[p]Hey detectives. It is new patch time! With some new fixes ahead of our next content update which is coming soon đ”ïž[/p][p][/p]
[p]Fixed: At least one case of unresponsive UI when pinning CCTV print-outs. [/p]
[p]Fixed: Days of the week now abbreviated when appropriate in most non-ENG languages. [/p]
[p]Fixed: Discovering an employment contract did not update the citizenâs address details. [/p]
[p]Fixed: Discovering an wallet/purse did not update the citizenâs address details. [/p]
[p]Fixed: Player was unable to hold a commemorative bas-boule in their hands (no options for throwing, putting down). [/p]
[p]Fixed: When 2 or more hand-in case routines were active, the processing sound was played twice, leading the first to keep looping after it should stop. [/p]
[p]Fixed: Lost item poster could display its location in a non-existent floor. [/p]
[p]Fixed: Reduced frequency of âWatch your back, ratâ note* [/p]
[p]Fixed: Glass interior doors no longer display rain on them [/p]
[p]Fixed: Option for legible text mode was missing on the Address Book [/p]
[p]Fixed: When retiring, a playerâs cigarette stayed visible on camera [/p]
[p]Fixed: 2 Cases of building model intersecting interior rooms (inside the residential tower with the large atrium) [/p]
[p]Fixed: Likely fix for some citizens asking for password in legal businesses [/p]
[p]Fixed: El-Gen Clinic managers could cover certain shifts, allowing the clinic to sometimes be open without anyone on the front desk* [/p]
[p]Fixed: Minor change to how doors are handled on the map; player can no longer see doors open outside their area of awareness.[/p]
[p]*Requires a new city generation to appear/spawn/see[/p][p][/p][p]If you want to sign up to the Fireshine Games newsletter for more information on our upcoming games, please do so here[/p][p] [/p]
The Off-Duty update is live now!
Hello detectives!
The âOff-Dutyâ update is live now!
This is our first content update of 2025.
You can now get into the detective spirit and chill with a pack of smokes when a case just gets too demanding (we do not recommend this in real life đ )
Want to relax after a long day of sleuthing? Try a round of the brand-new digital card game, Wizards. A fantasy-themed grid-based card game. Be the first to bring your AI opponentâs HP to 0 to win. Strategically place your cards on the board, utilise their unique abilities, and watch the battle ensue each turn.
Go a little rogue and take on a secret shoe-stealing side mission (check your local newspaper for details đ)
This update brings even more bug fixes, game polish and QOL improvements.
Get back on the case, detectives. It won't solve itself!
Full list of changes, updates and features listed below
As we've mentioned in a previous dev blog, the Shadows of Doubt investigations are continuing throughout the year. We are happy to now show you our 2025 development case board outlining our upcoming updates and patches!
The first update lands on Tuesday, the 29th of April. This update adds a new side mission, the ability to smoke, a new in-game card game and new items. Along with more bug fixes and QOL improvements.
Soon after, we will have a dedicated patch coming out, focusing on fixing reported bugs, further game polish and QOL improvements
In August, we will be launching the âModifiersâ update! This update will allow players to add modifiers to the game, really changing how you play and how the world reacts to the player. Much more information about these modifiers and the update will be available closer to its release. This update will also bring more bug fixes and game polish.
In autumn, we will release another dedicated patch to continue to improve the game's polish and gameplay experience.
Lastly, for 2025, we will be launching the âWorkshopâ update! This includes Steam workshop support and even more modding tools. Along with more bug fixes and game polish, and QOL improvements. More news to be shared about this update later in the year.
We are super excited for the rest of 2025 and what we have lined up for Shadows of Doubt, and we think you will like what we have in store for the game.
Thanks detectives!
Shadows of Doubt Joins the London Games Festival Event & Sale!
Weâre excited to announce that Shadows of Doubt is part of the London Games Festival event on Steam!
London is one of the most diverse, vibrant, and creative cities on the planetâand its games industry is no different. Games Londonâs mission is to make London the games capital of the world, supporting local businesses, connecting developers with investors, and hosting the UKâs biggest games event.
To celebrate the 10th anniversary of the London Games Festival, Fireshine Games is thrilled to highlight some of the incredible titles developed and published in London.
As part of the event, you can grab Shadows of Doubt for 40% off for a limited time!
Donât miss your chance to explore this must-play title and discover even more incredible games throughout the festival.
Shadows of Doubt DevBlog 43: What to Expect in 2025
Hello detectives! This is a follow-up blog from the last one where I discussed new content for Shadows in 2025. We have fleshed out some plans now and I wanted to share a little on what we're working on for the game this year. If you haven't already, I recommend reading the last blog post for some content: Mainly that we have decided to not add anything massive as to do so would likely cause issues with the game systems we've already spent a lot of time working on over early access & beyond.
