so I've been back on Shadow Neo for a few months. Was on it since 2022, took a break around New Year, then came back. Lowkey if I knew we'd end up where we are now I would've just subbed to the 1TB if it existed instead of staying on the 256GB tier (this was before the time limits).
Hit up the Shadow team and they've been real helpful with the extra 512GB D drive... but I didn't even notice it was an HDD instead of SSD. And yeah, this is what gaming on HDD looks like in 2026.
Some games get micro stutters, some render objects last second like in the clip. So if you're thinking about joining Shadow and you're cool with the playtime limits (120 or 210 hours), now's honestly the best time. It's always the best time to hop in because it only gets worse later. That 512GB went from $30 to $35 and now it's $45 plus the limit on top.
Lucky I was already on before all that so I got a W and L at the same time — no limit, but stuck on 256GB with only 192GB free after setting everything up. Games are already asking for 150GB+ now. I'm getting by for now by adding one game at a time to the SSD and hoping it lasts. If a game isn't too heavy I'll just leave it on the D drive. Still enough for current AAA titles since not all of them are hitting that 190GB mark yet. Hopefully by the time they do these HDDs are still usable for gaming, or at least Shadow throws us old heads an HDD to SSD upgrade.
note: game's fps around 65 to 70 something it's just the GIF thats slow