The Wednesday letters page is worried about the future of Ubisoft, as one reader recalls the awfulness of Activision’s Bobby Kotick.

To join in with the discussions yourself email gamecentral@metro.co.uk

Shattered expectations
I’ve been playing Starfield: Shattered Space for a few hours now and I’ll be honest, I don’t think it’s as good as the main game. So far at least, it seems like the whole of the DLC just takes place on a single planet – the purple looking one from the trailers – and there doesn’t seem to be any space travel in it. But surely that was the whole point of the original game? I know it’s what drew me to it.

I know it got a lot of stick from some people but I enjoyed it, warts and all, and yet the DLC just seems to be a kneejerk reaction from Bethesda, where they’re trying to turn it into a kind of sci-fi Skyrim – which the original really wasn’t.

Problem is that Skyrim was really visually interesting to explore. But this planet is just bare rocks and purple skies. Maybe there’s more to it later but it is not somewhere you want to explore from just seeing it. As for the story… the whole snake cult thing seems both silly and boring. I didn’t like it when it came up in the main game and I don’t like it now it’s the focus.

I know good games having bad DLC is not a new thing, but I’m very disappointed in this so far.
Sasquatch

A small price to pay
Fascinating to see the Switch’s accomplishments mapped out in detail, although I think anyone’s going to be surprised at the idea that it has the most games. I knew there was a lot of junk on the eShop, but I had no idea it was that much.

A part of me wishes Nintendo would be proactive in terms of enforcing standards but if the price of the Switch’s success is a bunch of shovelware I’ll never see or hear about then I’m perfectly fine with that. Although I’m struggling to understand who actually buys or even looks for that junk. These people clearly exist though.

Not at all surprised to find it has more top-rated consoles than anyone else. It’s been a new golden age for Nintendo, with the best, or close to it, entries in almost all their franchises, big and small. I have strong doubts that they’ll be able to repeat that success with the Switch 2, just because I think they’ll get too full of themselves, as always happens in these situations, but I don’t think the Switch 1 is going to be beaten for long time.
Gaza

Divorcing Zelda
Like seemingly everyone else I’m really enjoying the new Zelda game. I would also agree though that I would’ve been happy if it was even more divorced from the regular games. I don’t think it needed the dungeons or the sword-fighting at all. I think if it’d been all open world, and about using your abilities to get around and fight monsters, that would’ve made it seem even more unique.

I get they have to call it Zelda so that people buy it, but I do feel they could’ve got away with being more radically different and no one would’ve minded. Doesn’t spoil anything but I hope if there’s a sequel they consider going this route and/or making it a 3D game.
Basil99

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Usual business practice
17 Blizzard games cancelled part way through being made. 17 games? What a joke. And they keep going on about how they’re losing money and need to charge me for games. I’m sorry but if they started games they was going to finish and release they wouldn’t be broke. Now, yes, you can see it’s how it’s been done for years but, as they say, gaming has changed.

In Titan they pumped $80 million into a game then said, ‘Nah, forget it.’ I mean come on, if they didn’t make bad decisions in the first place they wouldn’t be losing so much money and then going cap in hand to gamers saying more. And I’m sorry, no matter what anyone says I’ll never agree to £100 game when the company is wasting it on half-baked ideas. It’s a joke and people running these companies need to be gone and bring in someone that knows what they’re doing.
David

GC: As we pointed out, companies cancel games all the time. It’s just usually you don’t get to find out about what could have been.

First anniversary
We all knew Bobby Kotick was awful but hearing it out loud, that he didn’t see games as anything but product and was happy to run Guitar Hero into the ground just to make some short term profit, is somehow still really upsetting.

Not that I imagine much will have changed at Activision since he left though. In a few days, Microsoft will have been in charge of Activision Blizzard for a whole year, and we’ve not heard even a hint from them of letting Activision make anything other than Call Of Duty or doing anything different to how they’ve always been.

I’m sure we’d be told it’s too soon, but too soon for what? A hint? A promise? A CGI trailer? You’ve had time for all of that in the last 12 months and yet I bet none of it ever happens.
Coldbant

Science fantasy
I know everyone else is looking forward to a Switch 2 announcement at the moment and I am too, to a degree, but I was never that big into Nintendo and I’m much more interested to see a reveal for Resident Evil 9. Now that the Tokyo Game Show has been and gone, I think the only chance for an unveiling this year is The Game Awards, but I do think that is a good chance. In fact, I’d say it was almost certainly going to happen.

They’ve used the show before, the game’s out next year so it needs to be shown sooner or later, and well… I really want to see it. Aren’t those good enough reasons?!

The big question for me, even more than whether it’s going to be third person or not (I bet it is) is where they’re going to go with the story. Will they go for a more supernatural angle, like with the werewolves of Village, or a more sci-fi one? I realise it’s all technically sci-fi, but Resi is a series that can have its cake and eat it in terms of atmosphere.

