Shadwen

Steam Description

Shadwen is a 3rd person stealth-action game where the only rule is to remain unseen. Stay hidden - or the ruthless guards will kill you on sight!

Shadwen, an assassin on a quest to kill the king, has a chance encounter with an orphaned girl, Lily. She follows Shadwen on her dangerous journey, but when the ruthless guards get too close, Shadwen must take action right in front of Lily's eyes.

Will Shadwen risk the girl's budding trust by resorting to violence, or try and find another way while keeping her real purpose concealed?

To kill or not to kill - that is the question.

FEATURES

MOVE FREELY - Sneak and explore around the dark and gritty medieval province and use the environment to your advantage - use your rope to grapple onto rooftops, silently drop from ceilings, or veil yourself in the shadows.
STAY HIDDEN - Pick your assassinations carefully. Avoid being seen, heard or getting caught indirectly. Suspicious sights and noises will alert the guards - use it to your benefit.
TIME IS AN ACCOMPLICE - Time stands still when you are not moving Shadwen, allowing you to stop at any point mid-motion. Rewind time to manipulate your past and present actions!
USE PHYSICS - Use physics and a freely attachable rope to drag and topple objects. Make deaths look accidental; let gravity do the grave work.
CREATE TRAPS AND HAZARDS - set up traps and hazards to lure guards towards their untimely demise; discover new ways to eliminate or distract your foes by crafting items into deadly surprises, including poison traps, spike devices, decoy toys and more.
TWO CHARACTERS - Embrace the darkness with Shadwen and her abilities to protect Lily and create a safe passage for her.

My Experience

Completion: Game completed once

Playtime at Review: 6.3 hours

Total Playtime: 6.3 hours

Achievements at Review: 29/48 (60%)

My rating: 6.0/10

Likes

Times freezes when you're still, and you can rewind time

Plenty of choice when it comes to killing guards

Perfect for stealth game noobs

Listening to the guard's conversations is good fun

Dislikes

Very basic story

Times freezes when you're still, and you can rewind time (yes, I liked and disliked this)

Occasionally I would kill guards while I was on a box, slicing thin air

Lily sometimes runs into guards with no repercussions

Shadwen - Review

I got this game from the Yogcast Jingle Jam 2016 bundle on Humble Bundle and only just got round to playing it, but I'm glad I did. At the time of writing this I've done one complete playthrough, not rushing anything (around 6 hours).

To start, if you're looking for a stealth game with an in-depth story, this isn't the game you're looking for. The story is weak to say the least. Thankfully, the many different ways to distract and kill the guards was enough to keep me playing, and I had a great time doing so.

This would be the perfect starting game for anyone who's wanting to get into stealth games. The fact that time freezes when you're still means you have chance to look around and plan your next moves. You also have the ability to rewind time, allowing you to quickly change your plans if your first 20 plans were terrible mistakes. However, this can have an adverse effect of making things a little too quick and easy, and the game's not particularly that difficult to begin with (it's more difficult if you're trying pure stealth, without killing).

As I mentioned previously, there are many ways to kill guards. You can simply use your weapon, craft traps, or use the different objects around you to cause chaos. Finding different ways to kill the guards was something I particularly enjoyed, and I'm certain it's what'll tempt me into playing again.

The voices were also great, and I loved some of the things you can hear the guards talking about from time to time. There was a particular conversation about cheese I thoroughly enjoyed!

There were a couple of little issues I had, such as Lily running into guards and the guards not reacting at all. The issue was when it came to slitting throats. I could occasionally slit a guards throat while higher than him, leaving me slicing thin air and the guard dying. Some crazy voodoo going on there!

It's safe to say, as much as the story is lacking and as easy as the game is, it's a great stealth game with a lots of fun ways of completing each level. Definitely worth a play!

Posted on 26-04-2019

Shadwen - Screenshots

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