytabasco]

Y'know what's funny, is they added an update where restaurants and bars do get mad at you for loitering, and it might be because of this video lol

[@ToastyKen]

Oooo! A procedurally-generated detective game is an idea I had like 20 years ago but never put any effort into realizing. Glad to see someone is finally doing it! :D

[@kikakuvr4198]

What makes me so happy is not just that Yahtzee and Josh from lgio both reviewed the same game the same week but also that they both enjoyed the game and they both enjoyed the game *because* it allowed them to be maximally and gleefully chaotic while occasionally solving a crime...i look forward to playing SoD

[@ShadowLibrarian]

Shows of doubt does sound amazing. I have literally always wanted a game that allowed me to fully explore every building I have seen. Also love detective stories.

[@JCarey1988]

I spent 2 hours goofing around in the apartment building i spawned in, practicing stealing and stealth, roleplaying that I was fed the F up with having almost nothing to eat and I was gonna fridge-raid the entire complex. And i. had. fun. doing it. 20% sale until August 10th. Go get 'em.

[@squee30000]

My favorite "It's an Early Access game" experience with this game was when the victim was killed on the landing to their apartment rather than in the apartment itself. The problem came when the police cordoned off the whole floor from entry and gunned down anyone who set foot there, including the people who lived there. What made it worse (better) is that NPCs don't use the elevators, so anyone who lived *above* that floor was also briefly trespassing. I passed by the floor a few in game days later, and every unit on that floor was marked off as the person inside being dead. Good times

[@sator_project]

What Shadow of Doubt realizes is the ultimate detective fantasy isn't Sherlock Holmes, but Columbo.

[@SumptuousMeat]

OMG the 'Punisher decals' bit had me in tears. The irony! Hahahahhahahhahah

[@tristanbaker355]

Was in a suspect's home, trying to find out where he worked. The lights came on and the suspect came home as I was drinking his milk. Chucked the milk at him before knocking him out with a club. I got such a kick out of the image of arresting someone with a milk mustache.

[@jamesverner9132]

Anything that makes Yahtzee happy can only be taken as a good omen

[@Sergeantmajormario]

4:35 is a new favourite ZP moment

[@zomgl2pnoobffs]

Back in the late 1970s I played a procedural detective simulator written in BASIC on a CP/M machine. It cooked up a different Cluedo-like Agatha Christie situation on every run, and you'd have to wander around in a sort of text adventure looking for stuff and questioning people before gathering them together in the drawing room. If often wondered why I haven't seen an up-to-date game like that. Well, now I have!

[@ummmhelp]

post dad games really are the best hardspace ship breaker, ss13, and carrier command 2 are probably some of my favorites

[@oddmott7653]

I just heard about this yesterday from "Let's Game it Out," and the first thing i thought while watching his latest vid is "I bet Yahtzee would be all about this." Then lo & behold, the very next day, he's reviewing the game & audibly excited to be doing so. Glad you like it Yahtz; it's good to hear you happy to play a game from time to time!

[@JCarey1988]

Hello fellow LGIO fan! That's how I found this gem as well!

[@lexslate2476]

We are reminded once again of a feature that critics seem to share: They like novelty. They experience so much of their chosen media type that seeing something they've seen a thousand times before merely executed well isn't all that impressive to them. New and interesting ideas, that gets their attention. This is why Ubisoft's tradition of making the same sodding game with minor tweaks ever fucking year goes over so poorly with Yahtz.

[@Animefreak242]

True. Your feedback is valued and necessary

[@CB0Otz]

The idea of somebody "spotting" you while you've already cuffed them and probably given them several concussions feels like the kind of thing they really should keep as a feature tbh. That sounds too hilarious to be a bug.

[@counterfeitsaint7479]

The two cops going to compare Punisher decals is just *chefs kiss*. Also very sad and disturbing.

[@Jetiko27]

Yatzee should try Pathologic 2. The procedural aspect isn't there, but you're also a professional (doctor) who has to steal and sneak and lie on the side to get by.