Personally, I think it’s time for, and I would welcome, more sci-fi. It seems a long time since we’ve had the big science lab, genetically bred cyber-monster threat and I’m all for that. I’m not sure what the context should be, maybe set it up so it seems supernatural at fist (maybe vampires?) and then reveal it’s even more science-based than usual.

I like the sound of that. There was always a big Aliens/The Thing vibe to early Resident Evil and I would like to get back to that again for the next one.
Rich

Further reading
For all those writing in about the old video game magazines, I’d recommend giving a podcast called The Back Page a listen.

It’s hosted by two ex-magazine writers/editors and they quite often have guests on to talk about their time working on magazines as well.
Drlowdon

Another one bites the dust
I know Ubisoft aren’t many people’s favourite publisher but I do worry that they may be circling the drain at the moment. Star Wars Outlaws hasn’t done well and they’ve clearly made a hash of Assassin’s Creed Shadows. At the same time, they’ve got trouble from investors who are trying to get them to sell up (or go private, for some reason).

We all saw what happened, in terms of job losses, when Microsoft bought Activision Blizzard and exactly the same thing is going to happen with Ubisoft if they get sold off to some other company, even if it’s for less than they’re worth.

On top of that it’ll be yet another third party publisher that just disappears. After that what have we got left? EA, Take-Two, and that’s pretty much it for Western companies. I mean, that is literally it in terms of big companies, except for Warner Bros. – which is already owned by someone bigger.

If Ubisoft goes then all big budget Western games will be made by either Microsoft, Sony, EA, or Take-Two, with everything else just taking a tiny piece of the pie. If that doesn’t worry anyone then I don’t think you’re paying attention.

I know it’s hard to love Ubisoft, I certainly don’t but the smaller the number of people making our games the smaller the chances of them being anything new or interesting. For me their biggest problem is not their ‘formula’ but the fact that they waste so much time and resources on live service games, despite never having had a hit with anything except Rainbow Six Siege.

At least Sony seems to be quickly realising that the concept is a dead end, at least in terms of making it your focus, but Ubisoft has been doing this longer and still doesn’t understand. And that may cost them dearly in the future.
Zeiss

Inbox also-rans
When PSN went down on Tuesday, did Sony explain why? I heard it was a DDOS attack but I can’t imagine why anyone would be that upset with them at the moment. Unless it’s a disgruntled Concord fan!
Godot

GC: Sony didn’t give a reason.

I still can’t believe they made a new Secret Of Mana game, that looked exactly like the original but in 3D, and didn’t give it co-op. I bought and enjoyed Visions Of Mana and yet it seems to have been such a flop it’s one of the only Japanese developers that are laying people off at the moment. A mad decision.
Buntz

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Epic Games is back with another litigation, this time taking on two of the biggest companies in the world, claiming Google and Samsung are colluding against third party apps.

Back in 2020 Epic Games sued Apple, when the latter removed Fortnite from its storefront. The reason was because the game maker, while protesting the 30% fee for in-app purchases on Apple phones, had purposefully ignored its guidelines and added its own mobile payment method for the in-game currency V-Bucks.

Soon after Google did the same and Epic Games sued them too. The lawsuit against Apple ended in 2021, with Epic Games winning one of 10 counts, meaning that Apple can no longer prohibit external payment links. The other litigation ended with the Fortnite creator winning on all counts against Google, who was found to have breached anti-trust laws.

Epic Games has now launched another lawsuit, this time accusing Samsung and Google of ‘colluding to block competition in app distribution’ – essentially arguing that it’s harder to install Fortnite via its own app on their phones.

The key factor in this lawsuit is Samsung’s default Auto Blocker feature, which is a setting that you have to disable to install Epic Games and Fortnite – or other third party apps or websites.

‘Auto Blocker is the latest in a long series of dealings in which Google and Samsung have agreed not to compete to protect Google’s monopoly power,’ said Epic Games in a press briefing.

‘Auto Blocker cements the Google Play Store as the only viable way to get apps on Samsung devices, blocking every other store from competing on a level playing field.’

The Fortnite maker adds that because the Auto Blocker is on by default it takes 21 steps to download an app outside of Google Play Store and Samsung Galaxy Store, which it claims is illegal.

Epic Games believes that Google and Samsung have ‘intentionally crafted’ the Auto Blocker feature and wants the court to ‘eliminate the Auto Blocker by default and ‘enable competition’.

It also refers to its legal win against Google in late 2023: ‘The jury found that Google’s app store practices are illegal, including the unlawful agreements Google enters into with phone manufacturers such as Samsung.’

Google has fired back against the allegations, with Dave Kleidermacher, VP Engineering, Android Security and Privacy, telling Eurogamer, ‘Epic’s latest lawsuit is a meritless and dangerous move.’