With that in mind, let us jump in! What I do want to focus on this year in addition to more bug fixes is giving the game a new coat of polish. These content-focused updates will arrive in 3 instalments, roughly spaced out over the year with exact timings still to be decided at this point.
For the first update, we're going to be adding a couple of things that we ran out of time to include in the initial release; some new items, an easter egg side hustle, as well as a couple of quality-of-life gameplay enhancements to give the player more of a presence in the world. Also, expect to see a fun little cruncher addition one of our programmers has been working on.
The second content update is the one I'm most excited about I think; this one will focus on gameplay modifiers. We're going to be adding several different 'modes' that modify the game in some way that will change how you play it. These will range from some fairly standard to completely unexpected ideas. I'm looking forward to sharing those with you closer to the time.
Towards the end of the year, we'll refocus our efforts on game modding. As we've mentioned previously we're keen on enabling Steam workshop support. We're also looking to expand the ways in which the game can be modded. A lot of specifics here are still wrapped up in some technical questions so apologies I can't be more specific but this is the general theme of the third content update.
Along with these updates you can still expect our regular patches which will focus on fixes; we're going to be aiming for a patch roughly every 2 months throughout the year including the above content updates. Hopefully that's a little something to look forward to in 2025!
For more news and opportunities to win keys across all Fireshine Games please sign up to our newsletter here
Shadows of Doubt V 39.13 Patch Notes
Hey detectives, time to investigate a fresh patch for you all after checking it out on the experimental branch. More news to come on the plans for the year soon as well!
Much improved mini-map rendering speed
Fixed: Citizens could become stuck in a loop cleaning up receipts from the floor in their home if certain conditions were met.
Fixed: In certain circumstances the player could give items to dead citizens.
Fixed: Taking a bullet casing from an apartment-stored inventory could result in a non-droppable item that the player could repeatedly take.
Fixed: An inaccessible light switch could spawn behind a water cooler.*
Fixed: Game forgot playerâs own discovered password on save/load.
Fixed: Attempted fix for certain achievements not completing until the player ate/drank.
Fixed: Attempted fix for certain achievements not unlocking at the correct time (sometimes only once the game was over).
Fixed: KOâing a citizen by door barging did not count towards the âSpare No-oneâ achievement.
Fixed: News Stands always sold the âCartographerâ sync disk for their daily deal.
* Requires a new city generation to appear/spawn/see
If you want to sign up to the Fireshine Games newsletter for more information on our upcoming games please do so here
Shadows of Doubt V 39.13 Experimental Branch Patch Notes
Hey folks, we have another new experimental patch for you all.
Experimental Branch:
These builds are only found on our âexperimentalâ steam branch. You can access this by right clicking the game in your steam library, choosing âpropertiesâ, then the âbetasâ tab. The experimental build should be in the dropdown list. Experimental builds may be less tested than the default branch builds. Most experimental branch patches will make their way to the default branch after a week or two (barring any issues discovered).
Please do see the public bug list with comments from Cole about what is being worked on at the moment here: https://shadowsofdoubt.notion.site/0053dddf306643eea972c6595ac897d2?v=25d97977c0ad43b5811787d11ee27987
Much improved mini-map rendering speed
Fixed: Citizens could become stuck in a loop cleaning up receipts from the floor in their home if certain conditions were met.
Fixed: In certain circumstances the player could give items to dead citizens.
Fixed: Taking a bullet casing from an apartment-stored inventory could result in a non-droppable item that the player could repeatedly take.
Fixed: An inaccessible light switch could spawn behind a water cooler.*
Fixed: Game forgot playerâs own discovered password on save/load.
Fixed: Attempted fix for certain achievements not completing until the player ate/drank.
Fixed: Attempted fix for certain achievements not unlocking at the correct time (sometimes only once the game was over).
Fixed: KOâing a citizen by door barging did not count towards the âSpare No-oneâ achievement.
Fixed: News Stands always sold the âCartographerâ sync disk for their daily deal.
* Requires a new city generation to appear/spawn/see
If you want to sign up to the Fireshine Games newsletter for more information on our upcoming games please do so here
Shadows of Doubt V 39.12 Patch Notes
Hey Detectives, another patch incoming now with some more fixes ahead of the holiday season.
Fixed: Some number pad selection issues while using a controller (using D-Pad selection moves the virtual cursor)
Fixed: Missing Work ID and Wallet in Tutorial
Fixed: Incorrect citizen age calculation
Fixed: Number keys pull up inventory items during cruncher passcode entry (as they are also hotkeys)
Fixed: Apartment keys could be stolen legally while the player obtained a guest pass
Fixed: Player gained the âwetâ status effect while in an exterior air duct if it was raining
Fixed: Removed inspect action for bleach bottle as it was missing a summary
Fixed: Candles played a switch on/off sound when interacted with
Fixed: It was possible in rare cases for a killer to not pick a murder weapon, leading to problems with them executing murders
Fixed: The black market sync doctor would not go to work
Fixed: Long delays in citizens going to work (resulting in them often being late; they still can be but it should happen less often)
Fixed: The black market trader only had 2 staff; meaning it could only stay open for half of the week*
Fixed: The player could quickly select an alternate user on the login screen on a cruncher after a successful passcode input, and the cruncher would log them into that account.