[@jackmesrel4933]

It can also be boring as hell till the game clics with your brain, so I doubt he will play it anytime soon

[@elizabethmcwhorter3445]

he already tried pathologic 2 and didn't like it. described it as dreary and inscrutable, don't remember the episode

[@jackmesrel4933]

@@elizabethmcwhorter3445 You're right, it was in the Mechwarrior 5/Watam one. Fair point, the game IS dreary and inscrutable at first, and stays dreary till the end

[@IndieJT]

This is the first time I was harsher on a game than Yahtzee. I think the world was very well built and the missions led to some organic moments, but the gameplay got so excruciatingly hard for even easy side gigs that I walked away feeling eminently frustrated. After 10 hours of gameplay I was absurdly rich from robbing diamonds safes and pawning then even though I had solved a mere fraction of the cases I picked. I think SOD has excellent potential, the grim bladerunner-y world and and well build sandbox will be great if they make it slightly more accessible with a story to reward our painstaking efforts. On a side note, my favorite part of this was tracking down a humiliation target through their business card in their house, showing up to their work at queensworth and associates, tossing a chicken sandwich and photographing the distraught office worker, then bailing out of a newly broken window I created, surviving the 7 story fall with my cybernetic legs, and casually walking off into the city’s eternal night.

[@JCarey1988]

Yeah they need more loot variations and penalties for pawning too much (decoy loot, cops searching your apartment, the fence saying "I can't move any more for awhile").

[@El-Burrito]

I saw a few streamers playing this game, but this review is what convinced me to try the game myself and it is so addictive. I spent so many late nights playing until the sun comes up just doing one more case, or following up one more lead on a case. I can't get enough of it and I can't wait to see where this game goes in the future.

[@Dethmaster64]

Hearing Yahtzee pronounce Rorschach as “roar shark” gave me whiplash

[@LofferLogge]

What's the correct pronunciation?

[@jetspalt9550]

Rorscharch

[@Epicmonk117]

A quick Google search reveals it to be pronounced “roar shack,” so I’m gonna blame the extra r sound on Yahtzee’s accent.

[@joevenespineli6389]

Its weird I swear he said it before but differently

[@mylittledashie7419]

It's not really that he's saying "shark" it's that in his accent the long A sound in "schach" is the same as an A followed by and R. It's a non-rhotic accent so that means they don't really pronounce R's (in certain parts of words anyway) they just modify the vowel that precedes it.

[@foxlerfox2810]

I wonder if Yahtzee likes Rorschach because they have similar taste in hats...

[@wilsonkierankitsune]

Doesn't sound like my kind of game but it does sound entertaining. This was one of the best ZP reviews I've seen in a while

[@stevezpj]

In the tutorial I set off the machine gun alarm system by mistake but it missed me and shot someone standing behind me. At this the building went into lockdown mode and every single person in the building starting panicking over this, running around setting off more alarms and getting gunned down by the security system while I sat still in an air vent. By the time it was finished, every single floor was covered in blood and bodies and I estimated around 25% of the city had been slaughtered by the security system.

[@JCarey1988]

That sounds disturbingly possible for a corporatist hellhole where OSHA and safety regulations don't exist.

[@KapnRich]

This game is awesome, and there's so much that could be built off it e.g. serial killers, suspicious suicides, variations of corporate espionage etc.

[@FakeEnema]

I’m pretty sure the devs said that in the final game there will be some kind of longform serial killer investigation you do as a main story case while also doing all the sandbox stuff.

[@Magmafrost13]

Its always nice to hear a premise for a game and think "wow that sounds super interesting" and then find out that its also really good

[@OhZordan]

Maybe the game is so realistic that the guy you handcuffed and beat, had a brain injury and just forgot you were in his house.

[@orcslayer890]

That Punisher decal joke got me good rofl

[@stevepeters6034]

I want you to know i only got half way through this review before deciding i wanted to discover it myself and went off to buy it. Great job.

[@Dribbleondo]

That Acti-Blizz joke aged incredibly well Yahtz.

[@EvilPikachu]

Are you sure you can afford that chocolate biscuit image, Yahtz? They're like £5.39 here in the UK right now.