Kleidermacher also said, ‘Google did not request that Samsung create their Auto Blocker feature,’ before adding:

‘To make this about access to a game is deliberately misleading; this is about user safety. And Epic’s lawsuit puts their corporate interests above user protections.’

It remains to be seen how far the lawsuit goes but if it ends up being anything like the Epic Games vs. Apple litigation, we can expect lots of embarrassing leaks, about information neither side wanted revealed, and no real resolution.

For example, one revelation that came out of the Apple case was how Epic Games offered Sony £140 million in a deal to get up to six first party PlayStation games as Epic Games Store exclusives.

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Nintendo’s current console has more games on it than the PlayStation 4 and 5 put together, but also the best record of quality on Metacritic.

In the modern era of gaming. you can usually guarantee two things about a Nintendo console: that it will feature a number of highly acclaimed first party exclusive games, and that it probably won’t have many top titles made by third party publishers. After all, no one expects the latest Grand Theft Auto or Call Of Duty on a Nintendo console (not that both haven’t happened occasionally).

People happily buy the Nintendo Switch knowing that many games available on the Xbox Series X/S and PlayStation 4 will never appear on it, but that doesn’t mean that, overall, the Switch has less games. In fact, surprisingly, the opposite is true.

A fan has added up all the games available on Switch and discovered it has an incredible 11,555 games. That’s more than any other previous console, including the PlayStation 4 and 5 combined, the PlayStation 1 through 3, and all Xbox consoles including backwards compatibility.

If you’re wondering how that can be, it’s because the Switch has become a haven for indie games – many of which sell better or are only released on Nintendo’s console (and usually PC).

It’s also due to a lot of what can only be described as shovelware: low quality games thrown onto the eShop with little care on the side of the creators and with no attempts at curation from Nintendo.

The Last Of Us knock-off that Sony insisted be removed from the eShop is one of the few famous examples, with most of the others being sub-mobile style rubbish no one’s ever heard of.

The original observation was made on the forum ResetEra, using data from Mobygames and DekuDeals, which highlighted some small inconsistences between the two sources.

Forum member St. Eam the 3rd found that while Windows PC has by far the largest library, at 66,569 games, that’s because its backwards compatibility stretches all the way back to 1993.

The Switch’s total though is comparable to both iOS and Android’s games libraries – which are also filled with mountains of anonymous shovelware – and well ahead of its nearest console rival, the PlayStation 4, at 10,870 games.

Even when you take backwards compatibility into consideration the Nintendo Switch beats all comers, which is ironic because it isn’t backwards compatible itself, since its predecessor was the disc-based Wii U.

With the PlayStation 5’s catalogue added to the mix the total for Sony’s most recent consoles still only comes to 11,463, compared to 11,555 for the Switch. Interestingly, 8-bit computer the Commodore 64 has the seventh biggest library, behind the various modern PlayStation and Xbox consoles.

However, that does not mean that the Nintendo Switch has achieved its total at the expense of quality. The Switch also has the greatest number of games receiving a 90+ Metacritic score, the greatest number of 75+ games, and the second greatest number of 60+ games.

Once again, it’s the PlayStation 4 which is closest behind, although obviously that’s been around longer than the Switch, and the PlayStation 5 is newer than both.

It’s a fascinating collection of stats and while you could argue that ultimately it doesn’t matter, given the small number of games most people end up owning for their format of choice, the Metacritic results alone are very impressive.

What’s definitely interesting is that, unlike the current Switch, the Switch 2 is heavily rumoured to be backwards compatible, which could mean the majority of current Switch games will be available on the new format from day one – which will certainly be a sizeable head start for the console.

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Warcraft 4 is probably never happening, but far more games than that have been cancelled by Blizzard over the years, including a Call Of Duty real-time strategy title.

Previously unknown details about Activision Blizzard have been pouring out all week, as industry insider Jason Schreier promotes his upcoming book about the company.

Schreier recently revealed that there is a StarCraft shooter in the works, and also talked about the ridiculous ambitions of former CEO Bobby Kotick, who wanted a new Guitar Hero launch every month.

The revelations keep coming though, as the insider has given new details about a huge list of cancelled Blizzard games, and why Warcraft 4 is unlikely to happen any time soon.

Why doesn’t Blizzard make RTS anymore?

In an interview with YouTube channel MinnMax, one of the hosts went through a long list of cancelled or rumoured Blizzard games, while Schreier gave his input about what he knows about them.

After Schreier had also added other titles he knew about, and which had been axed, the list grew to a total of 17.

The most interesting ones included a Call Of Duty real-time strategy game, a Star Wars project that eventually transformed into Starcraft, and a project that was in development for two years that was basically Minecraft but in the Warcraft universe.

Schreier said that when production director on Starcraft 2, Tim Morten, realised that Blizzard wasn’t going to do more content for it, he pitched ‘all sort of ideas’ for a new real-time strategy game.

