The CEO's order of office supplies has just arrived... which means he's got a few new toys to play with! His idea of a "letter opener" might be a bit much, although his research lab's brand new lightgun makes that look downright medieval.

That's right! A new update for Shakedown: Hawaii is now available. The "Pen vs. Sword" update adds new weapons, challenges, styles, a multiplier assistant feature, and more.

Here's a quick rundown...

• New Weapons
• Sword & Shield
• Pen
• Lightgun!
• New Arcade Challenges
• A challenge for each new weapon.
• Adds a Multiplier Assistant
• You can now max out your revenue with a single click.
• Adds Masks to the Costume Shop
• You can now choose a new mask for your disguise.
• DirectX Renderer
• Fixed re-initialization errors that could occur when switching modes.
• Button Icons
• Although the game auto-detects most popular game controllers, you can now manually choose a specific button icon style (PlayStation or Xbox style icons) from the menu.
• More Controller Support
• Additional PlayStation controllers are now automatically detected and no longer need to be calibrated.
• Leaderboards
• If leaderboards appear to be unavailable (ie. if you're offline), the game will no longer continuously attempt to read them. This should improve performance when playing offline.
• Extra Hints
• A hint to switch characters will now appear if a different one is needed to progress. This addresses an issue where some missions or properties may not unlock until you switch back to another character.
• Misc. Bug Fixes

The Sword and Shield! In addition to looking rad, harnessing even more melee strength, and adding a new way to landscape, you'll take 50% less damage when the sword and shield is active. Selecting it when low on health could mean the difference between winning the battle and having to restart from the last checkpoint. Watch out though! You're not the only one with this equipment -- one of the shakedowns now puts you toe to toe with a sword-wielding shopkeeper.

A Pen?! Is the pen really mightier than the sword? Well... in this game, pens can be used at far range to repeatedly knock enemies down and send them bouncing off screen.

The Lightgun!! This might just be the most combo-centric weapon in the game. A single blast can defeat an entire cluster of nearby enemies or completely destroy a vehicle. Stay back though... you'll be electrocuted too if you don't keep your distance. It also sets objects on fire, so watch where you step when mashing that button.

Each added weapon introduces a new way to interact with the world. Item pickups can be found scattered across the city, waiting to be collected. The pen and sword are both available right away, but your research lab won't have the resources to build the lightgun until you've upgraded the facility with every multiplier. Once you have, the lightgun can be found inside both the research lab and the CEO's house.


Speed up property upgrades and max out your revenue with a single click! When turned on, the Multiplier Assistant option will automatically spend your daily earnings on multipliers.

Found under the Business menu, this option is unlocked once you've acquired every building in the city.


In addition to your hat, wig, beard, and glasses, you can now choose a new mask for your disguise. Find the new item rack inside the costume shops.


There are a few occasions in the game when you need to be a certain character for some missions or properties to unlock. The story mode automatically switches you to the correct character for this to happen. However, if you manually change your character at certain points in the game, you may not see new missions or properties appear that are required to progress further. When this happens, the game will now display occasional reminders to switch back.


The DirectX renderer has been updated to fix re-initialization errors that could occur when switching modes (such as between Windowed and Full Screen, or resolution changes).

Additional PS4 and PS5 controllers are now automatically detected and no longer need to be calibrated. Some editions of these controllers show up with different GUIDs on Windows, so it now maps those as well. Although the game auto-detects most popular game controllers, you can now also manually choose a specific button icon style (PlayStation or Xbox style icons) from the menu.

Arrow keys can now always be used to navigate the menu, even if the in-game movement's been switched to WASD-only mode.

This update includes a few Steam-specific improvements. Most importantly, if leaderboards appear to be unavailable (ie. if you're offline), the game will no longer continuously attempt to read them. This should improve performance when playing offline.


Thank you so much for playing! I hope you enjoy the new update.
-Brian, Developer of Shakedown: Hawaii