Ludography
66/100
Players6 ratings
55/100
Critics10 reviews
More scores
Metacritic22 critic reviews
53/100
Metacritic usersuser score
57/100
GameFAQsEasy-Just Right
2.96/5
Player reviews
77% positive1,051 reviews
Steam Deck
Unsupported
Runs on
Windows, Mac, Linux
Price
US$16.99

Where to get it

Shadwen cover

2016 · Frozenbyte · Adventure · Platformer

Shadwen

PlayStation console exclusive

Shadwen is a true stealth game where the only rule is to remain unseen. Stay hidden – or the ruthless guards will kill you on sight!

Released
17 May 2016
Platforms
LinuxPlayStation 4WindowsmacOS
Genres
AdventurePlatformerStealth
Developers
Frozenbyte
Publishers
Frozenbyte
Modes
Single-player
Perspective
Third person
Themes
ActionHistoricalStealth
Age ratings
ESRB M
Languages
English, French, German, Italian, Spanish (Spain)
Time to beat
6hmain story16hcompletionist

About

Shadwen is a stealth video game developed and published by Frozenbyte. The game was released for macOS, Linux, macOS, PlayStation 4, and Windows in May 2016.

Players say

Media

The articlegameplay, story, development, reception

Story

An assassin named Shadwen embarks on a quest to kill the king and must also protect a young girl named Lily. Lily's father was taken to a quarry by kingsmen, and her mother died in the recent spring. She kept herself alive by finding food and shelter throughout the summer, but struggled to feed herself as the weeks went on. She meets Shadwen while trying to steal apples from a tree in the city graveyard.

Her mother used to tell her stories where kind and gentle people came out on top. Her opinion of Shadwen can change depending on if she sees Shadwen kill people or not. Shadwen lived in the Dark Forest and was hired by the current king to kill the former king. The current king went back on his word to pay her and instead burned down the forest where she lived to try and kill her.

Development

Shadwen was developed by Frozenbyte. The game was announced in December 2015. The game was released for macOS, Linux, macOS, PlayStation 4, and Windows on 17 May 2016. The PlayStation 4 version is notable for being one of the very few PlayStation 4 games not playable on the PlayStation 5 with backwards compatibility, due to a loading screen bug that cannot be fixed.

Reception

The PC and PlayStation 4 versions received "mixed or average" reviews, according to the review aggregation website Metacritic. Destructoid reviewer Joe Parlock was disappointed in the PC version, noting that it wasted the potential of a really cool premise. Hardcore Gamer writer Jordan Helm's review was more positive in his critique, saying that the tactically-focus stealth gameplay enticed him to continue playing the game.

Releases by platformdates and regions as published

PlatformReleasedRegions
Windows17 May 2016North America · Worldwide 17 May 2016
Linux17 May 2016Worldwide
PlayStation 417 May 2016Worldwide · North America 17 May 2016
macOS17 May 2016North America · Europe 18 August 2016

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Collections1 collection

Years

Description adapted from its source, CC BY-SA 4.0.