‘Including at one point, I think out of desperation, he was like, ‘Hey, I want to make a RTS so badly we can do it on Call Of Duty if that’s what it’ll take to do this thing.’

Schreier revealed that the reason Blizzard didn’t greenlight another real-time strategy game during that time was partly because the executives had ‘lost faith’ in the genre.

He also mentioned an ‘opportunity’ Blizzard had to do a Star Wars game, but said that the CEO of LucasArts told him he didn’t remember such a thing. Schreier also said that the project got to the point of concepting AT-ATs ‘in Blizzard isometric form’, but didn’t go much further.

Schreier also mentioned a previously unknown, cancelled game called Avalon, which was essentially Warcraft and Minecraft put together, and described to him as ‘incredibly fun to play.’

It was axed in 2015, after two years in development, and, without going into further detail, Schreier thought it sounded like Dragon Quest Builders.

Another game that never materialised, at least yet, is a Warcraft 3 sequel, and Schreier was asked on Reddit about how likely it is we’ll see Warcraft 4 any time soon.

Again, he mentioned that there was little appetite for real-time strategy games among the executives, but that there was hope a sequel could happen if Warcraft 3: Reforged did well.

That was the opposite of what happened, but Schreier added: ‘Maybe under Xbox there’s room for a small team to work on a RTS and release it on Game Pass or something, but these days, who knows.’

What was Blizzard’s Project Titan?

The most famous of all cancelled Blizzard games is the massively multiplayer online project codenamed Titan, which Schreier said would’ve been a cosy game style experience like The Sims or Animal Crossing during the day and would have had you fighting crime as a superhero at night.

It was intended as a rival to World Of Warcraft, so that Blizzard didn’t end up with all its eggs in one basket, but in the end it wasted not just money but time.

‘It cost the company $80 million, as well as six or seven years of opportunity costs, and potential other projects that were lost along the way,’ reveals Schreier.

Although 17 (18 if you include Titan) is a lot, none of this is very unusual for a developer of Blizzard’s size and it’s true that for the industry as a whole far more games are cancelled than are ever released, although few make it into full development before being shut down.

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As Star Wars Outlaws is rumoured to have only sold 1 million copies in a month, and insider reveals the complex reasons for Assassin’s Creed Shadows’ delay.

The delay of Assassin’s Creed Shadows into 2025 wasn’t the most unbelievable piece of news this year – big games get pushed back all the time and this is only until February – but the reasons for it being delayed appear to be many and complicated.

Shadows has been controversial ever since it revealed that one of the two playable characters is African samurai Yasuke. Even though he was a real person this has led to a lot of nebulous complaints about historical inaccuracy and some equally vague apologies from Ubisoft, but no indication of what they’re intending to change.

The controversy, particularly in terms of how the game is received in Japan, does seem to be a part of the reason for the delay but the biggest issue, as Ubisoft themselves intimated, is that they’re worried that Shadows will suffer the same fate as Star Wars Outlaws – which is rumoured to have sold only 1 million copies in the last month.

Was Star Wars Outlaws a flop?

A million sales may sound like a lot but it’s not for a game that will likely have cost over $200 million to make, not including the very expensive Star Wars licence. Ubisoft themselves have described the game’s launch as ‘softer’ than they would hope and said that they will learn from its problems when releasing Assassin’s Creed Shadows.

The one million figure was suggested by website Insider Gaming, which makes the comparison with Assassin’s Creed Mirage, which was smaller in scale and budget than most other games in the series and yet sold five million copies in three months.

Ubisoft is currently doing their best to turn Outlaws into a long-term seller, with new updates and DLC planned, but they’ll be aware that most new games are only sold at full prices for the first few months and that Ubisoft titles have a particular reputation for heavy discounts – something which seems inevitable for Outlaws, with Black Friday approaching.

Ensuring the same thing does not happen to Shadows is now Ubisoft’s number one priority, with Insider Gaming suggesting that the delay was not only expected by the developers but that they campaigned for it to happen. Supposedly they were ignored until the launch of Outlaws, at which point Ubisoft execs started to panic.

Not only was Outlaws’ performance responsible for Shadows delay but apparently it was the reason that Ubisoft went back to making its games available on Steam, rather than just its own PC store.

What are the historical inaccuries in Assassin’s Creed Shadows?

But while the developers apparently want to use the extra time to address issues of historical inaccuracy there are still no specific example of exactly what, beyond a vague reference to ‘architectural details.’

Although the game is only loosely based on fact (the portrayal of ninja, in particular, seem to have little basis in reality) it seems no more or less so than other Assassin’s Creed games.

However, it’s suggested that Ubisoft brought in historians to advise on the game far later than usual for such a project, which seems strange given how unique and complicated Japanese culture can seem from a Western perspective.

‘Miscommunication between teams and cutting corners when it came to the approval process of assets to meet deadlines,’ was also apparently a problem when it came to historical accuracy.

