The Detail

A decent enough visual novel with great artwork, though the animation feels stiff and awkward at times. The narrative isn't particularly unique, but it does make an effort to tell a captivating story—and occasionally succeeds. The characters are somewhat stereotypical, but that’s to be expected in a murder mystery. The game is rather short and misses some opportunities to deliver a more engaging plot, but overall, I enjoyed it for what it was.

https://youtu.be/Z1g-o76p7TI Offering an inconsistent art style along side a cast of generally, and intentionally, unlikeable characters makes it hard for characters to be draw into the setting.

More of a visual novel than a proper "game" with many navigational annoyances, some of the choices are divergent and with no manual save system this means you'll have to replay the game over and over again just to see slightly different flavors. For something that pretends to be about player choices none of your decisions end up mattering all that much, not to mention the art is often amateurish and without proper voice acting the whole thing just falls flat. What is supposed to be a visceral and gritty crime thriller is a clicking bore fest that's also glitched out on me multiple times, would not recommend even on sale the whole thing feels stuck together with duct tape.

The Detail is a story-driven adventure developed and published by Rival Games Ltd that places narrative ambition and moral complexity at the center of its design. Framed as an episodic crime drama, the game draws heavily from television noir and graphic novel storytelling, presenting a bleak modern city shaped by corruption, violence, and compromised ideals. Rather than focusing on puzzles or mechanical challenge, it positions the player as an observer-participant, guiding multiple characters through intersecting storylines where decisions are less about winning or losing and more about choosing which moral burden to carry forward. The structure of The Detail is closer to an interactive graphic novel than a traditional point-and-click adventure. Gameplay primarily consists of reading dialogue, navigating stylized scenes, and making choices at key narrative junctions. These choices often reflect ethical dilemmas rather than tactical decisions, asking the player to weigh personal loyalty, professional duty, and self-preservation. While the game does include limited investigative segments and environmental interaction, these moments are deliberately understated and serve to reinforce…

This game is rough around the edges, sure. Quite a few visual bugs, gameplay is not exactly smooth, and the story feels inconsistent - it's a drag first two chapters and it's rushed in the last one. Sometimes there are no music where it's supposed to be, UI hints come and go as they please. Long story short, it's not a perfect game, and neither was Rival Games Ltd's next one, Thief of Thieves. So why do I recommend it? I think this game's got soul. It perfectly scratches the itch of a neo-noir detective story, even if it's full of cliche. You can see the people behind the curtains cared about what they were doing. Despite all its flaws, it drags you in until the very end, and there are quite a few choices branching out along the way. Granted, this game could use more quality assurance that will never come. But it doesn't deserve to be forgotten.

Don't bother, it starts interesting and suddenly mess up at last chapter.