While Super Hot handled it’s time altering mechanics beautifully with how the player had to make the most of the split second time given to them when enemies are shooting all over the place, the time altering in Shadwen isn’t really all that useful. Unlike Super Hot, the constant time stops in Shadwen constantly break the pace and dissolve whatever tension a stealth game should have from sneaking around. Where it fails is that while Super Hot was a fast paced shooter game which had the player on their toes, Shadwen as a stealth game has a relatively shorter pace.

This mechanic was something popularized by first person shooter game Super Hot. First off there’s the mechanic of time only moving when you are moving or when you hold down the R1 button. Shadwen tries to incorporate a lot of gimmicks to it’s gameplay which on paper sound rather interesting but ultimately aren’t executed very well. Shadwen has you in control of the titular assassin in her mission to assassinate the king, who along the way rescues a young orphan girl who now has to tag along with Shadwen. One such stealth game with a plethora of gimmicks is Shadwen, a 3rd person stealth game by Frozenbyte. Some games have been adding a twist to the formula in the form of certain gimmicks such as Dishonored’s powers, and the Arkham series’ various bat-gadgetry. At their very core, stealth games have been relatively simple.

Shadwen crash