The final issue was apparently more mundane: bugs. Supposedly the game is ‘currently not at the stage it needs to be for release.’ However, there’s also talk of ‘tweaks’ to gameplay mechanics, which were criticised in recent playtests.

It all paints the picture of a rushed and disorganised development that absolutely did need the delay, in order to have any chance of setting things right.

Assassin’s Creed Shadows will now be released for Xbox Series X/S, PlayStation 5, and PC on February 14, 2025.

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Jason Schreier reveals new details about controversial CEO Bobby Kotick’s reign at Activision Blizzard, and his desire for a constant stream of new Guitar Hero content.

While video games journalist Jason Schreier has been promoting his upcoming book, called Play Nice: The Rise, Fall, And Future Of Blizzard Entertainment, the insider has revealed lots of new information about the company.

Last week Schreier confirmed that there is, or at least was, a StarCraft shooter in development, led by Far Cry veteran Dan Hay.

After a new round of interviews, Schreier has given details about the ‘bonkers’ ambitions of former Activision Blizzard CEO Bobby Kotick. These include wanting a new Guitar Hero every month and ‘hundreds’ of extra developers to help with growing pains after the success of Overwatch.

In the book, Kotick is quoted as saying, ‘I want to get to a launch every quarter, and then I want to get to a Guitar Hero launch every month.’

The statement was queried by Limit Break Network on YouTube, who asked how serious Kotick was, to which Schreier said:

‘First of all, Bobby Kotick, the way that he operates… some of his executives like to call him the ‘unreasonable man,’ and it’s kind of their job to filter his wild proclamations into an actual plan.

‘He’s kind of one of those CEOs that might just say bonkers things and then everybody else has to interpret that and filter it down.’

Schreier said he wasn’t sure if Kotick literally wanted a new Guitar Hero every month, but added:

‘I think that he did believe that players have this insatiable demand for new content and new things, and will keep buying them. And when they stop buying them, then he will just kill that franchise and move on to the next one. That’s just how he operated.’

Schreier also said what he thought was ‘telling’ about how Kotick works is that he often hired consumer product goods executives over executives from the video games industry.

‘That’s how he saw games, as just products to be marketed and shipped. He didn’t see them as art or experiences that should have greater meaning beyond just selling products to people.’

Kotick was widely disliked by gamers and even his own staff, with more than one attempt to have him fired. However, there’s never been any suggestion that he was incompetent and Schreier reveals that he was probably right in his suggestions of how to handle Overwatch 2, compared to what actually happened.

In a Reddit AMA, Schreier stated that Kotick wanted to hire hundreds of extra developers to help with the increasing workload after the success of Overwatch 1, something game director Jeff Kaplan opposed.

‘Following OW1’s release, Team 4 began to run into a bit of a problem: they had too much work to do. They had to simultaneously: 1) keep making new stuff for OW1, which almost accidentally turned into a live-service game; 2) work on OW2, which was Jeff Kaplan’s baby and would have brought more players into the universe via PVE; and 3) help out with the ever-growing Overwatch League,’ Schreier said.

‘Kotick’s solution to this problem was to suggest that Team 4 hire more people. Hundreds more people, like his Call Of Duty factory. And start a second team to work on OW2 while the old team works on OW1 (or vice versa).

‘Kaplan and Chacko Sonny were resistant to this, because they believed pretty strongly in the culture they’d built (more people can sometimes lead to more problems and less efficient development), and it led to all sorts of problems as the years went on.’

Despite being the CEO of Activision Blizzard for over three decades, Kotick was a deeply unpopular figure, in part because of cutting almost 800 jobs in 2019, while banking $30 million a year for himself.

He was also heavily criticised for underplaying the toxic environment at the company, and was caught leaving a voice mail about having one of his assistants killed – something Kotick later called ‘hyperbolic and inappropriate’.

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UPDATE: Online services for PS5 are back again, after a lengthy outage that lasted for several hours and left many people unable to play their games.

Outages on PlayStation Network (PSN) aren’t uncommon but they usually only last an hour or so. This one started last night though and was only fixed at around 11am BST, so it was a relatively long one.

There’s been no explanation for why it took longer than usual to fix but it didn’t affect everyone, which is also relatively unusual. Whatever the problem is it’s fixed now and hopefully that means everything will be working as usual for the foreseeable future.

Original story:

The PlayStation network is down leaving millions of gamers unable to access their consoles.

A worldwide outage has been reported with a warning message showing up on the PlayStation Network website, Account Management, PlayStation Store and Gaming and Social pages. 

Users have described not being able to access paid games even offline.

Downdetector has reported nearly 5,000 complaints, and there has been no word from the network when it will be back online.

Users have taken to social media to vent their frustration with account @vidsthatgohard writing: ‘Worked a 10-hour shift just for PlayStation Network to be down.’

Account @kishibe wrote: ‘One of my only days off and I can’t even game cause of PlayStation Network being down!’

