Methods: The Detective Competition
This game is so charming and wonderful, it’s quickly become one of my favourite games ever! If you like mystery stories and fun characters, I highly recommend you pick it up. And if anything seems interesting, don’t be afraid to try out the demo!
On to the (spoiler free) review! (I’ve never written a review before, so apologies if it reads oddly at all.)
The gist of the story is that, 100 of America’s greatest detectives and 100 of its worst criminals are pit in a battle royale against each other to win a million dollars. (And parole, if they’re a criminal.) You play through the stories of several participants as they advance through the competition, meeting new faces at every turn. The game is split into 100 chapters, and it took me personally about 7.5 hours to play through them all on my first playthrough.
– Real player with 51.6 hrs in game
Read More: Best Detective Indie Games.
This is probably one of my top ten games I have ever played, in part because I love solving locked room mysteries so much. I do realize it will not be everyone’s cup of tea, however. Here are (in my opinion) the main downsides of this game: 1. character art is a little lackluster, but you can see that for yourself on the steam page. You do get used to it though, and the character designs do have a lot of personality. 2. The pacing is a little weird. Sometimes you will go through long-ish periods of cutscenes back to back or mysteries back to back. 3. Finally, the ending does leave some loose ends, which could maybe have been intended to pave the way for a sequel (or maybe the game designers just couldn’t decide how to wrap them up, I don’t know). With those downsides out of the way, here are the things I love: 1. mysteries upon mysteries upon mysteries. Both little murder scenes you have to solve and some big over-arching mysteries within the game. 2. The characters are really fun. Both detectives and criminals all have a special method they use to do what they do, and it is very fun to see all of the varieties of detectives and murderers they came up with. You also get to play as different detectives and use their methods of solving mysteries, which is cool. You also get to briefly step into playing as a criminal as well. Again, I’ve never met a game with so many mysteries to solve, so this game was lots of fun for me. To me this game is very worth the $20 it normally costs (so I’d say to definitely get it if it sounds interesting, especially if it goes on sale).
– Real player with 13.0 hrs in game
Chicken Holmes - Chanislavski Whispers
i have played an incredible number of games in my life and this is the one with the single worst case of localization i have ever come across. surely it has been translated from spanish by an online translator like google translate, but even then i’d expect something better than this. other than that, you just click around, try to make sure you click on everything clickable, or you’ll get stuck, solve a couple stupid puzzles and try to find some semblance of sense in the story. even the cutesy characters don’t evoke anything positive, when you can make little sense of what the hell is going on. something with english that bad shouldn’t be offered in english to the public. avoid this mess at all costs, including the prequel.
– Real player with 4.7 hrs in game
Read More: Best Detective Strategy Games.
This chicken is very good, it reveals any secret. This sequel is so cool.
– Real player with 1.1 hrs in game
NUTS
Nuts is a fantastic little game with fantastic art and sound design. I played the demo when it was released and immediately fell in love with the look and feel of the game. The best way I can think to explain the extreme appeal of this game to ME is that it feels like you are occupying a liminal space. Like you are on the threshold of two planes of existence. From the desolate bus stop that you initially arrive at to the wide empty forests with these strange little squirrels being the only living things besides yourself… it’s strange, perhaps even a bit eerie in later chapters, but overall peaceful.
– Real player with 4.2 hrs in game
Read More: Best Detective Nature Games.
I feel like I am the perfect audience for this game—I love Firewatch, Gone Home and almost all first-person adventures / walking simulators. Recently I’ve enjoyed Call of the Sea and Old Gods Rising, despite their flaws. But Nuts left me very unsatisfied.
The success of a game like this rests on three things: The game world, the puzzle mechanic, and the story. Ideally, all three would be great, but usually one of them is weaker. So, Firewatch has an incredible game world and characters, but weak puzzles. The Witness has an incredible game world and puzzles, but no real story. Sadly, Nuts has an incredible game world, but the puzzle mechanic and plot just did not work for me.
– Real player with 4.0 hrs in game
Broken Minds
Truly a hidden gem :)
The store page makes it look a bit bland and cheap, but it’s actually a quality VN.
