In Shadwen, you play the titular assassin, and she is on a quest to kill the King. Sneaking your way to the castle, you need to choose if you intend to kill all the Guards in your way, or if you’ll deviously distract them so you can pass them without complications.

During your journey you encounter Lily, a bright young orphan, and she’ll join your quest, blithely unaware of your true intentions until she witnesses your murderous ways, when your relationship with her must change.

In the second part of this short series, we showcase different ways to play Shadwen.

Shadwen Playstyles: Non-Lethal

How you want to play Shadwen is completely up to you. If you want to make your way to the King in Rivendon Castle without killing a single guard, you may choose to do so! Your progress will be made more difficult by the fact that you’ll need to make sure that Lily can get past the Guards as well.

The champion of the Non-Lethal playstyle at Frozenbyte is from the Shadwen Level Design team. Esa prefers to play the game killing no one.

 

“Playing Non-Lethal for me is like playing through a level The Right Way. I like the concept that here we have an area is full of deadly enemies, but none of them have any idea that you’ve even been there by the time you reach the end of the level. In general, I feel a Non-Lethal approach is the most natural way to play stealth games, because a stealthy character should remain unseen.”

“Non-Lethal is the most difficult way of playing Shadwen, so finding new ways to pass through tricky situations always feels especially rewarding. I also enjoy playing Shadwen the Non-Lethal way, because I get to test my fellow designers’ levels the Non-Lethal way. Their agonized faces are always worth seeing when they witness me get through a tight spot where they were sure it’s impossible to get past without resorting to violence 😀 “

— Designer Esa