The Most Surprising Murder-Mystery Game of the Year Just Came to Steam and Switch
A real throwback.
There are different periods of my life that I heavily associate with specific games or even types of genres. My early college years were absolutely dominated by detective visual novels, a type of game my inquisitive mind latched onto for a handful of years. Between classes and on breaks I’d spend most of my time on campus absolutely glued to the screen of my Nintendo DS, playing the likes of Ace Attorney, Hotel Dusk, Professor Layton, and Trace Memory. The little system was a treasure trove of murder-mysteries, pushing the visual novel forward in ways we wouldn’t understand for years. And yet, there’s a kind of vibe that very few games outside of that systems have managed to capture — an ethereal nostalgic feeling that’s tough to describe. Telling you to play Detective Instinct: Farewell, My Beloved is the easiest way I can elucidate that idea. It’s a wonderfully heartfelt mystery game that’s almost perfectly designed to emulate those DS classics, and nails it in almost every way. In short, it’s the sleeper hit that snuck in right at the end of the year.
In Detective Instinct, you follow a young college-aged protagonist (who you name) and his friend Emma. The pair have just been on an international study trip with their teacher, Professor Martin, to the country of Vendreka. On their way home from the trip, the trio get wrapped up in a grisly murder investigation, followed by the disappearance of a mysterious woman aboard their train to London. While this is a fictional story, there’s a fascinating historical slant that makes the whole thing grounded. Vendreka, and its sister country Ganbrika, are quite clearly inspired by East and West Germany and the fall of the Berlin Wall — and that theme absolutely plays into the overall narrative and general message of the game.
Detective Instinct is clearly inspired by two game series in particular, Ace Attorney and Famicom Detective Club — with the general vibe of the former and the more mechanical gameplay aspects of the latter. In pretty much every sense, this game feels like one of those classic detective visual novels, using the “command-select” style of gameplay. What that means, essentially, is that you have a variety of options to advance the story, including talking to characters about specific topics, examining specific points in your surrounding, having your character think to themselves, and speaking to your associate. The entire game is largely text-based, but highly accentuated with expressive character portraits, animations, and sound effects.
The visual aesthetic of Detective Instinct is stunning, with gorgeously animated sprites that deliberately invoke the technically constrained graphics of the DS-era — but here, it’s entirely intentional. Each sprites is lavishly animated with a variety of features and emotions, which work in tandem with the surprisingly ambitious instrumental soundtrack.
From its art to its writing, Detective Instinct feels like an homage to classic adventures games in the best way.
And while Detective Instinct is quite a bit shorter than its inspiration material, what’s remarkably is how much the presentation and quality of the writing really meshes. For all intents, the quality here is every bit as stunning as an Ace Attorney game.
In particular, Detective Instinct absolutely nails the most essential ingredient of any adventure game, an eclectic cast of characters. Across the game’s eight hours you’ll meet and interrogate a wide array of weirdos onboard the train, constantly questioning people’s motives and purposes for being there — including a pair of golf obsessed best friends who also have a penchant for murder stories, to the mysterious married couple where the domineering wife speaks for the mute mustachioed husband.
Detective Instinct’s eclectic cast of characters are a joy to spend time with.
Genuinely, the best thing I can say about Detective Instinct is that the writing feels absolutely stellar. Like Ace Attorney, this is an experience that feels snappy, with the dialogue flowing from scene-to-scene seamlessly with an undeniably fun energy. Every good adventure game has the hero and the sidekick, and the relationship between Emma and the protagonist is a focal point of Detective Instinct — and a beautiful example of bonding and creating a lasting friend through hardship.
One of the most remarkable things about those old adventure games is the uplifting spirit each had. Games like Hotel Dusk or Ace Attorney often features horrific events, including murder, workplace abuse, toxic relationships, grief over losing loved ones, and more. Despite featuring all those things, they were games that still inherently made you feel good, telling inspiring stories about the resiliency and kindness of humans in the face of terrible things.
Detective Instinct absolutely nails that same an idea — it’s a game that put a smile on my face and made me shed a few tears when all was said and done. Over the last decade there’s been no shortage of fantastic visual novels, but until now I hadn’t realized how few evoke the same feelings of that very specific DS era.
You, of course, have a handy notebook to reference key terms, people, and events. And yes, Detective Instinct even has its own charming bumbling detective character.
Detective Instinct is a delicately and thoughtfully crafted experience that doesn’t want to just riff on your nostalgia, but make you really feel something, deep down. It’s a game that punches above its weight in almost every single way. Now my only problem is I desperately hope this developer gets the chance to take another stab at the idea — because I want more.
