Shadwen
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ixigia
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PostPosted: Thu, 25th Feb 2016 00:30    Post subject: Shadwen
Shadwen



Courtesy of JB's advanced game-scavenging skills, I think it deserves its own thread Very Happy

JBeckman wrote:
JBeckman wrote:
Found this on Ag.ru
http://www.ag.ru/games/shadwen/screenshots


Looks like it's their next game "Shadwen"
http://www.eurogamer.net/articles/2015-12-04-trine-developer-frozenbyte-reveals-fantasy-stealth-game-shadwen

Quote:

Trine developer Frozenbyte has announced its next game, a new fantasy stealth IP called Shadwen.


You play as an assassin named Shadwen tasked with killing the king. Along the way you'll partner up with a little girl, leading to ethical conundrums about whether slaying guards is perhaps not leading the best example upon your surrogate daughter. As such, there will always be non-lethal options.

Shadwen's most unique mechanic is time manipulation. Like Superhot, time in Shadwen only moves when the character moves. You'll even have the option to rewind time (which I assume will be limited, but perhaps it will be more of a Braid-like puzzle affair).

As was the case with Trine before it, Shadwen will emphasise physics manipulation as you can use ropes to drag and topple objects, creating cover and traps.

"The stealth genre has been in a slump for years. Guns blazing and invincible heroes is not stealth. Yearly revisions like sports roster updates is a crap way of doing games," said Frozenbyte CEO Lauri Hyvärinen. "Shadwen will bring the genre back to its roots, with sneaking and hiding the main course of action. We will also explore the moral consequences of killing through our characters."

Take a look at how Shadwen looks in action in its debut trailer below:



Demo out:
http://store.steampowered.com/app/425210/



edit:
Just tried the demo, the game is pretty interesting, it's rough around the edges and physics need some tuning (although the wonkiness has its charm xD), but it's a lot of fun.

It's pure stealth and the time stops when you're not moving, like SuperHot (pressing Ctrl however "disables" it). I don't know if the levels will be varied enough in the final package but if you like stealth this is a decent option.



Random creations of an insane mind / Screens from Bulgaria [Early Access]


Last edited by ixigia on Tue, 17th May 2016 19:17; edited 2 times in total
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Drowning_witch




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Location: Strawberry fields
PostPosted: Thu, 25th Feb 2016 00:32    Post subject:
yep saw it on steam today, saw we didn't have a thread, was too lazy to make one.

Stealth made by trine dudes? i'm in once it's out Smile


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Nodrim




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PostPosted: Thu, 25th Feb 2016 01:01    Post subject:
Played the demo a little and it seems like a promising game. I guess many players will be bothered about the time stop mechanic which keeps everything on place when the player doesn't perform any actions, but I'm cool with that. It's something different and it could lead to interesting moments.
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Nodrim




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PostPosted: Mon, 29th Feb 2016 19:30    Post subject:
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Bob Barnsen




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PostPosted: Mon, 29th Feb 2016 20:01    Post subject:
Nice.
But after Trine 3 i will wait till release how the game really turns out.
Don't want another game from those devs that is incomplete.


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Bob Barnsen




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PostPosted: Wed, 2nd Mar 2016 11:14    Post subject:
After that community event, where people had to play the demo to reduce the launch price, it now is known:


Such an event is a cool idea. But as i can't imagine the devs gaining anything when people play their demo, i fear that this might indeed turn out like another Trine 3 (low content wise).
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Nodrim




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PostPosted: Wed, 2nd Mar 2016 12:10    Post subject:
It's a PR move, they got free advertisement out of this. Lots of high profile websites covered the event attracting players into checking the demo. They must have had a professional doing the statistics for them so they would have an idea of the price after the event.
Hell, they probably even scored some points with their upset fanbase, after all we got a demo (something rare nowadays) and the "chance" to receive a cheaper game.Smile
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Neon
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PostPosted: Wed, 2nd Mar 2016 12:16    Post subject:
After I checked out the demo I actually became wholly uninterested in this game Laughing It feels really clunky to me.
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Drowning_witch




