Detective Worden

[b]Detective Worden[/b] is pretty much just Wordle with a side of murder mystery. Seriously, I could end the review here and you'd get the gist. I won't, but I [i]could[/i]. [h3]Story + Gameplay[/h3] In May 1985, our eponymous detective investigates a murder in Room 204 of Riverside Hotel only to discover ties to a similar murder four years before. In story mode, each clue is followed by a round of 4-6 letter Wordle: you have seven tries to guess a word using the process of elimination, where orange indicates a correct letter in the wrong spot, and green means correct letter in correct spot. [b]Controls. [/b]Keyboard + Mouse only. [b]Playtime. [/b]Story mode is ~2 hours. [b]Settings/Options. [/b]Full screen or windowed, audio sliders. Optional "retro look" and "camera bobbing," which I wish I'd known to turn on before playing. [h3]What Works For Me[/h3] ✅ Interesting (if convoluted) mystery. ✅ Real human voice actors and subtle background music. ✅ "Daily Challenges" is Wordle minus the [i]NYT[/i] subscription. ✅ Free mode is a customizable (word length, time limits, etc.) endless mode. ✅ Word length! Who knew 6 letters is weirdly hard? ✅ Leaderboards for the …

Neat concept, good execution.

brilliant idea that 100% fumbles it in the first step. supposedly, the wordle gameplay is related to the "clues" they give you about the case, but it really isn't. every answer feels either cheap or out of left field. does it want me to talk about the body in the picture? or the wine bottle in the back of the picture? in no way would I ever have guessed "pose" was supposed to be about the body, because he does indeed look like a guy who got stabbed and fell to the ground dead. I have no idea where this detective is going in even one of his thought processes. the tapes are meandering and boring and then nothing's written down or left on the screen after they end; if I wasn't listening, I have to listen to the entire tape again. there could 100% be a written log of what's on the tape instead, and I get that they're going for drama, but the detective story seems like it's being told to me in the background of me trying to play wordle, entirely unrelated to my surroundings. the UI is neat & the sounds of the typewriter are crisp and pleasing, but holy cats batman I get better luck 100% guessing random words than trying to play with the detective on a case angle.

If you like detective stories AND word games, you won't feel bored with this game. However, if you are hoping to play an adventurous detective game to find the culprit, this is not the game you are looking for. After all, the answer is not entirely related to the case. There are many possible words associated with the given clue, but there are specifically only one or two that are correct. If you take the case in this game too seriously, you will only get frustrated, and it's still a long way to reach your intended solution. If you play as a word game lover, you will probably achieve more than the player who tries to solve the case.

Worth it for me. It would be interesting to see an expanded story and game play.

Overall the game is fine. You need to guess a word, you get 7 attempts, and the correct letters are color coded based on if they're in the right spot. The game has you take the role of a detective sitting at your desk and trying to decipher evidence to gain clues on a murder. It doesn't really add much imo, only that a lot of your words will have to do with crime scene themes. Words like 'body' or 'stab' have come up. Story mode has you go up to 7 letter words. You fail 3 times to get the word and start over. There's also a daily puzzle. My only real complaint is that I wish the crime mystery theme came more into play. You do get photos or documents that are meant to help you solve the word, but often the word has only a loose connection or no serious connection at all. One of the words was 'link' because your character says something along the lines of 'there must be a link connecting these two men' after you solve the puzzle. In one case a person is possibly lying so the word might be 'mask'. It would have been nice if you could really look into the photos or files and use them, but ultimately most don't do much beyond offer some set dressing. It's a fine word puzzle game. …