Another wrote: ‘PlayStation network down, time to get know my wife of five years.’

The outage has meant millions are unable to sign in on the PS5, PS4, PS Vita and PS3.

PlayStation’s warning message reads: ‘You might have difficulty signing in or creating an account for PlayStation Network.

‘We’re working to resolve the issue as soon as possible. Thank you for your patience.’

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A new indie game offers a pixelated film noir set in an alternative history dystopian that’s a cross between Blade Runner and The Maltese Falcon.

Shadows Of Doubt sounds great on paper. It’s designed to appeal to the thwarted private eye that exists within all of us, while acting as a homage to classic hard-boiled detective film noir. At the same time, it makes clever use of procedural generation, in order to conjure up unique cities within which you can lead a vicarious life as a gumshoe. It’s an ambitious concept, made all the more impressive because it’s a more or less solo project from indie developer ColePowered Games.

In many ways, it achieves its ambition to be a more free-form, unstructured, and randomised take on the likes of Ace Attorney. It certainly possesses a distinctive visual style but at the same time it betrays it indie origins on far too regular a basis and ends up feeling like more of an intellectual exercise than a truly enjoyable game.

Shadows Of Doubt sets its scene and tone quite well. It’s set in a dystopian alternative universe, in which industrialisation has run rampant, with private megacorps taking on security responsibilities rather than the police. As a consequence, its inhabitants are mostly rather paranoid, and security measures like cameras linked to gatling guns are pervasive. But technically speaking, it is set in the 1980s, so its technology only reaches as far as landline telephones, analogue cameras, and very primitive computers.

In the main story thread, you wake up in your designated apartment and amass a basic set of detective tools, including lockpicks (for which paperclips and hairpins will suffice) and a fingerprint scanner. A note under your door brings your first case: an apartment to visit in which you discover a dead body.

Interface-wise, Shadows Of Doubt does OK: each case you take on generates a pinboard to which you can attach all clues and evidence connecting related items. The map is crucial, as it essentially gives you blueprints to every building in the city, which you can examine floor by floor, and when you identify particular buildings for investigation you can click a button to set a route indicated by arrows that will take you there.

As well as scanning for fingerprints, much of the clues you find are gleaned from telephones – there’s a number you can dial to find the last call made to any phone – and the city directory, which matches inhabitants and businesses with their telephone numbers. Hacking computers (which, like security doors, you need passcodes for) and telephone routers is also a common activity.

Amassing leads is fun, but sadly that’s only a small part of Shadows Of Doubt’s gameplay, which is more about stealth. In that initial apartment, for example, once you’ve collected all the necessary evidence, a silent alarm will trigger, and you’ll have to make an escape, either through the system of vents that crisscross every building or by finding a hiding place when the outsourced authorities arrive.

Shadows Of Doubt most emphatically isn’t Metal Gear Solid. Crawling through the vents is likely to put you in someone else’s apartment, and if they spot you, they’ll attack you. The game does have a rudimentary fist-fighting system (and as you progress, you can acquire a gun or melee weapon), but it’s hopelessly clunky. Not to mention that beating up or shooting completely innocent people doesn’t feel like a particularly nice thing to do.

If you’re caught trespassing, or fall foul of an automated security system, it’s not game over and instead you’re put in the hospital and, since the game’s set in the US, that costs you a big chunk of your hard-earned cash to get out of.

Unfortunately, once you reach the lead-following stage of an investigation, bar some interrogation of usually reticent witnesses (who might talk if you bribe them), most of the gameplay involves breaking into buildings and stealthing around. You can disable alarms and security cameras by hacking their junction boxes, but too often you trigger an alarm in the process of trying to hack it and end up back in the hospital. Shadows Of Doubt’s stealth element is simply too fiddly and demanding given the clunkiness of its movement controls.

Despite the film noir theme, stealth is the most prominent element of gameplay and yet it’s easily the worst part of the game and absolutely no fun at all.

That’s a shame, because Shadows Of Doubt contains some really good ideas. Its noir atmosphere is great and its sandbox mode, in which you generate a new city on the fly and earn your detective chops by working small jobs from bulletin boards in bars and restaurants, is pretty ambitious.

But even that is marred by the fact that all the cities you generate (in practice, you’re generating a small part of a much bigger city) pretty much look the same and contain procedurally-generated inhabitants doing all the same stuff, only with different names and addresses.

Graphically, Shadows Of Doubt does itself no favours. No doubt in order to avoid the difficulty of having to randomly generate faces, it uses blocky Minecraft style voxels. The PlayStation 5 version also contains some jarring visual glitches, with things like footsteps seemingly floating above staircases.

However, if you manage to solve a few cases, establish yourself as a detective and level yourself up (you can improve your attributes using what the game calls sync disks), you’ll start to discern a wider narrative, involving a serial killer and the sinister megacorp Starch Kola. Unfortunately, that takes an age to unfold and the amount of clunky, frustrating stealth action needed to find out what’s going on is not going to be worth it for most people.

