Do you ever think to yourself, “gee, I wish that LA Noire actually looked like a noir film and also everyone is a furry”? Then boy howdy do I have the game for you: The Shadow Syndicate. It just got announced yesterday at the Gamescom Latam showcase, and I should say it’s not exactly like LA Noire in that you don’t have to try and read the faces of motion capture actors overperforming their hearts out. What it does have is some detective work, gunplay, and even some Max Payneish bullet-time. How can you not be into that mixture?
The game is set in an early 1930s Brooklyn, and you play as private detective Sam Marlowe. According to a press release, Sam’s mentor has gone missing, and alongside that there’s a weird secret group getting up to no good.
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I would like to point out there is also essentially zero mention of the fact that everyone is an anthropomorphic animal anywhere in said press release, the only mention it gets is “evocative character designs”, which they certainly are. I’m into it though, this is a hard-boildish Noir we’re talking about, everyone being a dog or a chicken is just the way of the world, don’t think about it too hard.
There’s two parts to the gameplay, one being the aforementioned action gunplay, which does seem to borrow from Max Payne’s iconic mechanic. The other is talking to citizens to collect clues, as well as interacting with the city at large, all of which gets jotted down in Sam’s journal to help open up new dialogue options and story paths.
Unfortunately, The Shadow Syndicate doesn’t have an exact release date just yet. It’s due out some time in 2026 at the very least, and in the meantime, you can always wishlist it on Steam.
