‘Trine’ developer announces new stealth game Shadwen

Finnish video games developer Frozenbyte has today announced and unveiled its latest title, Shadwen. Unlike their previous action, adventure, and puzzle titles, Shadwen will be fully stealth-based game.

Players take on the role of Shadwen, an assassin tasked with assassinating the king. Along her journey, Shadwen encounters a young orphaned named Lily. Players will either have to take a stealth approach to keep Lily’s child-like innocence intact, or ruthlessly murder all those who stand in her way.

Guards in Shadwen will kill the player on-site if discovered. The gameplay mechanics are centered around this rule, which means players will have to use the environment to their advantage. Environmental manipulation allows the player to make deaths look like an accident, lay traps, and more. Players will also be able to freeze and rewind time, which will give them the upper hand during tense situations.

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Frozenbyte is putting a heavy emphasis on the game’s stealth-based mechanics and every single action will have repercussions.

According to CEO of Frozenbyte, Lauri Hyvärinen, the stealth video game genre has been in a slump for years and yearly series revisions are a “crap way of doing games”.

“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,” he adds.

Those who have subscribed to the Humble Monthly Bundle will be able to access a pre-alpha sneak-peek on the game.

The game will be available in 2016, but no exact release date on platforms have been announced.