The grappling hook has no weight Shadwen gets stuck in odd positions physics bugs and flashing textures abound. Physics jank is almost expected for a game this mechanically varied, but Shadwen was clearly pushed out the door too early. Every level is assembled from the same small collection of assets they’re fine individually, but the visual and practical repetition gets old fast. It’s technically impossible to fail, so the stakes are linked to your attention span more than your skill.Īs the game progresses, the levels get bigger, the escort puzzles get trickier, and enemies get slightly tougher. Worse, the stacked mechanics effectively negate any tension that might otherwise exist. But while combining elements can be fun, using the rope to move boxes and distract enemies is so much more effective that many gameplay options feel redundant. You can attach mines to objects and drop them on enemies, or rewind time to nail the perfect plunge attack. Rope-swinging seems impossible while jumping, but then you remember you can stop moving, freeze time, and aim for grapple points more carefully. Just like in Braid, you can undo anything from moments to whole levels, enabling precise, perfectly-timed movements.įun, emergent things can happen when you combine these mechanics. If you or a victim are detected, it’s an instant failure, but that’s no problem: you can rewind time. As such, the pace is slow and deliberate you can take time to assess situations and respond, even - or especially - in moments of panic.
This is cribbed directly from Superhot (or the DLC implementation of Dishonored’s Blink ability), but employed for stealth rather than combat. Time, you see, only moves when Shadwen moves. But the most interesting mechanics revolve around time. She can knife enemies in the back and plunge-attack them from above. Shadwen has a grapping hook she can use to climb onto ledges, swing around levels, and drag objects. All the typical stealth stuff is present and accounted for: footstep noise, line of sight, backstabbing, and so on. Shadwen’s gameplay mechanics are so numerous, it’s hard to know where to start. Frozenbyte had a great idea here, but the allegedly dynamic morality system isn’t integrated deep enough to make it really sing. And even if you murder literally everyone in a level, Lily will make an about face in her judgement if you go non-lethal afterwards. Despite writing that harshly guilt-trips you for killing, there are no gameplay consequences to speak of. In practice, the effects are limited to between-level dialogue. In theory, the player’s degree of lethality is meant to affect Lily in significant ways. Lily is fragile, and seeing Shadwen brutally murder guards teaches her powerful lessons about life’s value. The relationship between Shadwen and her ward is more complex than a typical player/companion situation, though not as complex as Frozenbyte’s marketing would suggest. It’s more of a puzzle game than an escort mission, and thus a clever take on one of the worst recurring motifs in video games. Thus, progression is a matter of clearing those paths, either by distracting guards or killing them. Her AI will automatically move forward to the next safe spot if there’s a guardless path. If she’s in danger of being seen, her AI automatically runs to the closest safe spot, hiding around corners, in bushes, or in piles of hay. Thankfully, Lily cannot be caught or killed in Shadwen. As usual, the destination is unimportant (and unimpressive) let’s talk about the journey. From there, she has to reach the king without Lily dying - and without mentally scarring the girl in the process. Rescuing the child from a potential trip to the slammer, Shadwen decides - for some reason - to bring her along on her mission of murder. While infiltrating the capital, she runs across a young girl, Lily, who’s about to be arrested for stealing an apple.
Shadwen (the character) is a medieval assassin contracted to kill a king. Frozenbyte’s Shadwen is that game, but it’s a colossal disappointment. It stands to reason that I should at least like a game that cherry-picks those games’ best mechanics and bundles them into something new.
I love Uncharted and Braid, and I love Half-Life 2.
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