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PostPosted: Wed, 2nd Mar 2016 12:26    Post subject:
they will polish it up + it's the trine devs. even when its short and unfinished, it still has that whimsically magical feel that no one nails like them.
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prudislav
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PostPosted: Thu, 14th Apr 2016 23:57    Post subject:
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prudislav
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PostPosted: Thu, 28th Apr 2016 15:41    Post subject:
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Bob Barnsen




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PostPosted: Thu, 28th Apr 2016 15:54    Post subject:
A stealth game with braindead and tunnelvision AI, what a surprise. Embarassed

Example at 6:49: Barrels falling down with a loud noise, yet the guard some meters away doesn't notice a thing. Also doesn't see the player at all with his narrow vision when the player moves to him.


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prudislav
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PostPosted: Thu, 5th May 2016 13:58    Post subject:
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7thunders




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PostPosted: Tue, 17th May 2016 16:07    Post subject:
Shadwen-RELOADED
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Bob Barnsen




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PostPosted: Tue, 17th May 2016 16:11    Post subject:
Nice. Might give it a try later.


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Bob Barnsen




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PostPosted: Tue, 17th May 2016 17:12    Post subject:

http://opencritic.com/game/2731/shadwen?tab=1


I don't really give much about the current critics shown, but it gives a good idea of how the game sadly seems to be.
It's basically a escort-mission turned into a full game, paired with a shitty AI in an overall too easy game. Meh. Sad

First Trine 3 was pretty shit, now this. I guess soon it's over for Frozenbyte .
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ixigia
[Moderator] Consigliere



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PostPosted: Tue, 17th May 2016 19:15    Post subject:
Damn, definitely sounds like the entire game is basically a rinse-and-repeat version of the demo..silly Frozenbyte Razz
(I'll try it as well out of curiosity as soon as I have some time^^)
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keewee23




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PostPosted: Wed, 18th May 2016 16:09    Post subject:
great game, almost had feeling like in thief 3, but with less weapons, in this game crafting is useless, but everything else it's ok, i finished it in 5-6 hours, way to short, but overall for one afternoon it's ok.


Why walk, when you can ride.
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Nodrim




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PostPosted: Wed, 18th May 2016 16:52    Post subject:
Bob Barnsen wrote:

http://opencritic.com/game/2731/shadwen?tab=1


I don't really give much about the current critics shown, but it gives a good idea of how the game sadly seems to be.
It's basically a escort-mission turned into a full game, paired with a shitty AI in an overall too easy game. Meh. Sad

First Trine 3 was pretty shit, now this. I guess soon it's over for Frozenbyte .


It's sad, this game was very promising.
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VGAdeadcafe




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PostPosted: Wed, 18th May 2016 17:12    Post subject:
Wow it really looks retarded in that gameplay video. Daaaamn are they serious?

Just prancing about knocking barrels around again and again and the soldiers are like "Huh?" "Is this a prank?" "Hmm? What?" "Who is that?" and running around like buffoons
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Drowning_witch




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PostPosted: Wed, 18th May 2016 18:14    Post subject:
Grabbing it from the depths. Will play once I finish Blood. stealth games are my food.


steam: Drowning witch
uplay: Haxeety
game completion log:
http://pastebin.com/g6MgD5DV
rig: http://www.userbenchmark.com/UserRun/2090866
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Drowning_witch




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PostPosted: Sun, 22nd May 2016 18:44    Post subject:
Been playing this today. casual fun, like all frozenbyte games. will comment more once I finish it.

Here's a tiny gtx970 performance showcase for the game.

As with the Trine series, supersampling will cook your GPU, so watch the temps if you OC a lot on air coolers.

settings used for constant 55-60 fps. I'm just on the edge with near constant 90%+ GPU usage, so expect easy 60 fps at 1080p with some supersampling added or 1440p with no supersampling.





steam: Drowning witch
uplay: Haxeety
game completion log:
http://pastebin.com/g6MgD5DV
rig: http://www.userbenchmark.com/UserRun/2090866
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Drowning_witch




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PostPosted: Mon, 30th May 2016 13:52    Post subject:
Just to follow up with a mini review so I can finally reuse the brain cells that are storing fresh memories of this game.