[@DanielFerreira-ez8qd]

He's not THAT broke.

[@steveiest]

I literally could not have explained this game any better. Love it.

[@RivkahSong]

I freaking love this game. I once got a job to find and steal an envelope of confidential info but only had a height, shoe size, and a photograph to go off of. So I went to all the restaurants one by one and the showed the employees there the photo until one of them recognized them. I then asked the patrons the same question and one mentioned a nearby apartment building they saw her in. So I broke into the security room and checked the tenant files until I found one that matched the photo and was able to sneak in while she was at work and steal the info. I did a similar thing when I was looking for someone and I only had their first name and the ridiculously small yearly salary to go off of. I figured for that small money she had to be a barista or something and found her on the employee board of the 2nd diner I checked.

[@LonelyAncient]

that blizzard burn is surprisingly timely for us peasant week old watchers considering they just decided that PvE wasn't coming to OW2.

[@JCarey1988]

And sh!t like this is why I've given up entirely on MMO's. I got run off Warthunder after 2 years because the grind for repair costs alone was an unpaid job instead of a game.

[@Pineappolis]

I mentioned in a recent comment that, for actually determining whether you'll actually like a game or not, there's no reviewer or other form of media outlet I've ever come across as good a Yahzt. This is a prime example as I came away from this video thinking, "that sounds absolutely awesome and I hope the developers do incredibly well out of it," but also that it really doesn't sound like the type of thing I'd personally enjoy that much. I mean, if it's cheap or if they're a very new developer taking a huge risk making something so ambitious, I might buy it and try it anyway to do my infinitesimally small bit in supporting them in such a laudable endeavour but still.

[@andrewduhan]

> the cops had pissed off to their cars to compare punisher decals dammit man i cannot exhale through my nose any harder

[@keithadams7619]

2:39 I can't stop laughing imagining Yahtz rolling on the floor giggling like a schoolgirl irl

[@sid6645]

The cool thing is that you can break into the city hall and get the details of EVERY npc! Makes cases easy but its a risk and reward thing!

[@MrLego3160]

or you can just find a pc thats in a public area of the city hall and use that.

[@BadAnalogy91]

0:58 Yahtzee’s occasional displays of clairvoyance can be quite disturbing.

[@Vaultaiire]

This is both the most chaotic and positive video of yours in recent memory. it's also encouraged me more to play a game than any since obra din!

[@archon_maenad]

I'm usually an audio-only follower of ZP but I'm glad I watched this episode because the visuals are just *chefs kiss* Seriously, the sprite of Yahtz laying on his back swinging his feet in glee is perfect.

[@davidj8036]

Games great even in early access. In one of my playthroughs, I was a hygiene inspector for restaurants (there is a sync disk that pays for that) During on of my routine inspections, a murder happened right across the road, I could even hear the gunshots. I finished my Inspection, located the scene, and ate lunch while waiting for the cops to exit the building. I went in the building, located the cadaver, found ID, work rota and fingerprint, attempted to locate computer passcode but Instead found the murder weapon, a pistol. Inspected the weapon and Found the murderers finger print. Then, I found the cadavers partners ID, I went to the city hall and printed there details out, they worked at a bar. Went to the bar, found the suspect, and stalked them, I ordered some drinks, sat down and watched them while reading the newspaper. They exited the building, I followed. After two whole days of stalking (yes, I was very patient) I witnessed the murder from afar. I arrested the perpetrator, got the murder weapon, and the case was solved. Then I went back to inspecting restaurant kitchens.

[@gv1784]

It genuinely warms my heart that Yahtzee enjoyed this game as much as he did. Hopefully the game only improves during development!

[@JakePetrolhead]

Honestly, this game is the most fun I've had with a game in a very, very long time. A lot of rough edges, but the concept is so cool, and the execution is good enough, that I am happy supporting it to see where it goes.

[@darktetsuya]

'... a shovel or a paralyzed cat' had me dead. XD I may have to look this one up, sounds like it ticks some of the boxes off of cyberpunk 2077 and I loved that game to death!!