It’s not just a “Click Next”-VN, but you have to focus on what’s happening.
The story is pretty good and I would recommend to play it on “Master Detective”-Mode to get all the interesting mini-games wich are well done :)
The VN also has multiple endings, depending on your choices and after unlocking them you can get the true ending(s?).
Unfortunately I have to say that I felt that the VN could have been better with less endings, since you are forced to do them to unlock the final ones. Even with the skip function it takes a bit of time for a playthrough since you still have to navigate through the rooms, etc. So it felt kind of tedious after a while and it didn’t feel like the endings offered something surprisingly new for me.
– Real player with 12.5 hrs in game
Note: not for all! It’s not an easy reading nextnextskipskip VN, you should have a sense of logic, pay attention to details and words.
I’m not sure about a genre, but it’s mostly Visual Novel. But you should pay attention for all (that’s what for 3 big arrows on the screen — for a little bit exploring and for deeper immersion); otherwise you’ll get stuck with logic minigames, delete the game in frustration and will never know how great the game is. So, the phrase “the gameplay consists of logic and reading comprehension puzzles” is completely true, and you can’t go on to the next part by pressing “skip”.
– Real player with 10.1 hrs in game
12 Hours to Die
A low configuration version of “Danganronpa: Trigger Happy Havoc”. The overall plot content is excellent, and the image of the characters is quite rich. Everyone has his own sad story, and everyone is the protagonist of the story.
I feel grieved for Reina’s death. She is really a good girl. I was so happy when Edmund came back from his life that I almost thought the hero was dead. He is a shy and wise boy.
When the final puzzle was opened, the story came to a successful end. And I found out early that Argus was the killer.
– Real player with 51.4 hrs in game
HAY DIAD YA NEW DAT DIS GAME IS JUUS LIK
no i didnt until you all told me so ill say RIGHT NOW… danganronpa… i never played it… so this basic set up for me is one of neutral setting in short im not basing my review on that game
right so the game is about 6 high schoolers, that get trapped in a school by a robot controlled by a psycho path and they have 12 hours to escape, not real time mind you Y DI IT TAK U SO LUNG TO PLAY DIS? well i went to work forgot it was one fell asleep went back to work and repeat. i will say that this game aint that bad for story… but i will also say… dont freaking make me math damn you… each math problem in this game i looked at with irritation… so i cheated with a guide… im sure i would get more out of it with finding out the puzzles but i couldn’t be bothered after i tried to solve some of them.
– Real player with 40.8 hrs in game
Bolt Riley, A Reggae Adventure
It would be in my best interest to give a glowing review since I want to see this game completed but I need to be honest about the progress made so far. I do realise this game is considered Early Access and I know the budget for this game is pretty small, and you should keep that in mind too (if you end up reading the in-depth review linked below), but ultimately, is it something I would recommend to my friends or the gaming public in its current state? Considering the artwork still needs some touching up, bugs were encountered way too frequently, the UI needs fixing and the first chapter is way too short, probably not. I’m hoping that Adventure Mob will eventually prove me wrong though, as I really want this game to succeed.
– Real player with 1.5 hrs in game
Bolt Riley is a well-intentioned but uniformly misguided proof of concept.
Presumably the developers naively underestimated the effort required to achieve the level of quality best suited to their vision. Instead, they opted to release an embarrassingly short and painfully butchered appetizer.
One should be easily inclined to forgive unrefined details in Early Access but no update in over a year severely burdens the game’s credibility.
– Real player with 1.4 hrs in game
To Hell With The Ugly
In To Hell With the Ugly, you play as Rock Bailey, a blond and strikingly handsome young man who systematically refuses all advances made to him. And for good reason : he stubbornly saves himself until the day he turns 20.
One night, however, everything changes when he is drugged and kidnapped outside the Zooty Slammer jazz club and wakes up in a strange hospital.
Why would anyone want to abduct Rocky? Can you track down his kidnappers? Help Rocky get to the bottom of his kidnapping, and find out who is behind this horrible scheme.
