DoubleWe blends Guess Who with Hitman, and its demo is one of the best I've played in ages

GamesFPSDoubleWe blends Guess Who with Hitman, and its demo is one of the best I’ve played in agesWhen you purchase through links on our site, we may earn an affiliate commission.Here’s how it works.

When you purchase through links on our site, we may earn an affiliate commission.Here’s how it works.

DoubleWe demo

Green braces. Tan shirt. Blond quiff. That’s the mantra I repeat in my head as I skulk through a smoggy industrial hellscape. Hidden among these brown corridors is someone who looks like this. Someone who looks like me. Someone who wants me dead.

The only way to avoid that is to kill them first, a plan I’m well on the way to executing. I’ve already found a weapon, a gun that shoots timed exploding mines. This is better than a knife, which means getting up close, but worse than a pistol, which has lower risk of collateral damage. Finding my target is proving tricky, however. The building site I’m trapped in is thronged with people, while braces and quiffs seem to be in vogue.

DoubleWe demo

Eventually I spy green braces and a blond quiff on a man standing with his back to me, in a narrow room housing a large boiler. But as I’m about to plant a mine on his back, all hell breaks loose. A patrolling policeman picks someone out of the crowd and starts brutally beating them to death. The crowd roils as dozens of people race screaming for the doors, and amid the confusion my target slinks away.

I catch up with them a few minutes later, again stood with their back to me, the crowd thinner this time. I raise the mine launcher again. But another policeman spots me doing this, and demands to know what I’m doing. I glance to see where the cop is, and in that split second my fate is sealed. The screen flashes red, and the camera pans down to show a gaping crimson hole in my stomach. My character glances up to show a man with my face holding a bloody knife, lingering on their burning red eyes for a second before the screen fades to black.

DoubleWe demo

Ultimately though, DoubleWe’s setting doesn’t matter. What matters is the events that transpire within these spaces. When you spawn, your character is equipped with a single piece of equipment. Sometimes it’s a mirror. Sometimes it’s a shard of glass. Either way, you use it to look at your reflection and identify your distinguishing features. Your gender, your hairstyle, your eye-colour, what kind of top you’re wearing, whether you’re wearing shorts or pants. Each new level casts you as a different person, and memorising what you look like is the first step in survival.

The biggest gaming news, reviews and hardware deals

From this point onward, you need to be on your guard. Somewhere out there is an exact clone of you, and if they see you, they will try to kill you. DoubleWe’s demo doesn’t explain the nature of these clones, but the menu screen makes it clear they are several steps left of human. In any case, you want to be the one who spies them first (and ideally, the one who shoots first too).

DoubleWe demo

To do this, there are two key obstacles you’ll need to overcome. Firstly, you spawn without a weapon, meaning you need to find one of the highly convenient briefcases scattered around and retrieve the randomised weapon within. Secondly, the level is crammed with dozens of other people, all milling around and getting between you and your target. Not only do collateral kills lower your score, since all weapons are single-use items, killing the wrong person also leaves you defenceless. What results is a mixture of Guess Who, Hide-and-Seek, and Hitman, as you search the passing crowds for your target and wait for an opportune moment to assassinate them.

It’s an ingenious concept, although DoubleWe can take a few rounds to demonstrate its potential. Initially, finding and killing your clone isn’t that difficult. Because of DoubleWe’s simplistic visual style and its cardboard cutout NPCs, identifying your target is usually straightforward. You’ll occasionally spot someone who looks similar enough to your target to warrant a quick check in the mirror, but you must be extremely cavalier to kill wrong person. Moreover, because your clone only ever attacks with a knife, confrontations are usually resolved quickly.

I will say, however, that pulling the trigger is explosively violent, far gnarlier and more physical than you might expect given DoubleWe’s simple presentation. Moreover, even at this stage, interesting scenarios can emerge. Sometimes you’ll spot the clone before you’ve found a weapon, and have to quietly sneak past them as you search for a briefcase. Sometimes they’ll spotyoubefore you’ve found a weapon, at which point you’ll need to quickly exit the area to stop your doppelganger chasing you down. Showdowns can also play out in slightly different ways. I’ve encountered clones that hesitate when you point your weapon at them, and others that race toward you with alarming speed whether you’re armed or not.

DoubleWe demo

As I mentioned, DoubleWe is currently only available as a demo. But the demo feels like a surprisingly complete experience, with a multi-level arc, new weapons that unlock as you play, and even a resolution of sorts. Indeed, one concern I have is how well the experience will translate to a full-length game, as the demo’s snackable form feels ideal for the concept. Sniffing out clones is an excellent way to kill half an hour, and the nature of the games makes the demo fairly replayable. But I’m not sure how well it will extend over ten or twenty times that length.

I hope I’m wrong, though, because it’s a fantastic idea, and there are certainly things a full game could improve, like adding more interesting spaces for events to play out, folding weapons more naturally into the environment, and making clones harder to discern from the larger crowd. There’s no word on when the version of DoubleWe will be released, but when the demo is this fun, I’m happy to wait.