[@ObnoxiousCaterer]

I love that one of the implanta has two upgrade paths, one gives you extra inventory spaces, while the other pass gets you immunity to cold, the n to stinky and tiredness after some upgrades. Just the idea that the next step to cold immunity is stinky immunity tickles me.

[@ripleyg420]

My favorite part is knocking on the door, waiting for the NPC to start opening it, then barge through it, tossing them across their apartment. Then I proceed to steal all their info, money, and paper clips

[@Hawbitten]

Calling it now. This will be Yahtzee's game of the year.

[@timothy80]

4:50 Funny enough, I've encountered something similar to what he's suggesting. There was a killer that brought his gun back to his apartment. Managed to find him but sadly he ran off WITH said gun. So looks like the logic is there and I agree with this.

[@LordMort-jk8gq]

Yahtzee: goes to a bar in-game and orders the cheapest drink every once in a while for immersion only Letsgameitout: throws kettles out of windows, knocks on doors only to barge them down when someone’s on the other side, and gives himself a year long coma in game for no reason

[@mrblack5145]

I watched Josh from LetsGameItOut play this, it looked awesome.

[@Blitzwaffen]

That was an entertaining video but also an excellent example of why Josh should NEVER be a detective

[@sunbro197]

​@@Blitzwaffen Honestly, Josh shouldn't be any worker, except testing something. He is only good at breaking stuff. Which is hillarios to watch.

[@Blitzwaffen]

@@sunbro197 Last time he testing something in hydroneer he set off over a hundred nukes. The guy just needs to be in a sensory deprivation chamber in solitary confinement. It's safer for everyone.

[@subtlewhatssubtle]

@@Blitzwaffen Our patron saint of chaotic game interaction cannot be contained, he would find a way to clip through the bottom of the chamber and proceed to terminally overflow the floor with water.

[@Blitzwaffen]

@@subtlewhatssubtle I dunno, of there's anything Josh is great at ots spending a long time doing something mindless beyond what a reasonable person would do. He made ght treat the time in such containment as a 'Hold Please'.

[@danielhale1]

I've seen this game played and it looks like the way I tend to play Deus Ex: Human Revolution, where I'd break into a house, loot everything, and solve crimes on the way. Sometimes I was somewhat ambiguous on exactly which motive had me entering the house. I'm delighted that this game lets you break into a murderer's house, eat their food, enjoy a lovely fully-clothed shower, throw their possessions out the window, and when they arrive you punch them unconscious and hand them over to the police. That's pure, fresh madness and I love it. Instant add to my wishlist, assuming I ever finish Tears of the Kingdom (aka Bokoblin Abuse Simulator).

[@user-he1ff9fs9n]

the bit about the cops comparing punisher decals my word lmao

[@JCarey1988]

Yahtzee never misses a chance to dial the LULZ up to 11.

[@TheNiceNix]

I sat on a bench in front of an appartment building for 10 hours waiting for a 6 foot green haired lady to walk past so I could follow her to work and steal some incriminating evidence she had in her desk. Never has sitting there doing nothing for such a long time been so entertaining!

[@lax9586]

I love seeing Yahztee truly praise a game for having a game play loop that can keep him invested. I really think we are getting to the point where fans of gaming are eating really well as far as content goes.

[@dmr2044]

My favourite moment in this game by far was coming to a crime scene only for the entire apartment to have about 32 full milk cartons scattered about. The best part? The only fingerprints on them were the murder victim's. They just inexplicably set milk everywhere and then got murdered.

[@legosiw]

Yahtzee's powers of clairvoyance has once again leveled up i see. He's able to reach a week into the future now. Soon he will be unstoppable in tearing apart spunk-gargle-weewee and funk-marble-teehee games before they ever reach shelves. Not even game companies will be safe. And I'll be making popcorn for just such an occasion.

[@graefx]

I cant remember when I added this to my steam watch list, but it looks like the pulp noir equivalent of Dwarf Fortress which is such a batshit insane idea, i can't help but love it if it even achieves a % of that elevator pitch

[@rainmanslim4611]

Update: with the latest patch you can now get kicked out of a diner/bar if you stay for too long and dont buy anything.