Contradiction - Spot The Liar!

Contradiction - Spot The Liar!

This is a FMV detective & mystery game developed by Baggy Cat, created thanks to a kickstarter campaign. Since I love detective games and tv-shows I decided to give this one a go. This is a lovecrafted masterpiece, great from start to finish. I’m gonna try to explain why.

You play as detective Jenks, investigating a girls suicide in an english village. Mysteries surrounding the suicide quickly leads to a murder investigation. Jenks only have a day to solve the mystery. He quickly finds out about a private school for adults called Atlas that uses some questionable methods, and you learn more and more as you go. Every chapter is an hour in the game, but every chapter took me more then an hour each. It’s a pretty tricky game, but you can use clues if you get stuck.

Real player with 15.2 hrs in game


Read More: Best Crime FMV Games.


TL;DR: It’s a very fun and interesting game,

! with a very, very, VERY bad (and extremely) unsatisfying ending

I’m probably very late to the “reviewing contradiction” party (what a weird party), the game being almost 6 years old now and having been talked about in the ExtraCredits YouTube channel (the reason why I bought it in the first place!), but I’m gonna have a go at it anyways.

Contradiction is an FMV game where you must investigate in one night a supposed suicide in a small village. The investigation is done almost entirely by talking to people (i.e. watching small bits of questioning), though some evidence is found by walking and snooping around (in fact, I’m no lawyer or law-enforcement officer, but I feel like a quite a few of the evidence found wouldn’t be admissible in court!) But the main aspect of the game is asking people about things, which can directly lead you to new evidence, but will always lead to a set of statements from each person. This is where the main mechanic of the game comes in: you can select two statements (they must be from the same person though, hold this for later) that contradict each other and if they do, indeed, you get a new line of questioning where detective Jenks brings up the contradiction to the person in question, usually leading to new evidence. When you reach key milestones in the investigation, the time moves forward, and some new witness can become available (or unavailable), and going certain places can unlock certain events that can give you new evidence to ask around about.

Real player with 13.7 hrs in game

Contradiction - Spot The Liar! on Steam

Greyhat - A Digital Detective Adventure

Greyhat - A Digital Detective Adventure

This game ties if not usurps The Return of the Obra Dinn as my favorite game of all time. I’ve played hundreds of games on Steam and PS4, nearly all of them critical darlings, of all genres and scopes. Alphabetically in my library, it sits between Gorogoa and Guacamelee, and after this, Sniper Ghost Warrior Contracts 2 is next in my queue.

While not trying to spoil anything, I recommend this game to pretty much anybody without reservation, worth every penny of its asking price - but most especially those that actively seek out games of this genre like Obra Dinn and to a lesser extent like Unheard that tickle the brain a little they way a detective or point-and-click adventure game might. Hell even if you like the Ace Attorney series of games, there’s something in here for you too. Far from perfect and I have my critiques, but to be honest my library is full of these faux hacker puzzle/detective games but none are as creative, polished, or fleshed-out or quite frankly as affecting as Greyhat. The “a-ha” moments here are the most rewarding and feel most earned here and for example chatting and “tunneling” elements are two examples of how the devs going out of their way to nail the feeling of being a clandestine keyboard warrior furiously typing messages or lines of code. Were I to say more I’d worry about revealing spoilers.

Real player with 25.5 hrs in game


Read More: Best Crime Hacking Games.


My playtime: 19.2h (based on steam, 100% achievement)

Grindy Achievement(s): No.

Optional Achievement(s): Yes (5 achievements).

Difficult Achievement(s): No.

Intro

Greyhat - A Digital Detective Adventure is a game where you have to find clues and solve minigames. The game has ~19 levels in total.

Pros:

  • ~19 levels

  • Minigames

  • Hints

  • Some levels have different solutions when you replay it

  • Collectibles

Cons:

  • You need to manually type some clues to your notes

Real player with 19.2 hrs in game

Greyhat - A Digital Detective Adventure on Steam

Lost Lies

Lost Lies

Lost Lies is a true detective feature-length thriller movie game. Walk into the shoes of detective picking up a case of a missing officer:

  • Discover a mystery of her disappearing and find the path to solve a case of series suicides.

  • Immerse yourself into the thrilling story where your choices can lead to different endings.

  • Analyze documents, find clues and interrogate suspects in your way to solve the case.

But be prepared, not everything is as it seems…


Read More: Best Crime FMV Games.


Lost Lies on Steam

despatch: Entity Astray

despatch: Entity Astray

Experienced on the Oculus Quest 2

You can view my review & gameplay here: https://youtu.be/wA_Tf2MRfHI

I bought this game on the Steam release sale (10% off). While I can’t say that I feel I got my money’s worth, I also can’t quite give a negative review. Consider this a neutral recommendation. There’s lots of things to like about this, but there seems to be an equal amount of things not to like.

This is a sci-fi escape room. If you’re expecting a puzzle experience like in The Room VR: A Dark Matter, then you will be sorely disappointed. This game lacks the production values, polish, & the amazing puzzle design (along with good hint system) in the The Room. Instead, you have puzzles that are open-ended and you have to find the right item or the correct code and figure out how to use them or pair them with another clue.

Real player with 4.8 hrs in game

The Devs have listened to feedback and added smooth turning and other control options, very good.

The game itself consists of a quite a few puzzles that are difficult to understand or outright confusing unless you’ve done them before. I don’t feel rewarded for finishing them, rather annoyed at the solution. I often found myself making progress only to be faced with yet another puzzle, and thinking “What was the point of that last one?” or “Why am I here?”

It lacks direction or explanation for why I’m doing any of the things I’m doing. Am I supposed to be doing this? Is the game glitched or have I just not found the correct solution? There’s just no indication of what I should be doing.

Real player with 2.4 hrs in game

despatch: Entity Astray on Steam

Killing Stream

Killing Stream

Killing Stream is a feature-length, interactive thriller with horror elements, in which fate of the main character depends entirely on the viewer. It tells the story from a first person perspective to intensify the immersion and put audience in the main character’s shoes.

Try to survive… Killing Stream.

Killing Stream on Steam