More about fpsTeam Fortress 2 just had the single biggest trade in its history, with ‘the absolute best hat you can get’ going for around $40KThe most important tool in Remedy’s new co-op FPS is the shower: ‘Saving water is essential’LatestWormhole is an impeccable arcade revival of Snake that plays like it fell off the back of Derek Yu’s vanSee more latest►

More about fps

Team Fortress 2 just had the single biggest trade in its history, with ‘the absolute best hat you can get’ going for around $40KThe most important tool in Remedy’s new co-op FPS is the shower: ‘Saving water is essential’

Money money money.

Team Fortress 2 just had the single biggest trade in its history, with ‘the absolute best hat you can get’ going for around $40K

FBC: Firebreak

The most important tool in Remedy’s new co-op FPS is the shower: ‘Saving water is essential’

LatestWormhole is an impeccable arcade revival of Snake that plays like it fell off the back of Derek Yu’s vanSee more latest►

Latest

Wormhole is an impeccable arcade revival of Snake that plays like it fell off the back of Derek Yu’s van

Wormhole

Wormhole is an impeccable arcade revival of Snake that plays like it fell off the back of Derek Yu’s van

See more latest►

Most Popular

18 games the PC Gamer team can’t wait to play in 2025

The Witcher 3’s now 2-year-old bonus quest is our first taste of the ‘vibe’ CD Projekt is going for in The Witcher 4

2024 was the year updates for old games beat out all the new ones for me

Train like you game with this adventure-inspired workout

‘It’s simply impossible to make a difficulty level that’s just right for all players’: How Final Fantasy 14’s lead battle designer has been playing a precarious balancing game for Dawntrail’s dungeons and raids

Please join me in getting super excited for all the cool looking survival games coming in 2025 (and beyond)

Competitive shooters are at a crucial crossroads in 2025: ‘sweaty’ teamplay vs. casual fun

Call of Duty’s $28 Squid Game skins are the perfect crossover for our capitalist dystopia, and Activision knows exactly what it’s doing

These are the 14 biggest upcoming RPGs of 2025—get ready for another amazing year for the genre

Five new Steam games you probably missed (January 6, 2025)

HARDWARE BUYING GUIDESLATEST GAME REVIEWS1Best Steam Deck accessories in Australia for 2025: Our favorite docks, powerbanks and gamepads2Best graphics card for laptops: the mobile GPUs I’d want in my next gaming laptop3Best mini PCs in 2025: The compact computers I love the most4Best 14-inch gaming laptop: The top compact gaming laptops I’ve held in these hands5Best Mini-ITX motherboards in 2025: My pick from all the mini mobo marvels I’ve tested1Thank Goodness You’re Here! review: An anarchic treasure trove of jokes and skits2Shiren the Wanderer: The Mystery Dungeon of Serpentcoil Island review—like juggling chainsaws on horseback3WD Black SN850X 8 TB NVMe SSD review4Ikea Utespelare desk review5Asus ROG Harpe Ace Mini wireless mouse review

HARDWARE BUYING GUIDESLATEST GAME REVIEWS

1Best Steam Deck accessories in Australia for 2025: Our favorite docks, powerbanks and gamepads

A bunch of the best Steam Deck accessories on a blue background.

1Best Steam Deck accessories in Australia for 2025: Our favorite docks, powerbanks and gamepads

Best Steam Deck accessories in Australia for 2025: Our favorite docks, powerbanks and gamepads

2Best graphics card for laptops: the mobile GPUs I’d want in my next gaming laptop

Best graphics card for laptops: the mobile GPUs I’d want in my next gaming laptop

3Best mini PCs in 2025: The compact computers I love the most

Best mini PCs in 2025: The compact computers I love the most

4Best 14-inch gaming laptop: The top compact gaming laptops I’ve held in these hands

Best 14-inch gaming laptop: The top compact gaming laptops I’ve held in these hands

5Best Mini-ITX motherboards in 2025: My pick from all the mini mobo marvels I’ve tested

Best Mini-ITX motherboards in 2025: My pick from all the mini mobo marvels I’ve tested

1Thank Goodness You’re Here! review: An anarchic treasure trove of jokes and skits

Thank Goodness You’re Here review

1Thank Goodness You’re Here! review: An anarchic treasure trove of jokes and skits

Thank Goodness You’re Here! review: An anarchic treasure trove of jokes and skits

2Shiren the Wanderer: The Mystery Dungeon of Serpentcoil Island review—like juggling chainsaws on horseback

Shiren the Wanderer: The Mystery Dungeon of Serpentcoil Island review—like juggling chainsaws on horseback

3WD Black SN850X 8 TB NVMe SSD review

WD Black SN850X 8 TB NVMe SSD review

4Ikea Utespelare desk review

Ikea Utespelare desk review

5Asus ROG Harpe Ace Mini wireless mouse review

Asus ROG Harpe Ace Mini wireless mouse review

The biggest gaming news, reviews and hardware deals#

The biggest gaming news, reviews and hardware deals