Investigate Los Angeles in the 50s
Adapted from the novel of the same name by Boris Vian, To Hell With the Ugly is a turn-based combat and point & click adventure game set in a film noir atmosphere. Unravel the mystery surrounding your kidnapping by exploring some of LA’s most secret corners. Gather clues by interviewing locals, and interact with your environment to find the truth.
But some information won’t be delivered so easily. Use your fists to persuade the most stubborn to help you in your quest.
Alexey’s Winter: Night adventure
I enjoyed playing this short point and click game. The hand drawn scenes have a great sense of place and the snow gives shivery cold feeling so I really felt sorry for the main character locked out of his apartment. The music was a good match for the game. The dialogue was very funny and endearing.
I had a small technical problem with my computer before I could play this game but the devs were really helpful and responsive so that the game works as it should now.
I hope the developers add some more episodes as I would definitely play them.
– Real player with 20.5 hrs in game
Alexey’s Winter: Night adventure is a very short point & click adventure set in the 1989’s USSR. The game was initially launched in 2017 on the mobile platform and gained positive feedback from the players. At a later date, it received a second episode (and as of Sep 26 2021 a third one) and underwent several design changes. This version was now ported to Steam as a paid item, while the mobile one remains free but was reverted back to one episode only.
The story follows Alexey’s troubles during one cold winter night, trying to get back his lost apartment keys. After a series of intricate puzzles he manages to regain access to his home, only to find out that in the meantime his TV was stolen. This sets the plot for the second and third episodes, which are slightly longer than the first one.
– Real player with 11.1 hrs in game
Lost and Hound
Epic Games MegaGrant recipient and lauded for its innovation in gameplay and blind accessibility, Lost and Hound is a game like no other that follows the extraordinary Corgi, Biscuit. In Lost and Hound, your empowered canine senses make you a superhero. Heightened hearing and sense of smell will guide your paws as you work towards your goals, saving lives and averting tragedies.
As Biscuit your hearing will allow you to access information that’s inaccessible to humans. You will be able to hear through walls and use the information your audio senses gather to help track people and match up items such as those left at a crime scene with their owners.
Using your superior sense of smell you’ll be able to scent track your way to becoming a dog mercenary. Scent in Lost and Hound is represented by a low, pleasant humming sound. Similar to making your way through a maze where the way out would be invisible under normal circumstances, subtle sound or scent cues will guide you to your query.
As Biscuit you’ll travel around the world taking on many of the roles of real-world working dogs. From working in a hospital to assist with seizure detection and detecting cancer to herding sheep in the rough, Australian outback. Your work as a K9 tracker will take you to Japan, the Swiss Alps, the American wilderness, and many other locales. In between each mission, you’ll have the option to complete mini levels to earn extra money and travel to more exotic locations.
Features:
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Travel around the world working as the strong-willed Corgi Biscuit.
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Solve crimes, track down missing people, and assist those in need.
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Use your superior hearing to listen for accelerated heartbeats, hear through walls, and more to piece together clues.
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Follow subtle scent clues with your heightened sense of smell represented by sound queues to track leads.
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Take on the roles of real-world working dogs; assist with seizure detection, be an emotional support for zoo animals, and more.
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Complete mini levels to earn extra money to fund your K9 travels.
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Meet new animal friends throughout your travels.
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Fully blind-accessible.
Tales of the Mirror
Bless whoever come up with this art style! I’m rarely play game like this because it such a pain to go here and there asking, and can only save after you finish a day, so if you mess up you have to replay EVERY step. And go through so much other pain just to finish this, like watching Chinese playthrough, draw every words in gg trans when I get stuck, hoping to find the clue to continue. I wish the developer give or sell the complete guide, I want to max trust with Nan Chau, help Ko Yuh-hung and San-niang be friend etc T.T
– Real player with 61.8 hrs in game
The art is pretty good but the story is not attractive anymore. The logistic of each evidence is not strong enough and there has time limit for player, so there is no time to enjoy.
– Real player with 14.8 hrs in game