Fixed: Failed inputs after case board closing
Fixed: Failed inputs after text input
Fixed: Small changes to ensure we're updating our last active controllers.
Fixed: An issue with the control state flags
Fixed: An unlisted bug where you could get stuck without control access in the main menu
* Requires a new city generation to appear/spawn/see
Shadows of Doubt Devblog #42: Looking Forwards
Hello detectives! Itâs been a couple of months since the launch of 1.0 and I wanted to share a general update to talk about what you can expect next year.
First off, Iâm extremely pleased to announce that Shadows of Doubt is part of this yearâs Jingle Jam games bundle; a fundraising initiative with a collection of games available for donations over ÂŁ35. All money goes to some excellent causes. This ends on December 14th, so be quick about it!
On the dev team side, weâve been mostly keeping our head down and working on resolving bugs. Weâre finding weâre currently solving around ~15 issues per patch, with patches coming about every 3 or 4 weeks. As weâve been prioritising more serious bugs, the number of those is coming down. Our main priority will be to continue with these next year and give the game the polish it deserves.
We found throughout early access that adding something âbigâ to the game (and when I say âbigâ I mean something that fundamentally interacted with the gameâs core systems), would often break something we had either previously implemented or fixed. So doing this while trying to polish the game often resulted in a âtwo steps forward, one step backâ experience where we would add something cool, only to break something else.
Shadows of Doubt is a game with a large scope, having been constructed over 8 years, and 7 of those by a rather scatter-minded individual (myself). It would be fair to say that the codebase rather reflects this: An interconnected beast to say the least! Modifications to it on a fundamental level can often result in a bunch of things somewhere along the line going wrong, and the scope of the game means this isnât often obvious.
So whatâs next? Well as previously stated we do want to get the game in a better place polish-wise as a priority. Then weâll likely start adding a couple of things that were nearly done but for whatever reason didnât make the final release; these are some pretty small but interesting additions. Then weâll look at adding some more significant things as the year goes on.
It will likely take the form of more of whatâs there already (buildings, objects etc), or more modular self-contained systems that donât weave in with everything else quite so tightly. The key here will be to avoid adding things that mess up the original ecosystem of the game to prevent the game from going backwards and polish getting wiped out.
We realise thereâs scope to take the game several steps in so many directions, and people are really excited to see and explore those possibilities. We certainly are too, but the reality of game dev means weâd prefer to keep a lot of those grander schemes to a future sequel project where we can properly build around them rather than attempt to tack them on. That said, Iâve no doubt that we can add some really cool things to the game in 2025.
Itâs all on the vaguer side right now as we have yet to finalize what weâre going to do exactly. Plus the dev team need a break! But youâll hear us pipe up when the cogs are turning again, thatâs for sure!
Thanks for your continued support for Shadows of Doubt.
Shadows of Doubt V 39.11 Patch Notes
Hello Detectives, we have a fresh batch of patch notes with a new suite of bug fixes for you all. The work continues in the background towards making the best version of Shadows of Doubt possible and more patches are on the way. Thank you for your continued support folks
Fixed: Apartment storage items missing on load game
Fixed: Player movement could sometimes become restricted when crouched
Fixed: When a new crime scene is opened, enforcers no longer target other people who live there
Fixed: Citizens should no longer attempt to turn on the lights in a room where another citizen is sleeping
Fixed: Citizens could get stuck sitting while waiting for the player to come and meet them for side job info. These side jobs can now also be failed if you donât meet them in time.
Fixed: Multiple entries of the same dialog option for side jobs
Fixed: The player could not inspect the menu in the hotel
Fixed: A tweak to how disabling the sandbox mode murderer works; this will now only take effect after an active one is caught or a new game is started. The previous method could result in some edge cases with the worst of them stopping murderers from ever being re-activated.
Fixed: Kitchen overhead cabinet interaction collider could block pinned notes from being interacted with.
Fixed: Direction Arrow could reappear when disabled in game options after the player used the camera or observed CCTV.
Fixed: In older generated cities, prices of certain items that have since been changed in more recent updates could create an infinite source of money if you purchased then sold them at pawn shops.
Fixed: Having a guest pass for an address on an Echelon floor didnât give you access to the floor without it being classed as trespassing. Having a guest pass will now also allow you to enter the floorâs communal area without trespassing.
Fixed: Apartment purchase flyers could be spawned for apartments that the player had already purchased.
Fixed: A few spelling mistakes
* Requires a new city generation to appear/spawn/see