As a side note, I've followed the game up with Trine 3 by the same studio, so I've now played everything these guys have made.

I would say Shadwen is the weakest game they've made, but even as such, it has enough charm and game design quality that put it into the worth playing category.

As usual, Frozenbyte does great with the voice acting, music, and sound in general. Same with the art direction. there is a ton of budget induced reuse of assets, but what is there, is pretty, and done with a recognizable signature. Whimsical fantasy setting with bright colors and a slant toward an animated movie look, with just enough realism left so it doesn't veer into kid cartoon territory.

To my surprise, considering the Trine series, the animations here looked unfinished and of much lower quality than expected. The protagonist running and the drag body animations are especially jarring. They were either lazy or rushed the game, as they can and have done much better work in this department.

Gameplay itself is strangely contrasting as well. The full good ending way of playing is by far the weakest. it turns the game into a phsyx puzzle with objects, mostly wooden barrels and crates. And you will see the game's flaws exposed the most if you play this way.

The character you baby sit will walk up to guards, stand in the open, and completely break realism and immersion at almost every step. Not to mention that the rudimentary AI basically turns the game into essentially this: Pull an object close to a guard. walk around the object when he comes to investigate. That's it. you do this for 15 levels, with each having 3 large areas on average.

On the other hand, you have the stealth assassin playthrough. You leave the first guy next to the NPC alive, so she won't move, and you go forward, exploring the level, and finding out cool ways to kill the guards and then stash them. The AI is crap this way as well, make no mistake, but the verticality of the levels, and the amount of hiding places make the activity very enjoyable.

If you opt for this approach, the game feels like styx mixed with the thief from Trine series. Sneaking, traversing ledges, jumping from dangerous heights to kill guards, or use the rope arrow to swing around and drop onto guards.

It has to said though, the rewind feature is really well done. doesn't affect performance, looks amazing, and really makes the gameplay flow once you play around with it. It essentially replaces quick loading and I quite like it this way. Improves the quality of life in the game and reduces annoyance.

The story is minimal but well done, with intelligently subdued dark tones. Most of the stuff is infered, never stated, which I very much enjoyed. It's not a kids tale, but the wording is always done in a way that a child could watch you play and it would feel like a kids story. and this works within the context of this game as the way you play reflects on the age rating of the resulting story that unfolds on screen.

There is gadget crafting in the game, however, due to the simple AI and a lack of challenge, they aren't needed at all, but can be fun using it in imaginative ways.






Coupled with the engines physics, this ends up feeling very satisfying. I could see people just having fun with the physics in a sandboxy kind of way.




So overall, the game is definitely not bad, but I wouldn't say it's essential for a stealth gamer or a dev fan. There is fun to be had here, but the lack of challenge, AI issues and the unfinished/rushed feeling in several areas, prevent it from being anything more than a niche game both in audience and profit.


steam: Drowning witch
uplay: Haxeety
game completion log:
http://pastebin.com/g6MgD5DV
rig: http://www.userbenchmark.com/UserRun/2090866


Last edited by Drowning_witch on Mon, 30th May 2016 14:03; edited 4 times in total
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Bob Barnsen




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Location: Germoney
PostPosted: Mon, 30th May 2016 13:57    Post subject:
@Drowning_witch
Thanks for the review.

Removed the game now from my wishlist, as you just approved my previous complaints and observations: Weak AI and stealth mechanic, constant babysitting and this all repeats itself over and over again.

Even if the story would be somewhat good, bad gameplay like that would annoy me more than i could enjoy the story.
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ixigia
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PostPosted: Mon, 30th May 2016 14:42    Post subject:
It's a shame about the AI and lack of challenge, it sounds like a sad trombone (I was hoping they could tune it since it was very exploitable in the demo). The stealth assassin playthrough is alluring though, that was my plan anyway, the (literal) sandbox approach. Razz
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lolozaur




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PostPosted: Tue, 9th Aug 2016 22:00    Post subject:
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Bob Barnsen




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PostPosted: Wed, 10th Aug 2016 19:51    Post subject:
Shadwen.Escape.From.the.Castle-SKIDROW
4958 MB
Quote:
NOTE:

This content addon has been made standalone and updated to latest
build!
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