Shadwen Reviews
From a first glance, Shadwen should be pretty great. Everything seems to look good and gives the impression that this game is totally finished. Then you make it past the first area and you quickly realize that Frozenbyte hasn't learned anything from their Trine 3 experience. Shadwen could be a promising game. There's a lot of potential with time manipulation, and if they could fix the AI this might even be worth a playthrough. But as it presently stands, I can't recommend this game.
If only there were a Lily following the developers around, Frozenbyte might’ve been guilt-tripped into giving Shadwen the polish it needed.
Shadwen indeed sets the bar fairly high for stealth based games with its unique approach on real-time/turn-based gameplay. It lacks content and deserves more well thought out alternative gameplay moments, but overall we are talking about a fine game here which wears its heart on its sleeve. If you're looking for a stealth based adventure to keep you hooked for a few evenings entertainment then go grab Shadwen, you’ll (probably) not be disappointed.
Shadwen has a lot of dings and dents – a superfluous crafting and loot system, unreliable physics, poor AI, and a fairly one-note aesthetic, and a brief campaign – but it manages to entertain nonetheless with its devil-may-care approach to puzzle solving and a heroine who’s actually a rather horrible, stabby bastard.
Shadwen is a stealth game forever trapped in a state of adolescence.
The game’s a bit of a mess, with baffling AI at times (especially from your partner, who loves getting herself in trouble), and the freeze time mechanic having the habit of failing in the heat of something significant going on.
Shadwen's first few levels will surely give some amount of fun to those who like this type of games, and the fact that the main character has to keep a little girl out of sight will, initially, feel like quite the exciting concept. Unfortunately, gameplay-wise this is quite a flawed product, with its main problem being the fact that it requires doing the exact same thing for more than 10, almost identical, levels.
I had fun with the game for my Shadwen review. The graphics are great and other than a few instances when I had a hard time doing a couple of sections with either stealth or kills, I can definitely recommend this release. The time stop/rewind mechanic changes the way you’ll approach this stealth/action game. It is interesting to see Frozenbyte work on a new IP, and I can’t wait to see what the studio does next.
Strangely compelling in spite of its shortcomings, Shadwen is an unusual stealth game with a head full of ideas that never quite get the support they need to bear fruit. Worth a try.
Shadwen is the kind of game that has the recipe to succeed. The use of time manipulation in a stealth game may make this a title that's intended for those just coming into the genre, but the approach is interesting enough to warrant a look. Bland level design and presentation along with a poor AI system for the guards makes the experience too rudimentary, and the lack of enemy variety can make things feel repetitive rather quickly. Ultimately, Shadwen has potential — but not in this incarnation.
There’s no option to dodge or avoid the enemy… You can, however, rewind time and try again – an amazing feature that should be in more stealth games
Overall, I think Shadwen could be a good game, but for whatever reason I was unable to play it as the developer intended. Other reviewers don’t seem to have encountered the same issue as I had, so perhaps it’s just a one-off. Consider perusing other reviews before making a purchase decision, reader, as I am going to have to give Shadwen a low score. Ultimately, I found it to be unplayable.
Shadwen boasts some cool mechanics and can even be entertaining at times, but it never truly feels like a cohesively good game as a whole. The repetitiveness of the levels, clunky physics and sub par story only hinder what could have been a great entry into the stealth genre.
After all is said and done, I enjoyed my time with Shadwen.
The quality and your enjoyment of the game varies greatly during its running time, as Shadwen occasionally offers moments of gameplay brilliance while most of the time it just falls flat. If you do manage to endure it, you do get rewarded, but it is too high of a demand when playing the game feels more like a chore.
For some hardcore stealth fans, Shadwen’s gameplay might be the kick they need to enjoy the genre’s true constraints once again. But to anyone else, it’s losses weigh more than the high points. There’s substance, but no flavor, scope, but no size. To everyone else, the game will likely feel like a case of lost ambition.
This is definitely a game. What do I mean by that? Well, this isn’t a “cinematic experience” a lot of games are going for these days. This feels like a game when you play it, not like you’re playing through a movie with gameplay mechanics tossed in. There’s a lot to like here, from the gameplay to the ideas presented, they just all aren’t executed extremely well at the end of the day.
Shadwen is a unique approach to stealth games that is rewarding once you take the time to understand how it all works together.
With other great indie titles out there, gamers are not missing out on anything with this one.