It’s a great shame, because for such a tiny developer to display so much ambition is laudable. But, unfortunately, Shadows Of Doubts’ gameplay doesn’t live up to the intriguing promise.

Formats: PlayStation 5 (reviewed), Xbox Series X/S, and PC
Price: £19.99
Publisher: Fireshine Games
Developer: ColePowered Games
Release Date: 26th September 2024
Age Rating: 16

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The Tuesday letters page wonders if Horizon Online will be Sony’s last live service title, as more readers reminisce about old video game mags.

To join in with the discussions yourself email gamecentral@metro.co.uk

The speculation of Zelda
As a reader suggested recently, for me the excitement is not so much what the Nintendo Switch 2 will look like but what its games will be, as we currently have no idea. It’s not like the Wii or Wii U where we had games from the previous formats (both Zelda titles, by coincidence) that we knew were going to appear on the new one. This time we know absolutely nothing. Not only that but we have little idea of exactly how capable the Switch 2 is going to be, when it comes to graphics.

I was interested though, in a comment GC made about Nintendo always having a new Mario and Zelda out each year, even if it was just a spin-off or remaster. I’ve never realised it before, but I guess that is usually true. So… what will next year’s Zelda game be?

There are so many different Mario spin-offs, that you could get away with just about anything but if they’ve already had a Zelda spin-off this year and a new mainline game is impossible this soon then it surely has to be a remaster or remake next year?

There’s already been rumours (well, not rumours – I think it was just fan speculation) of a Breath Of The Wild remaster for the Switch 2 launch but I’m not sure how impressive that would really be. Personally, what I would like to see is the much asked for remake of Ocarina Of Time.

That’s something Nintendo could’ve been working on for years in secret and a great way to show off the power of the Switch 2, without drawing attention to the fact that it’s not that big a jump – as it might be if they went with Breath Of The Wild.
Gordo

GC: It doesn’t seem to be an absolute rule, but generally speaking Nintendo like to have at least one Mario and Zelda related title out each year. That’s certainly been the case this year.

Shattered schedule
So I see you haven’t reviewed Starfield: Shattered Space yet, did Bethesda not send you review code again? It wouldn’t surprise me, but it is disappointing.

I must say, I am very surprised that Starfield hasn’t been announced for the PlayStation 5 yet. Microsoft seem to be holding it back like it’s the crown jewels of Xbox, but that’s hardly its reputation. It’s amusing that in the same breath that Phil Spencer said Starfield would not be coming to PlayStation he also said that Indiana Jones wouldn’t be either, and we all know how that turned out.

Like you said, we don’t need some insider source to tell us that Xbox is a mess and their multiformat policy is completely random. They need to set up rules and timetables for when things are going to appear because all this uncertainty is doing is putting people off from buying an Xbox and sticking with PlayStation, under the assumption the games will turn up there sooner or later.

I certainly would be shocked if Starfield was not on PlayStation 5 by the end of next year, and probably a lot sooner.
Focus

GC: You don’t tend to get sent DLC early for any game, from any company. We’re not aware that anyone has had a chance to review Shattered Space yet; it’ll certainly be a few days before ours is ready.

Available now
As of Sunday evening, the PS5 Pro is still not sold out on Sony’s website. I now lament waiting in that damn queue for an hour. It isn’t a good sign for Sony, which is indicative of the ridiculous price. In the UK it’s 1:1 with the US price (£699/$699). However, I noticed the 30th anniversary PS5 Pro isn’t (£960/$1000). I wouldn’t be surprised if there’s a price cut within six months.

I remember when the OG Xbox launched at £299. There was a price cut to £199 only a month later. Early adopters were given a Duke controller and a few games as compensation. Sony are all too aware of the backlash against the PS5 Pro price.

We are getting scalped in the UK. At a bare minimum, £50 should be shaved off the PS5 Pro price. I stupidly assumed PS5 Pro would cost £599. I can’t be the only one to rewind the PS5 Pro live stream to double check the price.
Si

GC: The standard PS5 Pro isn’t being produced in limited numbers, only the 30th Anniversary edition is.

Email your comments to: gamecentral@metro.co.uk

Get while the getting is good
I have a different take to Dave regarding your PS5 Pro.

Basically, it’s going to be worth next to nothing in few years’ time, as even though it’s a special edition, unless it’s unopened and pristine condition you won’t get much extra for it in reality.

Take that money and run dude.

That’s a whole lot of extra money in your pocket and you can always go buy a standard edition with the money you make and still bank the rest and buy any games you will want.

You can’t really enjoy a limited edition, they’re for putting away as an investment for later on.

How much extra enjoyment from staring at a grey PS5 Pro rather than a white one?!
Kiran

Trusted trio
I enjoyed reading the weekend feature about games magazines. There were three – Super Play, Edge, and GamesTM (along with Digitiser) – that I really looked forward to every month and read pretty much cover to cover.

