Detective Instinct: Farewell, My Beloved

The presentation of this game is absurdly lush, and the quality of it from top to bottom is pretty unusual. It has its own unique fantasy console/handheld vibe that I really dig. The story's pretty decent, with a handful of twists and turns, and the way the music is employed to punctuate each new piece of information is pretty fun and charming. You *should know* that this game does not, as far as i know, contain major story forking in the style of Banshee's Last Cry, and is more or less a straight visual novel where all information is delivered to you piecemeal and the characters do all of the thinking. The UI is pretty great and comfortable to use, like many visual novels it's easy to see all of the dialogue in a single log at once if you've forgotten anything, and the in-game notes makes it convenient for you to, say, take a long break and refamiliarize yourself with the major plot beats before jumping right back in. There's even a text autoplay feature if you'd rather just sit back and let the scenes play out, which is a nice touch. It's a bit of a nitpick but there are sequences where the player is "trapped" and has to find the right piece of dialogue to advance the story, b…

I played and completed this game shortly after it'd come out late last year and I figure I'd like to leave a review. I can see the passion the developer has for the genre and the games in that lineage shining through with each sequence. The dialog is excellent with a great sense of humor and sentimentality, the pixel graphics are exceptional, and the music is so good I'd swear the game itself existed as much as a vehicle for its delivery as much as it does a game for its own sake. Great, great soundtrack. I think that it's hard to beat the Ace Attorney formula with its punchy courtroom dramas and high stakes, and if there's a sequel to Detective Instinct-and I certainly hope there is-I'd like to see the developer attempt to punch up its "gameplay" sequences with a little more back and forth. As-is it mostly amounts to the main character being questioned about his recollection of the case at hand which is just fine, but I think the formula could stand to capture some of the energy of its contemporaries. There's a lot of potential-especially as a first attempt in a new series-just a bit bare bones. Even still it's a very enjoyable, quaint visual novel with a lot of good going fo…

banger. short and sweet. hits the ace attorney tone right out of the park. Every character is deeply charming, nothing is overplayed, i want to ride this train and hang out with all of these people. even the golf dudes. (especially the golf dudes?) the soundtrack is so, so good. I was grooving through the whole thing. if you are looking for a tangled web of intrigue to pick apart, you may come away disappointed. if you're a big mystery head, you'll probably see some of the twists coming. i think that's fine. as i see it, the mystery here serves to develop some characters, rather than the characters existing to serve the mystery. I hope the Detective Instinct series sees many entries in the future, and if it does, I'll be there day one for each one. But even if it doesn't, I'll be thinking about this trip for a long time to come.

(I'm marking as recommended because I like the characters, the music, and the art,... but as a mystery game and as a narrative I was very disappointed after the introduction really impressed me. If you don't mind that the narrative, mystery, puzzles, are each quite simple, and that the game can be quite pedantic and slow with the player at times, then you can get a lot out of the music/art/characterization.) Pretty charming game, the highlights are the soundtrack, the art, and the small touches which make the characters more alive. I finished it in just under 5 hours (this includes leaving it on and having dinner, and soaking in the atmosphere i.e. just listening to the music), so it's not a very long game (not a bad thing!). That time is also including doing just about every optional interaction I could think to do (inspecting random things and trying most, if not all, of the dialogue options). If you're into detective games (Danganronpa, Zero Escape, Phoenix Wright...etc) then this will be a breeze for you; if you're looking for a challenge it's not a good option. If you like fairly efficient (although not that surprising) detective narratives, with quite good characterization (…

The game scratches a similar itch as playing Hotel Dusk: Room 215 and its sequel, Last Window: The Secret of Cape West. Each chapter teases a small bit of the over arching mystery, but you find yourself mostly interacting with the main focused character(s) of a given chapter. I found Emma's determination in this mystery very compelling, and the music is very good.

I went in expecting something heartfelt, melancholic, and with excellent presentation. That's exactly what I got.