Kill the Shadow launches on Steam with crime-scene reconstruction and choice-driven investigations

Shadowlight’s detective RPG Kill the Shadow is now available on Steam, PC. The game asks players to investigate murders, interrogate suspects and uncover a conspiracy buried beneath the rain-soaked streets of Dark Tide City.

Published by Phoenix Game, Kill the Shadow is priced at £14.99/$16.99/€16.99, with a limited-time 10% launch discount announced alongside its release.

Players take control of Lucas, a former detective bound to a supernatural entity known as the Shadow. Through being bound to The Shadow, Lucas is able to reconstruct the final moments of the dead, allowing him to revisit crime scenes, observe past events and uncover evidence that would otherwise remain obscured.

Using that core mechanic, players must conduct investigations to uncover the conspiracy. You’ve got to piece together clues, spot the contradictions, and decide who and what to trust, as individual cases begin to reveal a far wider story underpinned by corruption, betrayal, and sordid dishonesty – all linked to Dark Tide City’s past.

Players can also develop Lucas, through a flexible (but typical) RPG progression system. Deduction, persuasion, charisma and physical force are all skills that can be used to overcome obstacles, better interrogate suspects, and discover different routes through an investigation.

These choices extend beyond dialogue checks. Players can judge, forgive or condemn the people involved in each case, with conversations and moral decisions affecting the city’s residents and contributing to multiple possible endings.

The game begins with the mysterious death of Captain Theo’s companion before expanding into the disappearance of Master Reed during a temple festival and tragedies connected to Shipwreck Wharf. Each investigation draws Lucas further into a city where justice is rarely simple and almost everyone appears to be hiding something.

Kill the Shadow combines detailed 3D locations with animated 2D pixel-art characters. Its Chinese cyber-noir setting includes abandoned factories, flooded docklands, busy temple districts and fortified urban areas, giving the investigation a suitably shadowy backdrop.