I do miss elements of the old days when I could read a review of the Japanese version of a game in Super Play and then start looking forward to the PAL release.

I too found that Edge lost its way some time ago, but the first decade or so was very good.

I also thought that GamesTM was very special, I was hugely disappointed when it came to an end.

I have kept all my collections of these magazines from issue one. I just can’t bring myself to part with them.

You are now my only source of reliable and informative gaming news and reviews. Please keep up the good work, I’m not sure how I would get on without you.
Ed

GC: Thank you very much.

Positive memories
I enjoyed reading the Truth Soul’s Reader’s Feature about video game magazines. One of the most prominent aspects of Crash magazine for me was the cover art of Oliver Frey. The Crash Smash was also a valuable indicator of quality, with regards to their gaming reviews.

I think I remember that Computer And Video Games had code listings in it, so if you made the effort to type in pages of code you could be rewarded with a game if you typed in the listing correctly.

In the days of the PlayStation 2, PSM2 magazine was my publication of choice due to its quality reviews and well written content. I never thought much of Edge magazine, if memory serves they didn’t think much of Grand Theft Auto 3, but their design work was always so cool and has often led me to buy the magazine despite that fact that I didn’t really enjoy reading it afterwards.

Great to see such a positive and interesting Reader’s Feature.
msv858 (Twitter)

Start saving
I’ve seen some people questioning why others are holding up Nintendo as a potential saviour of the industry but the absolute shambles that is Sony and Microsoft make that very obvious to me. Xbox are just throwing everything they can at the wall at this point, while Sony’s live service plans seem to be in tatters.

Of course, we don’t know for sure because they won’t say anything, but it sounds to me like the Horizon online game is probably going to be the last attempt, with maybe Fairgame$ as well, if that hasn’t already been cancelled.

And who is excited about the idea of a live service Horizon game? Yeah, thought so. Can’t wait to have to pay for every arrow and weapon with microtransactions in that one. Who needs gameplay when you can just spend money?
Toro

The old ways
In regards to Sting’s retro games aging gracefully, the polygon 3D visuals of early PlayStation consoles definitely are of a time but the art and gameplay in some side-on platformers are still playable and enjoyable in this day and age.

3D polygons were a breakthrough technology, but over time their age just shows far too much and, more importantly, the control and fun you get out of it is definitely affected. Just look at Indie games and how top-down action adventure games, and complicated games like Terraria, are still very popular.

From a developer’s point of view, I can see the attraction for artistic design and expression, and I feel the Metroidvania style was the key reason for this and especially Castlevania: Symphony Of The Night on the PS1.

A modern 2D game is about developing your character and this means collecting, mining, managing your environment, and creating the tools and equipment to do this for your base or abode, etc. It’s the same with top-down action adventures which now require managing your resources like Stardew Valley.

I can’t actually see the above styles going out of favour anytime soon, as we have Soulsborne style 2D platformers and sci-fi bullet hell shooters, which require quick reflexes and accuracy which gamers love to master. The sky is the limit with these, and I feel they will only get more amazing as interesting artwork and gameplay ideas are experimented with.

Also, a quick nod to GC viewer Dan, about the awesome choices in reading matter, with the Commonwealth Saga by Peter F. Hamilton. The following books, set a few centuries and more into the further future are the Void Trilogy books (comprised of The Dreaming Void, The Temporal Void, and The Evolutionary Void), which further explore the high technology as mankind and alien races journey into the unknown, with very strong characters, which I have followed for years – absolute genius.

So if a game based in Peter F. Hamilton’s universe is on the cards then count me in for sure. Always ready for a decent Mass Effect type of game. There is definitely no limit in ideas and I’m always pleasantly surprised when a special new game is introduced into my life.
Alucard

Inbox also-rans
So did the Switch 2 get announced today? If it didn’t let’s hope for tomorrow, eh? (Don’t most Nintendo Directs happen on a Thursday?)
Wotan

Glad to see the announcement of Ghost Of Yōtei. I hope the later setting means it will be less like Assassin’s Creed like the original. I feel that was the only reason they set it so early in history, so they could have lots of cannon fodder enemies, otherwise it was quite restrictive.
Powerman

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The small print
New Inbox updates appear every weekday morning, with special Hot Topic Inboxes at the weekend. Readers’ letters are used on merit and may be edited for length and content.

You can also submit your own 500 to 600-word Reader’s Feature at any time via email or our Submit Stuff page, which if used will be shown in the next available weekend slot.

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MORE : Games Inbox: Nintendo Switch 2 being a flop, Zelda: Echoes Of Wisdom love, and EA Sports FC 25

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MORE : Games Inbox: Why Assassin’s Creed Shadows was delayed, Ghost Of Yōtei spin-off, and The Midnight Walk

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