Finch & Archie

I have nothing but praise for this game. It is exactly what it claims to be, in the best possible way. The clues and puzzles are challenging, but rewarding. My friend and I (certified idiots) were able to complete everything currently available without feeling frustrated or like anything was unfairly difficult. The game also manages to perfectly balance the murder mystery aspect with humor in a way that is so rarely pulled off this flawlessly. If I HAD to pick a negative, I'd say that the lighting in the game can make it a bit tricky to locate your partner, as they can blend in to the shadows, but that's nothing a quick bark or whistle can't solve, and the map locations are small enough that you'll run in to them just a couple minutes of searching. All in all, I would give this game an 11/10. Absolutely fantastic, and I cannot wait for more.

Short but fun. Communication system made us laugh. Neither of us felt like we were waiting around for our 'turn' or anything like some co-ops. No hand holding, but not so hard to be frustrating. Looking forward to future cases.

Finch & Archie is a really unique co-op detective game. Both characters solve mysteries in completely different ways. Finch talks to people and pieces together evidence, while Archie follows smells and talks to animals to uncover clues. The communication system is probably my favourite part. You can’t fully explain things to each other normally and instead have to communicate through restricted keyword chats. It makes every clue feel more important and leads to a lot of moments where you’re both trying to work things out together from incomplete information. It honestly makes the investigations feel way more engaging than if you could just explain everything instantly. The two roles complement each other really well and it actually feels like both players are equally important to solving the story. Really cool models and art style as well, I can’t wait for the next chapter.

Played through both current chapters, and it's a load of fun. Still has some bugs, but that's to be expected with early access. Run fine on my Linux machine too!

This game was so much fun and was a lot of laughs. The things we said to each other when only being able to communicate with one syllable words had us saying the dumbest yet funniest things. I can't wait for the full release and be able to play more! If I had any feedback to give, it would be that not all one syllable words are able to be used, which does make it harder. I think opening up the vocab would be nicer since using words like "Pee" and "poo" should work. Def recommend though!!! 10/10! would play so many times over.

So the concept of this game is pretty cool, but I do feel like the tutorial is not sufficient. It does not give enough information to understand what you will need to do with the case files at the end of the actual case. The blanks where you need to fill in the text and photos seems to be too confusing (especially not knowing you would need to do this and having to use the weird one-word clues from your partner). I feel like if the tutorial had a shorter case with a case file, it would be useful. Also, I think it should be more clear that you should try all the clues on multiple people, even if you gained some information already about it. Unclear why I cannot use some words that are one syllable (eg. 'it'), maybe that is on purpose. To be honest I loved the single syllable aspect with one exception - [spoiler] the location clue for the phone. [/spoiler] Pros: Story Unique Communication Playstyle Evolution of crime Cons: Tutorial Location clue Case file fill in the blanks Possible imbalance of things to do (I think my partner waited on me a bit too much) TLDR: If they fix the tutorial and fill in the blank case files, this would be a great experience!