How to use guns and weapons in Shadows of Doubt

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Guns and weapons in Shadows of Doubt are everywhere - but you can't fire them

Shadows of Doubt
(Image credit: Fireshine Games)

Guns in Shadows of Doubt are everywhere, along with all kinds of other weapons and firearms. It won't be long before you're stumbling across smoking rifles, dropped pistols, bloody knives, and even katanas, but you can't use all of these weapons, sorry to say - or at least, while you can use a gun to attack somebody, you can't pull the trigger. Below, we'll explain the rules on what weapons you can and can't use, as well as the best weapon in Shadows of Doubt to date.

How to use weapons in Shadows of Doubt

Shadows of Doubt

(Image credit: Fireshine Games)

Shadows of Doubt lets you use weapons and guns - but only as blunt melee objects. You cannot fire guns in Shadows of Doubt, but you can pistol whip people with them, or just more appropriate melee items like katanas, truncheons and even syringes. There's even single-use non-lethal explosives that players can throw.

The damage done by melee weapons isn't the same across the board - swords and katanas do more damage than bats or hitting somebody with a pistol, for example. The sword appears to be the most powerful weapon in the game so far, able to knock down many enemies with a single strike. 

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However, this means that if you find a gun, it's more likely to be a clue than a weapon for you to use - a murderer must have a murder weapon, after all. Examining the body can tell you what kind of weapon was used to kill it, so finding a matching firearm or instrument can help you identify the killer.

Shadows of Doubt

(Image credit: Fireshine Games)

More importantly, despite many weapons seeming lethal, none of these will kill NPCs permanently, just knocking them unconscious like your fists do, only faster. If you're not good at the game's stealth, or looked up how to arrest people in Shadows of Doubt and want to take the violent approach, it might be worth keeping a melee weapon on you.

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Joel Franey
Joel Franey
Guides Editor, GamesRadar+

Joel Franey is a writer, journalist, podcaster and Very Tired Man with a BA from Brunel University, a Masters from Sussex University and a decade working in games journalism, often focused on guides coverage but also in reviews, features and news. His love of games is strongest when it comes to groundbreaking narratives like Disco Elysium, UnderTale and Baldur's Gate 3, as well as innovative or refined gameplay experiences like XCOM, Sifu, Arkham Asylum or Slay the Spire. He is a firm believer that the vast majority of games would be improved by adding a grappling hook, and if they already have one, they should probably add another just to be safe. You can find old work of his at Eurogamer, Gfinity, USgamer, SFX Magazine, RPS, Dicebreaker, VG247, and more.